The Northern Sun Conference opened play a couple weeks ago, but I’m just getting caught up. Just for the record, 9 of the 16 NSIC teams are from Minnesota, 7 are from the Dakotas and Nebraska. The coaches have Minnesota men’s teams ranked in 6 of the top 7 slots–in order, Southwest State, St. Cloud, Minnesota (Mankato), Concordia St. Paul, Duluth and Moorhead.
The season opened as it has in recent years, with a series of games against the mighty Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). Since 1937, current and former MIAA teams have won 18 national championships (NAIA and NCAA D2), and that’s just the men, who have also finished 2nd 13 times. The women have won 4 national titles since 1983 and finished 2nd 5 times. When Minnesota State (Mankato) swept both the men’s and women’s national titles in 2024, they were just the 2nd team to do that. Who came first? Why the Central Missouri Mules of the MIAA in 1984. In the 21st century, the MIAA has 10 national titles, the Northern Sun 5. So the MIAA is a worthy test, to say the least.
Last year the Minnesota teams in the Northern Sun dominated their MIAA opponents. This year they managed to win 9 games while losing 11. The non-Minnesota teams in the Northern Sun went 3-11 against the MIAA. This, again, was just among the men. These 9 teams have also played 16 other early season games, and have gone 10-6 in those games. Right now, all told, they’re 19-17.
No, that’s not good. The NSIC is not the MIAA, but it’s a heck of a D2 conference. But the men appear to be down a bit in 2025-2026. Time, of course, will tell. But, take the Minnesota State Mavericks (you know, Mankato), for example. After winning the national title in 2024, the Mavs were favored to win the NSIC last year. But, they lost NSIC player of the year Malik Willingham from that national championship team, and they were not able to repeat. Now, they’ve lost 2 more starters from that team and, honestly, their talent is not as good as a year ago. And, yet, they’re expected to move up from a 3rd place tie to sole possession of 3rd place.
1. Southwest Minnesota State 21-9 last year, 0-2 so far this year, #1 in the coaches poll. The Mustangs opened with losses to Ft. Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney, teams that, by way of comparison, both lost to Concordia-St. Paul, the defending champion/#1 seed. The Mustangs were without 6-5 guard Steve Kramer for those 2 games due to an undisclosed injury, but he has now returned. Guard Jacob Braaten and forward Aeron Stevens remain the team leaders, so the Mustangs are going to be fine. On the other hand, whoever thought that CSP had lost too much talent to contend might need to rethink that idea.
2. St. Cloud State 20-12, 1-3, #2. The Huskies have opened 1-3 including a loss to NW Missouri, whom Minnesota State (Mankato) beat by 22. Guard Nate Dahl scored 12 ppg last year. This year he’s at 4 ppg with 14 pct. shooting and 9 pct. on 3s. They’re not gonna finish 2nd with Dahl shooting 14 pct.
3. Minnesota State 20-12, 5-2, #3. The new kids on the block are the guards–Lewis Ahrman, a transfer from Emporia State and Augustana; and Colton Benson, a freshman from New Ulm; though it’s true that their leading scorers are front-court players and returnees Malcolm Jones and Caden Kirkman. We’re gonna learn a lot more about St. Cloud and Mankato come Tuesday night, when the 2 match up at Mankato.
4. Concordia-St. Paul 22-9, 3-0, #4. The regular season champs a year ago lost a lot of talent including national player of the year Antwan Kimmons, so the coaches put them in the #4 slot. Right now they look a lot better than that with 2 wins over MIAA opponents who beat Southwest State, plus a win in the 1st conference game of the season, 83-58 over Winona State. Guard Ben Kopetzki is scoring 25 ppg. No surprise there. Owen Carlson, a sophomore from Mahtomedi, and Jayden Wysocki, a transfer from Minot State, are something of a surprise. Time will tell if they’re for real, but right now they look like the best team in the conference.
5. Minnesota-Duluth 20-9, 4-1, #5 tie. Duluth beat 2 Oklahoma teams but lost to Michigan Tech. Caleb Siwek from Rosemount and Jackson Fowlkes from Park Center are scoring double figures.
6. Minnesota State-Moorhead 24-9, 2-2, #7. It’s a new day in Moorhead, as coach Tim Bergstrasser has moved on to the Denver U. Pioneers with 3 of his players. They started with 2 losses in Kansas including 94-74 to Pittsburg State, who beat Mankato by 22. Guard Dominic Gooden, a transfer from Northern Illinois, is scoring 20+ ppg, coming off the bench.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, I still like Southwest State as the conference fave, but I’ll move Concordia St. Paul up to #2, then Mankato #3, St. Cloud #4, Duluth #5 and Moorhead #6.
7. Winona State lost a ton of talent, 8. Bemidji State, 9. Minnesota-Crookston.
Following are 3 key games before the end of November.
• St. Cloud @ Mankato Tues 11-25
• SW State @ Moorhead Sat 11-29
• Moorhead @ CSP Sun 11-30
All-Conference (Minnesota teams only)
Center—Caden Kirkman, Minnesota State (Mankato) 6-8 junior 10 ppg-6 reb-58% last year
Power Forward—Tate Olson, Bemidji State 6-7 senior 12 ppg-9 reb-3 ast-50%
Small Forward—Aeron Stevens, Southwest State 6-7 junior 14 ppg-6 reb-3 asts-46%
Point Guard and Player of the Year—Jakob Braten, Southwest State 6-0 senior 14 ppg-6 reb-3 asts-2 stls-53%
Shooting Guard—Ben Kopetzki, Concordia 6-0 junior 13 ppg-3 reb-3 asts-45%
2nd Team
Center—Wyatt Hawks, St. Cloud State 6-7 junior 10 ppg-7 reb-59%
Power Forward—Malcolm Jones, Minnesota State (Mankato) 15 ppg-8 reb-57% (2025-2026)
Point Guard—Luke Winkel, St. Cloud State 5-11 soph 13 ppg-3 reb-4 asts-40%
Shooting Guard—Dominic Gooden, Minnesota State Moorhead 6-1 jr 21 ppg (2025-2026)
Shooting Guard–Caleb Siwek, Minnesota Duluth 6-3 jr 22 ppg (2025-2026)