The 2011âÂÂ12 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team represented Cleveland State University in the 2011âÂÂ12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Gary Waters. The Vikings played their home games at the Wolstein Center and were members of the Horizon League. It was the 81st season of Cleveland State basketball.
Last year's team finished the season 27âÂÂ9, 13âÂÂ5 in Horizon League play to share the regular season conference title with Butler and Milwaukee. They played in the NIT, advancing to the second round.
The preseason Horizon League Coaches' Poll picked the Vikings to finish third with two first place votes behind Butler and Detroit, with 28 and 19 first place votes, respectively.
In the preseason rankings Cleveland State received no points or votes in the AP or ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. On November 7, 2011 Cleveland State received 43 points in the AP poll for 29th overall and 13 votes in the coaches poll for a ranking of 35th. On November 14, 2011 Cleveland State received 94 points in the AP poll for a ranking of 26th. In the coaches poll Cleveland State received 20 points for a ranking of 34th.
|- !colspan=9| Exhibition
|- !colspan=9| Regular season
|- !colspan=12|Horizon League tournament
|- !colspan=12|NIT