Two seasons ago, the South Dakota Coyotes hit rock bottom with a mere 12 wins, but bounced back to 19 victories a year ago. Unfortunately, the traction gained hasn’t held as South Dakota got off to an 0-2 start, and despite turning things around with a 5-1 run, has gone 6-8 since, including a 3-4 mark in Summit League play.

Back in 2022-23, the Alabama A&M Bulldogs seemed to be making progress, winning 15 times for its highest total since 2004-05 – the only season the school has made the NCAA tourney. However, it’s been downhill since as Alabama A&M dropped to a dozen wins the following season and then just 10 last season.

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.