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MVC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

By Harry Schroeder

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
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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Donovan Clay, of Missouri State Msuva070lpo
Donovan Clay, of Missouri State Msuva070lpo /

5. Missouri State Bears – Head Coach Dana Ford
 
2021-22 record: 23-11 overall; 13-5 in the MVC

Missouri State coach Dana Ford is the Valley’s best recruiter. The Bears endured huge turnover this offseason. Ford watched leading scorer Isiaih Mosley transfer to Missouri and his all-league center Gaige Prim graduate. His top assistant Corey Gipson landed a head coaching job and several players went with him.

So, Ford went out and built one of the top three rosters in the league. With only all-defensive team member Donovan Clay returning from last year’s top rotational players, Ford signed two, former four-star players, two guards from NCAA Tournament teams, and three of the best high school players within three hundred miles of Springfield, Missouri.

Oh and there is more.

Clay was a part of the Valley’s all-freshman team in 2020 when playing for Valparaiso, now he is the senior statesman at Missouri State. Ford unapologetically says Clay is a player of the year candidate this season. The 6’8 forward is a great defender and last season averaged 8.4 points and 6.1 rebounds and while blocking 36 shots. He converts 54 percent of his field goal attempts.

Chance Moore and James Graham were top 100 recruits coming out of high school Moore went to Arkansas where he played just five games for the Elite Eight-bound Razorbacks. Graham is one year older and played just nine games in two seasons at Maryland. Each player is in that 6’6/6’7 range and they are itching to prove how good they really are.

Matthew Lee (Saint Peters) and Kendle Moore (Colorado State) participated in the NCAA tournament and were in the same Indianapolis pod last spring. Moore made 119 starts for the Rams and Lee was the steadying backcourt force in the Peacock’s run to the Sweet Sixteen. Each averaged just under seven points per game.

The NJCAA’s seventeenth leading rebounder, Jonathan Mogbo will help up front along with a pair of freshmen N.J. Benson and Jonathan Dunn. 7-footer Dawson Carper could emerge from Prim’s shadows to be a key player.

Dalen Ridgnal is a 6’7 Georgia transfer.

Former Akron and St. John’s guard Bryan Trimble (10.4 ppg) and Link Year Academy freshman Damien Mayo JR are both guards with good size and explosiveness.