What to watch for now that Missouri State basketball's 2022-23 season is over

Missouri State's run at Arch Madness came to an end following a 54-51 loss to Southern Illinois during Friday's quarterfinal round at Arch Madness in St. Louis.

Attention now goes to the Bears' offseason and what kind of player movement will come. The university already said it wants head coach Dana Ford for his sixth season but who returns with him will always be an offseason mystery in this current college basketball climate.

Here are a few things that we're immediately looking at as the offseason begins for Missouri State men's basketball.

Will the Bears run it back with this roster? Who leaves?

The majority of the Bears' roster could come back for another season but there's no telling how this offseason will play out. Missouri State, and many programs across the nation, saw nearly the entire roster enter the transfer portal following the 2021-22 season. That's now a worry every year until the rules maybe change.

Kendle Moore, Dawson Carper and Bryan Trimble Jr. are the only three who have exhausted their eligibility. Donovan Clay, Dalen Rignal and Matthew Lee are seniors who have the option to return to use their extra year of eligibility that was given to them because of the pandemic.

Clay indicated following the Bears' game on Friday night that he intends to return next season. As Missouri State's best player, that would be a major boost to the roster.

James Graham, Chance Moore and Alston Mason are three talented, young players who already transferred once from a Division I college. The "one-time transfer rule" hasn't restricted players too often from making a second move without consequence. Recent guidelines announced by the NCAA make it seem like this will be tighter, which would work in MSU's favor, but it remains to be seen how it will work. All three would have major roles for the Bears next season if they choose to stay.

Other players including Jonathan Mogbo, Raphe Ayres, Damien Mayo Jr. and N.J. Benson have a one-time transfer at their disposal and will be ones to keep a close eye on.

There are a lot of players the Bears would welcome back with open arms. Ford talked at length this season about the youth and inexperience on the roster and how there was plenty of room for improvement heading into the future. There will be a lot of eyes on the players' social media accounts over the next few weeks.

Moats, Smart say Dana Ford is their guy. Will his contract be left as it is?

It's not a surprise Missouri State's administration said it will bring back Ford for a sixth season. It would have been out of character for administrators to make a change and he deserves the opportunity to continue as the coach more than others who have been brought back with far, far worse resumes.

Now that seems to be out of the way, there is reason to wonder about his contract and if Missouri State will choose to do anything about it as he enters his second-to-last season on the deal. Coaches like to have more years on their contract for personal and recruiting reasons.

With the way this season played out, it would seem unlikely that Athletics Director Kyle Moats would extend him, although we've been surprised by extensions he's given out before. It seems like the logical move would be to see if Ford can retain a young roster, develop it and hope the team challenges for a conference championship and NCAA Tournament bid.

With no players signed, what is Missouri State recruiting?

Early in Ford's time as head coach, it seemed like every player who ever dribbled a basketball was announcing a scholarship offer from the Bears on social media. Over the past few years, Ford's kept his recruiting under tight wraps.

There is no telling what the Bears are doing behind the scenes as to who they plan on bringing in for next year. They didn't sign anyone during the November signing period, with Ford saying they would have if the right player came along and wanted to put pen to paper.

First, Ford and his staff are going to have to figure out how many players they can bring in with available scholarships. That may change if players are to hit the transfer portal and then they'll have to figure out what they need to fill.

If everyone was to come back, the Bears would have three open spots with the assumption that Tommy Pinegar, Kanon Gipson and David Hill all remain walk-ons.

As always, expect Ford to be active in the portal. There are also a few high school prospects MSU has recruited who remain uncommitted, including Davion Hill, the younger brother of David Hill and Missouri State great Alize Johnson. The Bears have also been in heavier pursuit of Nixa senior Kael Combs in recent months.

If Matthew Lee comes back, how big of an impact can he make next season?

It happened too early in the year for us to really wonder what kind of year the Bears would have had with Lee at point guard but his experience and play in the biggest of games would have been greatly beneficial.

Lee exited the Bears' second game of the season with a torn ACL. He was a starting point guard for the "Cinderella" Saint Peter's team that went on a run to the Elite Eight last season and he will have the option to come back next year to use a bonus year of eligibility. There's also a chance he could receive a medical redshirt after missing this past season — which would be determined at a later date.

A healthy Lee in a Bears uniform could do wonders for a team that played at a slower pace this season in part due to its tendency to turn the ball over. Inserting him into a lineup could move Mason over to a two-guard and create a few lineup combinations that the Bears weren't able to play with this year.

For whatever reason, Ford hasn't had the best of luck with the starting point guard position over his five years in Springfield. Demarcus Sharp missed a lot of time in 2021-22 and 2020-21 and he might win the Southland Conference's player of the year honor at Northwestern State and Tyrik Dixon suffered a season-ending injury in 2019-20.

The only time Ford ever had his opening-night starting point guard finish a season came in his first year with Josh Webster. Maybe we'll see what kind of difference that would make if it's able to happen next year.

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 basketball: What to watch during 2023 offseason