Freshman Ludavic Ndave delivers for Cleveland State: Vikings Insider

The 6-9 freshman comes off the bench to deliver a career-high seven rebounds and a career-high seven points.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Cleveland State's backcourt was the key to a triumph Wednesday night over South Florida, a key ingredient to the overall success of the Vikings men's basketball team is the play of Ludavic Ndaye.

The 6-9 freshman came off the bench to deliver a career-high seven rebounds when boards were hard to come by for the Vikings, who were outrebounded, 49-26. He also scored a career-high seven points.

"We told him we were going to use him tonight," CSU coach Gary Waters said.

Ndaye's emergence at power forward gives the Vikings a counter to starting power forward Tim Kamczyc, who is much more effective against quicker perimeter players than bangers like those the Bulls used.

By the numbers: Kenpom.com is one of a myriad RPI sites that equate the top basketball teams around the country. While most sites have Cleveland State ranked among the top 15 teams in the nation going into its game with South Florida, Kenpom.com had the Vikings ranked 70th.

However, the site projects CSU's season and has coach Waters' team ending with a respectable 25-5, 14-4 record. The site projects CSU to lose only two Horizon League games, both against Butler, but the Vikings' final record apparently includes some upsets.

Looking at Kenpom.com's game-by-game projections, the three most likely upsets for the Vikings are at Valparaiso, at Illinois-Chicago and at Wright State. In all other HL games, the Vikings are projected to have a 65 percent chance or better of winning, including 10 games in which the projections are 80 percent or higher.

What about Butler? Kenpom.com has the Bulldogs (6-4, 2-0) rated higher (RPI 38) than CSU, albeit with a worse record. The site projects the defending HL champs to finish at 21-7, 16-2. A check of the Bulldogs' game-by-game projection has them going undefeated in the league. The upset probabilities are at CSU and at Wright State with a 76 percent chance or better of winning the rest.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253