Horizon League Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 09: The Cleveland State Vikings celebrate winning the Horizon League Men's basketball championship after defeating the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 09, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

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Northern Kentucky Norse guard Tyler Sharpe Horizon League Basketball Northern Kentucky Norse Iupui Jaguars 22 /

11. IUPUI Jaguars

2020-21 season record: 8-10 (7-9 in Horizon)

Key losses – Marcus Burk (21.7 ppg), Jaylen Minett (16.4 ppg), Elijah Goss (11.1 ppg and 11.6 rpg)

The Jaguars tabbed an alumnus in Matt Crenshaw as head coach for this season, the first in his career. And he has a major rebuilding task on his hands, taking over a program that lost most production than any team in the Horizon League. Marcus Burk was second in the conference in scoring (you know who was No. 1), while Goss was a double-double machine down low. And considering that the team was near the bottom in most offensive categories with that trio, that raises alarms in itself

There are no returning double-digit scorers but two starters are back in point guard Mike DePersia and forward Nathan McClure. And both Azariah Seay, and Bobby Harvey, who were effectively the 6th and 7th men off the bench, are back as well after averaging around 5.0 ppg. This is a group that had to take backseats to the trio of top scorers and with bigger roles could become double-digit scorers. Yet none of them have shown to be a go-to scorer or someone that can drop 20 points on a given night. And that’s a recipe for disaster in this conference.

There’s going to be a lot of pressure on D-II transfer guard B.J. Maxwell to come in and have a major impact out the gate. At St. Edwards University, the 6’4 shooting guard averaged 18.6 ppg last season, including a 47-point effort at one point. Maxwell is used to being a quality scorer and if he can somehow do that at the D-I level, IUPUI will be competitive in league play.

The argument I give for the Jaguars over the Phoenix is that they have more returning production with experience. It’s an okay core of players but needs to find that go-to guy, which Maxwell has the potential to do.