The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 132 is Missouri State basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Missouri State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 18.4
- Bids per season: 0.13
- AP Polls: 1
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 4
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 5
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 1
Overall scoop on Missouri State basketball
Another program with lots of success when they get to March Madness, Missouri State basketball is No. 132!
The Bears have gone to the big dance six times, but they’ve won three games in March. In 1987, as a 13-seed, they upset 4-seed Clemson before falling to 5-seed Kansas in a close one. They’d have first round exits in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992, but created a mini-dynasty under head coach Charles Spoonhour. He was 197-81 as their head coach for nine seasons, never having a losing record, and finishing with seven straight 20-win campaigns. Spoonhour led the Bears to Mid-Continent Conference regular season championships. His success would get him a job at Saint Louis.
The Bears haven’t reached that level of success since, but for a while, they were still on top of their game. Steve Alford held the post from 1995-99, and went 78-48, taking them to the NCAA Tournament in ’99. That Bears team knocked off 5-seed Wisconsin in a 43-32 low-scoring battle, before blowing out 4-seed Tennessee, 81-51. They fell to Duke in the Sweet 16. In the game against the Badgers, Wisconsin was held to just 12 made field goals. Missouri State outrebounded them, 35-18.
Alford left for Iowa, and the program still did solidly under Barry Hinson, who went 169-117. Cuonzo Martin also did an excellent job, leading them to a CIT Championship in 2010 and a regular season MVC championship the following season. He left for Tennessee, and after a few more stops, returned in 2024.
The program hasn’t made it back to the NCAA Tournament since that run in 1999, but they’ve continued to have a winning culture. 17 of those 26 seasons have been above .500, so they’ve still been an above-average mid-major program. After all, with a historic D1 winning percentage of .585, that doesn’t leave room for many losses. And now that they’re in Conference USA, the future is exciting!