MVC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

Mar 6, 2022; St. Louis, MO, USA; Drake Bulldogs head coach Darian DeVries reacts to a call against the Loyola Ramblers during the first half in the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

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Belmont Bruins head coach Casey Alexander MVC Basketball Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /

Loyola Chicago is gone and three new teams join the new-look Valley.

The 2022-23 season is a pivotal one as the league looks to maintain its respectable reputation.

During recent seasons, Loyola Chicago became the face of MVC Basketball and now the Ramblers are gone. Replacing LUC are Belmont, Murray State, and Illinois Chicago. Certainly, the Bruins and Racers bring stunning reputations and UIC fills the Windy City market, but is the new-look Valley better than last season?

League advocates believe the Valley will be better long term and hope the league will be very healthy this season. Six of last year’s top ten scorers are gone. Only one of those departures was due to graduation. The transfer portal stripped the league of the other five.

This is a league in transition. While Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson returns for his 17th season, there are three new teams in two new markets and new coaches at Illinois State and Evansville. It seems like nothing is normal in the MVC.

Valley teams are not normally known for diving deep into the transfer portal but MVC squads looked far and wide for transfers to fill the gaping holes in their rosters. Murray State has a brand new roster and Illinois State and Evansville aren’t far behind.

There are more star Division 2 players moving up to the league than we have ever seen. These formulas could work, but the transitioning MVC has a completely different feel and look this season. Ryan Pedon left Ohio State to take over the Illinois State job and Evansville landed Butler assistant David Ragland to lead the Purple Aces.

Belmont and Murray State are annually the favorites to win their conference championships and they are ‘middle of the pack’ teams in the new-look Missouri Valley Conference.