Since finishing 21 games over .500 back in 2018-19, it’s been nearly all downhill for the Louisiana State Tigers. The team showed modest improvement in 2023-24, but the regression continued last season when they won just 14 games, missing the tournament for a third straight time.

Two years ago – in just its fourth season of existence – the Tarleton State Texans basketball program erupted for 25 wins, but was unable to maintain that success, dropping to a mere dozen victories last year in its worst season yet.

Things went downhill even further last season as Miami managed a mere seven victories in the worst effort in program history.

In 2020-21, the North Florida Ospreys managed just eight wins, and while they had been slowly building up since, finally reaching .500 in 2023-24, they slipped back into their losing ways last season with only 15 victories.

Since managing a mere 11 wins in 2021-22, the Jackson State Tigers have been slowly working their way back to respectability as they seek to end an 18-year NCAA tourney drought. In the three years since that ugly record, they’ve upped their victory count to 14, 15 and then 16 last season.

Back in 2021-22, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats bottomed out with a mere nine wins. They’ve been on the rise since, improving to 12 victories in 2022-23, finishing .500 the following season, and last season actually boasting a winning record for the first time since 2019-20.

ack in 2022-23, the Nicholls Colonels finished just 16-15, but have responded well since, posting back-to-back 20-win efforts. Okay, so their NCAA tourney drought extends back to 1997-98, but with some solid results within the Southland Conference in recent seasons, a conference tourney victory is a possibility.