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Missouri State Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Bears

By Jason Burgess

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 8: Members of the Missouri State Bears huddle up prior to playing against the Wichita State Shockers during the MVC Basketball Tournament Semifinals at the Scottrade Center on March 8, 2014 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Shockers beat the Bears 67-42. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 8: Members of the Missouri State Bears huddle up prior to playing against the Wichita State Shockers during the MVC Basketball Tournament Semifinals at the Scottrade Center on March 8, 2014 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Shockers beat the Bears 67-42. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /
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ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 4: Dequon Miller #4 of the Missouri State Bears shoots the ball against Landry Shamet #11 of the Wichita State Shockers during the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Semifinals at the Scottrade Center on March 4, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 4: Dequon Miller #4 of the Missouri State Bears shoots the ball against Landry Shamet #11 of the Wichita State Shockers during the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Semifinals at the Scottrade Center on March 4, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

The Missouri Valley will be hotly contested this season and Missouri State Basketball is one of the teams vying for the top spot. What can we expect from the Bears?

The Missouri Valley Conference has had quite a two-year run in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018 Loyola-Chicago made their fabled run to the Final Four and last season they were upended in the conference tournament by eventual champion Bradley, who as a No. 5 seed, won three games (including over Missouri State Basketball) by a total of eight points to take home the title. Then, in the Big Dance, they would give No. 2 and Final Four participant Michigan State all they could handle, leading at halftime and with as little as seven minutes to play before the Spartans would go on to win by 11.

Loyola-Chicago and Bradley should again be two of the favorites to contend in the conference this season, but the Missouri State Bears under the tutelage of second-year head coach Dana Ford has a team that many feels can contend as well. The last banner the Bears hung in Springfield came in 2011 as regular-season champs and the last time the team made the NCAA Tournament was under former coach Steve Alford in 1999 when the team made a run to the Sweet Sixteen.

Last season Missouri State finished 16-16 in their first year under Ford and entered the MVC Tournament as the No. 4 seed with a 10-8 mark. They too would fall to Bradley in the tournament quarterfinals 61-58, ending their season, but a summer of fervent activity has gotten fans thinking this could be the best Bears team since that one in ’99, but only time will tell.