SIOUX FALLS – Three South Dakota State men's basketball players received Preseason All-Summit League accolades and the Jackrabbits were selected as the team to beat in this year's Summit League preseason poll, the league office announced Monday.
Douglas Wilson was chosen as Preseason Player of the Year and joined Noah Freidel on the first team, while Matt Dentlinger was selected to the Preseason All-Summit League Second Team. SDSU received 33 of 36 first place votes to receive the top spot in the preseason poll.
Last year, Wilson was the conference Player of the Year after leading the Jackrabbits to 22 wins and a regular season title. The senior from Des Moines, Iowa, topped the squad with averages of 18.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He connected on 62.8 percent of his field goal attempts, the eighth best success rate in Division I.
Freidel, a sophomore from Tea, averaged 12.2 points per game and made 66 3-pointers a year ago, shooting 39.5 percent from beyond the arc. The reining Summit League Freshman of the Year scored 20 or more points seven times against league opposition. He also earned All-Summit League Honorable Mention honors last season.
A redshirt junior from Arcadia, Iowa, Dentlinger is coming off a second-team all-conference campaign in which he averaged 12.2 points and six rebounds per game. He shot 62.8 percent overall, but that rose to 69.7 percent in league play, easily the best in the Summit League. The CoSIDA Academic All-District VI selection scored in double figures 11 times against league competition and twice posted double-doubles.
The Jackrabbits were 22-10 last season under first-year head coach Eric Henderson, sharing the Summit League's regular season title with a 13-3 conference record. It marked the third straight year SDSU won at least a share of the regular season league title.
The preseason honors are voted on by a group comprised of the league's coaches, sports information directors and select media.
South Dakota State is scheduled to open the 2020-21 season with two games in the Little Apple Classic in Manhattan, Kan., Nov. 25 and 27. The rest of the non-conference slate and the Summit League schedule will be released at a later date.
PRESEASON ALL-SUMMIT LEAGUE
First Team
Noah Freidel, South Dakota State
Kevin Obanor, Oral Roberts
Matt Pile, Omaha
Filip Rebraca, North Dakota
Stanley Umude, South Dakota
*Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
Second Team
Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Matt Dentlinger, South Dakota State
Rocky Kreuser, North Dakota State
Marlon Ruffin, Omaha
Jase Townsend, Denver
*Preseason Player of the Year
PRESEASON POLL
(first-place votes in parenthesis)
Pts.
1. South Dakota State (33) 608
2. Oral Roberts 514
3. North Dakota State (3) 466
4. Omaha 379
5. South Dakota 354
6. North Dakota 301
7. UMKC 248
8. Denver 203
9. Western Illinois 167
