In recent years, the college basketball world has become well-acquainted with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. It’s no longer that easy to find cheap South Dakota State basketball tickets because the profile of the program has been forever raised. However, most fans don’t realize that the Jackrabbits have always been a force on the basketball court. They dominated the Division II level before moving up to Division I. The Jackrabbits are poised to keep improving until they’re one of the elite mid-majors in college basketball, keeping last-minute South Dakota basketball tickets in high demand for many years to come.

Jumping to the Top

For the second half of the 20th century, South Dakota State had one of the premier basketball programs at the Division II level. The Jackrabbits advanced to the Final Four of the Division II NCAA Tournament in 1961, 1963, and 1985, winning the 1961 national championship and losing the title game by a single point in 1985. Even after the turn of the century, South Dakota State was a regular participant in the tournament, helping set up their move to the Division I level in 2004 under longtime coach Scott Nagy.

Top of the Summit

Under Nagy, the Jackrabbits had a little difficulty adjusting to the Division I level. Not until South Dakota State’s seventh season did the Jackrabbits finish with a winning record. But once Nagy got the ball rolling, there was no stopping it. In 2012, the Jackrabbits won the Summit League Tournament, reaching the Division I NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. From there, South Dakota State became the Summit’s best program for the remainder of the 2010s. The Jackrabbits went on to win the Summit regular-season title six times in the next eight years while making four more trips to the NCAA Tournament and two NIT appearances. That success has left no doubt that South Dakota State is the top program in the Summit League and a mid-major program on the rise.