Kolpack and Izzo Podcast Forum Communications Co.

The road to the NCAA Basketball Tournament once again runs through Sioux Falls.
 
For the first time in a handful of years, the Summit League men's tournament is wide open. After back to back years where a team was unbeaten in the regular season, South Dakota State won the league this year losing four times.
 
North Dakota State enters with its lowest seed in six years, the Bison are seeded fifth after losing their final two games of the regular season. NDSU will face St. Thomas Sunday at 6 p.m. The Bison split the season series with the Tommies, including a 64-50 win in Fargo on February 22.
 
North Dakota comes to Sioux Falls with the highest seed the Fighting Hawks have ever earned as a member of the Summit League. UND finished third and will take on Omaha Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. Paul Sather's team swept the season series from the Mavericks.
 
The women's side sees SDSU return as the top seed after a second consecutive unbeaten season. Aaron Johnston's team has been beset by injuries, but yet the Jacks finished 16-0 in league play.
 
Jory Collins team comes to Sioux Falls as the second seed for the second straight year. It was a disappointment last year as the Bison lost in the opening round to seventh-seeded Kansas City in the opening round.
 
This year's Bison are led by all-Summit first-team member Elle Evans, who was also selected to the defensive team. NDSU has earned the most wins in the Division I era and seems primed for a run to Tuesday's championship.
 
The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo offer their thoughts on the tournament and what to expect over the next few days.

The second half of the Summit League basketball season has arrived and things couldn't be more different on the men's and women's side.
The men's race is a complete free-for-all, with the conference leaders each with three losses, South Dakota State and North Dakota. That's after North Dakota State went to Brookings and beat the Jacks 74-73, the fifth separate overtime game that the Bison have played this season.
It was a much needed win for NDSU, which now sits just a half game out of third place and with a win Saturday at UND, can launch themselves right into the conversation of a Summit title.
Meanwhile, the NDSU women came up short to SDSU Thursday night, falling 65-58 to the Jacks, losing for a 20th straight time in the series. This game was different than the previous 19, as NDSU tied the game with 1:45 to. SDSU finished on a 8-1 run to close it out.
The Bison sit in third place in the league standings with a huge game  looming in Grand Forks Saturday to remain in the top half of the conference race.
On the football front, new head coach Tim Polasek has filled out his staff with the hiring of Jake Landry as offensive coordinator. Landry joins Will Johnson and Devin Klieman as the new pieces of the NDSU coaching staff heading into the 2024 season.
 

Tim Polasek's first coaching staff is starting to come into shape.
This week Polasek announced the hirings of Devin Klieman, the son of former NDSU head coach Chris Klieman as the safeties coach and Will Johnson as the new cornerbacks coach.
Each have been graduate assistants at their previous stops and will be making their position coaching debuts in the 2024 season.
Polasek has another hire to make with longtime assistant and former standout player Tyler Roehl leaving to take the associate head coach and offensive coordinator job at Tennessee State.
Roehl leaves Fargo after not being selected as the new Bison head coach that went to Polasek.
Roehl's NDSU career began in 2004 as a player, then returned on Craig Bohl's staff in 2011.
He was hired full-time by Klieman in 2014 to coach the fullbacks and tight ends and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019.
The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo discuss the departure of Roehl and who could potentially replace him.
They also talk about where each of the NDSU basketball teams sit at as the halfway mark of the Summit League season approaches.
The Bison women sit at 5-1 in league play, while the men are at 2-4.

It was a newsy week despite the fact that the FCS season officially came to a close last Sunday in Frisco, Texas.
South Dakota State won the national championship with a 23-3 win over Montana, a second straight title for the Jacks. Less than two days later, Montana's quarterback was in the transfer portal and SDSU's offensive coordinator was on the way to Northwestern.
NDSU's offensive coordinator is returning to Fargo. Tyler Roehl was officially promoted earlier this week to associate head coach. Roehl was one of the two finalists for the job that eventually went to Tim Polasek. 
The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo discuss the decision by Roehl and what it means for the 2024 Bison.
They also chat about UND offensive coordinator Danny Freund leaving to take the co-offensive coordinator job at SDSU and what's ahead for the Fighting Hawks.
The Summit League basketball season resumes this weekend with the Bison basketball teams in different spots. The men have lost five straight games as they head on the road this weekend to take on Kansas City and Omaha.
Boden Skunberg is back with the team after being benched against Montana last week for a failure of team and culture standards.
The women are coming off an exciting home win over Northern Arizona and look to keep their conference record perfect, facing two teams that the Bison are favored to beat.

The first podcast of 2024 is here, with plenty of news to discuss.
North Dakota State's men's basketball team opened the new year with a loss to Montana in the Big Sky - Summit League Challenge 96-86. The Bison played without their leading scorer and lone senior, Boden Skunberg, who was benched by head coach David Richman for not meeting the team's culture expectations.
The Bison have lost four straight games and sit at 7-8 as they head to face Eastern Washington in the back end of the Challenge in Cheney. Richman said there's a possibility that Skunberg could return at some point this season.
Also, the NDSU football team picked up a couple of wins over the last week with the news that Cole Wisniewski and Grey Zabel will return for the 2024 season. Each announced late last week that they will be back, turning down sizable NIL offers to transfer.
Jeff Kolpack and Dom Izzo discuss the news in hoops and football and where things go with both teams as the new year is here.

North Dakota State's football season has reached the semifinal round for the 12th time in the last 13 years.
 
The Bison (11-3) who were left for dead by the hosts of this podcast after a 49-24 loss to the University of North Dakota on October 14, are still playing football. They have a chance to make Frisco for the 11th time in the last 13 years Saturday afternoon in Missoula, Montana against the second seeded Grizzlies.
 
The game seems like an afterthought to some, as the school is in the midst of a head coaching search. Matt Entz announced on Sunday he was leaving NDSU for a job at USC to become the assistant defensive coach and linebackers coach for the Trojans.
 
As the show was recorded on Thursday afternoon, no coach had been named yet for the Bison. Athletic director Matt Larsen said he wanted to move quickly to find the next head coach, with National Signing Day looming on Wednesday.
 
The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo discuss the search for the next head coach and discuss the matchup as the Bison and Griz meet in the playoffs for the third time, and for the first time the game is at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.