The defending Summit League Tournament champion South Dakota State men’s basketball team was picked to finish second in the conference preseason poll, released Wednesday.
SDSU garnered nine first-place votes in the poll and 424 total points, finishing behind Fort Wayne’s 491 total points (and 18 first-place votes) and just ahead of North Dakota State (422 points, four first-place votes) in the top three.
2016-17 Summit League Preseason Poll
| Rank | Team | Points (1st) |
| 1 | Fort Wayne | 491 (18) |
| 2 | South Dakota State | 424 (9) |
| 3 | North Dakota State | 422 (4) |
| 4 | Omaha | 352 |
| 5 | IUPUI | 331 (1) |
| 6 | Oral Roberts | 199 |
| 7 | South Dakota | 176 |
| 8 | Denver | 150 |
| 9 | Western Illinois | 107 |