10. Cleveland State Vikings (11-21, 6-14)
Cleveland State is going through its first losing season since 2019-20 as the Vikings. The Vikings have struggled on both ends of the court, as they are the conference’s worst-shooting and defensive teams. The Vikings, who had won 19 or more games in five straight seasons, are young and under the direction of first-year coach Rob Summers. They have lost seven straight.
CSU is an elite 3-point shooting team, averaging nearly 11 threes a game at a 37.4% clip. While forward David Nessah leads CSU in scoring at 15.5 points a game, Jaden Lipscomb and Tre Beard are dangerous 3-point snipers as they drain a combined six treys a contest.
Cleveland State will play hard and is a slight favorite over IU Indy in the 10-11 play-in game as they are home. But the Vikings are small up front and vulnerable against teams with a strong interior game and on the backboard; 6 caroms per contest outrebound them.
Update: Cleveland State defeated IU Indy 101-92
No. 11 IU Indianapolis Jaguars (7-25, 3-17)
IU Indy continues to struggle and is in another rebuild under first-year coach Ben Howlett. The Jaguars, who have recorded double-digit wins just once in the last seven seasons, struggle with efficiency on both ends of the floor. The Jaguars have lost six in a row and eight of nine.
IU Indy is athletic and likes to push tempo. Junior Kyler D’Augustino (18.1 points per game) can put the ball in the basket, and freshman Maguire Mitchell is a high-volume 3-point shooter. The Jaguars don’t have much depth overall, and turnovers are a common theme for them. Plus, they allow nearly 85 points in conference play.
