Another losing season means that for the fourth consecutive year, the ISU men’s basketball team is watching the NCAA Tournament from home.

It is the first time that Iowa State has gone four straight years without a tournament bid since the 1980-84 seasons.

The Cyclones (15-17, 4-12) certainly aren’t pleased with their 10th-place Big 12 finish at 4-12, but their struggles were expected by most. They were voted to finish in 11th place by the coaches and the writers, so in a sense they exceeded those expectations by one spot.

The biggest bright spot for the Cyclones was the play of sophomore Craig Brackins . The California-native elevated his game to new heights as he grabbed a spot on the All-Big 12 first-team. He was the first Cyclone to do that since Jamaal Tinsley did so in the 2000-01 season.

He averaged 20.2 points per game along with 9.5 rebounds per game and played even better in Big 12 play, where he averaged a double-double in league games with 21.8 ppg and 10.3 rpg. Brackins led the Cyclones in scoring in 25 of their 32 games and scored more than 30 points in four games.

The Cyclones were in desperate need of a second scorer all season but nobody came to the forefront. The Cyclones’ second-leading scorer was Diante Garrett at 9.8 ppg, but he shot less than 40 percent from the field in conference play and after going 8-of-23 from downtown in non-league games he went an ice cold 3-of-27 from 3-point range in conference games.

One area that Garrett did improve on was his assist to turnover ratio. His five assists per game is third best in the Big 12 and 44th nationally. He also recorded his first career double-double in a close loss to Oklahoma.

The Cyclones also had streaky play from their third leading scorer, Lucca Staiger. The sophomore made 74 three-pointers on the season, which ranks seventh on Iowa State’s single-season record chart. Like Garrett though, his numbers dipped in conference play where he shot just 34 percent from beyond the arc.

A pleasant surprise for the Cyclones was the number of players who saw significant playing time. Eleven different players logged at least 15 minutes in a given game.

The Cyclones also were led by a youth movement, with 74 percent of their scoring coming from freshmen and sophomores.

Iowa State started the season on an up note winning six of its first seven games, including a thrilling overtime road win over Missouri Valley champion Northern Iowa. The victory over UNI proved to be Iowa State’s only win of the season over a team that participated in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cyclones then hit a bump in the road when they lost three of four to Drake, Iowa and South Dakota State. Four straight wins rounded out the non-conference portion of the schedule and ISU saw themselves with a respectable 11-4 record.

Iowa State picked up its first conference victory of the season with a 65-53 win over Nebraska, but followed that up with six straight losses. The Cyclones picked up three more wins to finish the conference season, to put them at 4-12 for the second straight season.

The road is still a house of horrors for the Cyclones as they went 0-8 for the second straight season in Big 12 play.

The Cyclones ended the season with a first-round loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament. It was also the fourth straight year that the Cyclones failed to advance to the second round in the Big 12 tourney.