5 takeaways from Missouri State men's basketball's 2022-23 schedule release
Missouri State men's basketball announced its non-conference schedule alongside the Missouri Valley Conference's schedule release on Thursday morning.
Head coach Dana Ford is heading into his fifth season in charge of the Bears. The non-conference schedule features five opponents that won 20 games or more last season. The new Missouri Valley Conference schedule will feature a 20-game format with three new teams joining the league this season.
"It is vital for our guys to be tested and challenged by quality opponents with different styles of play during the non-conference portion of our season," Ford said in a release. "Our ultimate goal is to prepare this team for the rigors of a new and improved Missouri Valley Conference. We believe we have built the schedule to reflect that challenge."
The Bears are coming off a 23-11 season in which they finished as the MVC's runner-up and with a berth to the NIT for the first time since 2011.
More: Who in the world is on the 2022-23 Missouri State men's basketball roster right now?
Here are our takeaways from the Bears' schedule release:
Bears have a challenging start to non-conference play with a lot of new pieces
There will be a lot of comparisons between this year's Bears and the disappointing 2019-20 squad because each team had a ton of transfers going into the year. The 2019-20 team never really gelled after it was picked to win the league and ended the year 16-17.
That season might have been the most challenging schedule Ford built. It started the year with a one-point loss to Little Rock and then went on to have games against a ranked Xavier team along with Murray State, VCU, LSU, Miami (Florida) and Buffalo.
When you get past Missouri S&T being the opening night game, the Bears travel to BYU in the return game of their home-and-home. Middle Tennessee then comes to Springfield after a 26-11 season with a No. 95 finish in the NET rankings. The Blue Raiders were the runner-ups in the CBI last season and should be the most challenging home opponent the Bears face until Valley play.
Both teams are challenging for a new team that's going to try to come together really quickly. It's good to see Ford scheduled an exhibition game this season when one hasn't been officially scheduled since 2019-20. Another tune-up game will come on opening night against Missouri S&T before the Bears really get their season going. As far as attractive games for fans, a school called "Newman" and Missouri S&T won't really cut it for fans.
More: What Missouri State basketball coach Dana Ford said about overhauled roster, recruiting approach
The Bears only play Illinois State and Valparaiso once in Valley play
The additions of Murray State, Illinois-Chicago and Belmont to the Valley meant there were going to be some scheduling changes. The 20-game league schedule meant every team was going to play every team but two twice.
In Missouri State's case, it won't travel to Valparaiso and it won't host Illinois State this season.
Those are two games you'd expect the Bears to win after going 4-1 against the two teams last season. The Redbirds head into their first season under Ryan Pedon while Valparaiso wasn't too much of a challenge to the Bears last season.
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There doesn't appear to be a particularly brutal stretch on the schedule
When you first get the league schedule, you typically look for the roughest stretch of games that will define the season. There doesn't appear to be too much of one on the Bears' schedule this year.
Northern Iowa's expectations aren't too high following A.J. Green's decision to go pro and outsiders haven't been too high on what the Panthers brought in this season. The Bears start in Cedar Falls when non-conference play comes to an end.
Drake appears to be the favorite going into the season and the toughest stretch for the Bears might be in mid-January when they host Indiana State, travel to Drake and then host Southern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago. A road trip to Murray State will follow with four of the five teams in that stretch (sorry, UIC) expecting to have decent years.
You'll still want to keep an eye on the end of the conference season with Northern Iowa possibly getting better as the year goes on. It will still demand that respect because Ben Jacobson's its head coach. If the Panthers surprise people, a four-game stretch at Bradley, at home against Northern Iowa and Murray State and then the regular-season finale at Indiana State will be a challenging one when you hope the Bears are trying to win a conference championship and getting hot heading into Arch Madness.
UIC, Bradley in early-season Valley games isn't the worst-case scenario
For the second year in a row, there will be two Valley games smack-dab in the middle of non-conference play early in the season.
This year, the Bears will travel to Valley-newcomer Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 30 before hosting Bradley on Dec. 3. That's not the worst draw in the world.
Illinois-Chicago should be a win as the Flames play in their first conference game as a Valley member. The Flames are definitely the weakest of the newcomers and it's a game the Bears should win.
It's best that the Bears get Bradley at home and early. The Braves will have a different look this year with star player Terry Roberts transferring to Georgia this offseason. Bradley does bring back some notable players including Rienk Mast. The Braves will probably be really good as time goes on but it's best for the Bears to get them at home and early.
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Non-conference scheduling doesn't appear too strong but it should get the Bears ready for MVC play
It will be difficult to find many Bears fans who will be too happy with the non-conference schedule. BYU and Saint Mary's are two good games to have on the schedule but they're both on the road. Programs like Central Michigan, Sam Houston, Fort Wayne and Missouri S&T don't excite fans.
Once the Bears get past the Dec. 7 Saint Mary's date, you're hoping the Bears will be capable of getting on a hot streak going into the bulk of the Valley season.
Fort Wayne, Central Michigan and Sam Houston are games the Bears should win. It's never easy to predict what the Bears will do when they travel to Oral Roberts, where they've struggled in recent years, but it's a game that you always think the Bears should come out on top.
Fans would have liked to see stronger competition coming to Springfield but it's not the worst thing in the world that this particular Bears team will have winnable games that will allow it to build chemistry heading into conference play. It's a completely overhauled roster that will need to learn to play together and it will be better to get those lessons while winning.
2022-23 Missouri State men's basketball schedule
Nov. 5 - Newman University (exhib.)
Nov. 9 - Missouri S&T
Nov. 16 - @ BYU
Nov. 19 - Middle Tennessee
Nov. 25 - vs. North Carolina-Wilmington (Bahamas)
Nov. 26 - vs. Vermont or Ball State (Bahamas)
Nov. 27 - TBD (Bahamas)
Nov. 30 - @ Illinois-Chicago
Dec. 3 - Bradley
Dec. 7 - @ Saint Mary's
Dec. 10 - Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne
Dec. 16 - @ Oral Roberts
Dec. 18 - Central Michigan
Dec. 22 - Sam Houston
Dec. 28 - @ Northern Iowa
Jan. 1 - Drake
Jan. 4 - Evansville
Jan 7 - @ Belmont
Jan. 11 - @ Illinois State
Jan. 15 - Indiana State
Jan 18 - @ Drake
Jan 21 - Southern Illinois
Jan. 24 - Illinois-Chicago
Jan. 28 - @ Murray State
Feb. 1 - Valparaiso
Feb. 5 - @ Southern Illinois
Feb. 8 - Belmont
Feb. 12 - @ Evansville
Feb. 15 - @ Bradley
Feb. 18 - Northern Iowa
Feb. 21 - Murray State
Feb. 26 - @ Indiana State
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State men's basketball 2022-23 schedule release observations
