MUNCIE, Ind. — The confidence is there, within Ball State’s men’s basketball program, that so much could have been different about its past two seasons had the pandemic and key injuries not occurred.
The 2019-20 season saw BSU surging as it headed into the Mid-American Conference tournament, in which the Cardinals were a No. 3 seed, until that was canceled before Ball State had even played a game. The 2020-21 season saw BSU hampered by injuries and more COVID-19 complications with key pieces of its roster, before its run ended as a No. 8 seed in the MAC tournament with a two-point loss in overtime against No.