MVC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2023-24 season

5. Missouri State Bears  – Head Coach Dana Ford

2022-23 record: 17-15 overall, 12-8 in the MVC

Missouri State has the talent to win the MVC basketball title. During Dana Ford’s entire five year career in Springfield, Missouri they’ve achieved a .500 record or better every season. They’ve been highly rated before and have finished no better than tied for second.

Can they reach the brass ring this season? They have a talented and deep roster and a fan base that is hungry for a title. Missouri State has not won a Valley regular season title since 2011 and haven’t won an Arch Madness trophy since 1999.

Second-teamer Donovan Clay (11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists) is the unquestioned leader of this team. He is a two-time all-defensive team member and has scored over 1,200 MVC points and grabbed nearly 700 career rebounds.

Perhaps the most important player is point guard Matthew Lee. The St. Peter’s transfer was set to run the Bears offense last season but injured his knee during the team’s second game and never returned. The lack of a true offensive quarterback hindered Ford’s team all season. Lee appears healthy and ready to take the reins this year.

There is talent everywhere on this roster. Chance Moore (10.6 ppg) was an instant offense guy coming off Ford’s bench last season and was awarded with an all-bench team award. While struggling on the defensive end, he can be a lethal scorer.

Young guards Alston Mason (9.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.8 apg) and Damien Mayo gained valuable experience in Lee’s absence and Mason, may be a star in the making. Another returner is 6’8 sophomore N.J. Benson. While playing just 27 games, Benson showed flashes of why he was one of the State of Illinois’ top ten 2022 prep players.

Incoming transfers and freshmen are causing a buzz around this program. 6’8 freshman Tyler Bey is a top 200 player nationally and played last season in Georgia’s entry in the Overtime Elite League. Bey may be the highest rated player ever recruited to Missouri State. Alize Johnson’s brother Davion Hill is a 6’2 guard  who was twice named Pennsylvania’s ‘player of the year’ and redshirt freshman transfer Nick Kramer (St. Louis University) was a top ten player in St. Louis during his senior high school season.

Ford landed an important player when Cesare Edwards came aboard. The 6’9 Xavier transfer experienced little playing time at Xavier but like Mason and Moore before him, was an explosive prep player that got caught in a numbers game in a ‘power five’ program.

Veterans Raphe Ayeres and 6’11 Dawson Carper will also be in the mix.

Can the Bears jump over more established teams and ditch the ‘good talent, but can’t win a championship’ label that some put on them? This may be the most complete team, rather than a collection of stars that Ford has had. They could win it all.