Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Jackrabbit Lounge from the SLT: Business as usual for women, same old 2026 tune for men

He had a jump shot out of a cannon that sparked the University of South Dakota's best two years in Division I hoops (2016-18), then Texas Tech's historic run into overtime of the national championship game (2019). Matt Mooney was a cold-blooded sharpshooting machine in those three years, and he is just as to-the-point and entertaining when he tells stories about them.
In a one-hour sit down with Happy Hour host John Gaskins from his home in Puerto Rico — the latest stop in a six-year pro career that took him all over the continents of Europe and Australia — Mooney reminisces on high times like a couple wins over Mike Daum's South Dakota State and beating Tom Izzo's Michigan State in the Final Four.
The Chicagoland native also extracts the pain he felt in the low moments, like the Coyotes' heartbreaking losses to SDSU and the Red Raiders' oh-so-close overtime thriller against Virginia for all the March Madness marbles in Minneapolis in his final collegiate game.
Along the way, Mooney weaves in colorful stories about Daum and SDSU's buzzer-beating Coyote killer Michael Orris, plus the rock star existence Mooney and his teammates experienced in Lubbock — a fan wanting to buy him a beer made how much from betting on Tech? — and his journeyman career as a pro from the NBA G-League, to NBA call-ups, to Spain and Turkey and Germany and Australia and New Zealand and Puerto Rico, oh my.
Prolific and electric? Yes. Glamorous? Sometimes, but not as much as you'd think. But it has certainly been a journey worth telling, and Mooney tells it well.

Good News: The Summit League Tournament — which found its footing once it moved to Sioux Falls in 2009 — undeniably provides one of the best and most "big-time" mid-major student-athlete and fan experiences in the nation, according to those who have experienced others.
 
Bad News: There are signs pointing to future unrest in the conference, with Denver leaving the league (for the West Coast Conference) after the school year — leaving the league with just eight schools for basketball membership — plus some reported disenchantment from Non-Dakotas schools' leadership.
 
That is according to Gary Sharp, the 13-year voice of the Omaha men's basketball team, who has traveled the league and used his sourcing abilities to confidently report there may be others after Denver looking to leave.
 
Particularly, Omaha, which put forth an unsuccessful push to Missouri Valley Conference invitation that never came seven years ago and according to Sharp is in far better position to make that move in the near future.
 
Then, there's St. Thomas, which in seven years has gone from a non-scholarship Div. III athletic program to a strongly-funded Div. I machine that is playing in a sparkling new arena and thriving in both men's basketball and hockey. Is it a matter of time before an affluent private school in a Top 20 market searches beyond the Summit? 
 
Oral Roberts and Kansas City both left for other leagues and came back to the Summit. 
 
The league office and the SLT — the premier money-making event for the conference — all reside in Sioux Falls. Not every school is gung-ho about that, Sharp said.
 
Plus, the announcement of an eight-team nonconference men's event involving the four Dakotas schools and four schools in the Big Sky Conference (Montana, Montana State, Idaha, Idaho State) did not sit well with the other four Summit schools (Omaha, KC, ORU, Denver), who all already had two extra nonconference games to schedule with Denver out of the picture.
 
Sharp says schools like Tarleton State (Texas), Texas-Arlington, Lindenwood (St. Louis), and Western Illinois (former member) have been approached about Summit League membership. All, Sharp says, said "no."
 
So, yeah, while a first-class, well-oiled mid-major event roars on, there's the same uncertainty about the future of the conference.
 
Then, there's the TV deal with Midco Sports and CBS Sports Network that runs out this summer. Would it be in the Summit League's best interests to go back under the ESPN umbrella?
 
Fenton is aware of all of these concerns and addressed them one-on-one with Sioux Falls Live editor Patrick Lalley on Wednesday.

Good News: The Summit League Tournament — which found its footing once it moved to Sioux Falls in 2009 — undeniably provides one of the best and most "big-time" mid-major student-athlete and fan experiences in the nation, according to those who have experienced others.
 
Bad News: There are signs pointing to future unrest in the conference, with Denver leaving the league (for the West Coast Conference) after the school year — leaving the league with just eight schools for basketball membership — plus some reported disenchantment from Non-Dakotas schools' leadership.
 
That is according to Gary Sharp, the 13-year voice of the Omaha men's basketball team, who has traveled the league and used his sourcing abilities to confidently report there may be others after Denver looking to leave.
 
Particularly, Omaha, which put forth an unsuccessful push to Missouri Valley Conference invitation that never came seven years ago and according to Sharp is in far better position to make that move in the near future.
 
Then, there's St. Thomas, which in seven years has gone from a non-scholarship Div. III athletic program to a strongly-funded Div. I machine that is playing in a sparkling new arena and thriving in both men's basketball and hockey. Is it a matter of time before an affluent private school in a Top 20 market searches beyond the Summit? 
 
Oral Roberts and Kansas City both left for other leagues and came back to the Summit. 
 
The league office and the SLT — the premier money-making event for the conference — all reside in Sioux Falls. Not every school is gung-ho about that, Sharp said.
 
Plus, the announcement of an eight-team nonconference men's event involving the four Dakotas schools and four schools in the Big Sky Conference (Montana, Montana State, Idaha, Idaho State) did not sit well with the other four Summit schools (Omaha, KC, ORU, Denver), who all already had two extra nonconference games to schedule with Denver out of the picture.
 
Sharp says schools like Tarleton State (Texas), Texas-Arlington, Lindenwood (St. Louis), and Western Illinois (former member) have been approached about Summit League membership. All, Sharp says, said "no."
 
So, yeah, while a first-class, well-oiled mid-major event roars on, there's the same uncertainty about the future of the conference.
 
Then, there's the TV deal with Midco Sports and CBS Sports Network that runs out this summer. Would it be in the Summit League's best interests to go back under the ESPN umbrella?

The 13-year voice of the Omaha Mavericks men's basketball team says there are valid concerns about the membership in the league and some potential efforts from multiple teams to leave in the coming few years.