Not Much Time to Break in the New Guys at Missouri State
Instead of discussing some famous folks who attended Missouri State, most notably John Goodman, who is a big, scary man when one is walking around a corner at Ralph’s and literally runs into him, we will talk about the schedule. But Goodman is a Bear and actually acted at MSU with Kathleen Turner. Apparently Springfield, Missouri was the place to be in 70s. The late great Don S. Davis was also a Bear, but he has Saluki ties too.
Missouri State is breaking in a ton of new players, but the schedule does not lend itself to padding the record and breaking in the new faces. Missouri State received a waiver from the NCAA to play an exhibition on the road against Missouri Southern in Joplin as part of the Bear Hugs for Joplin initiative. All proceeds will go directly to the Missouri Southern Foundation’s Tornado Emergency Relief Fund.
After that it is down to business and more games away from the friendly confines of JQH Arena. It starts with a trip to Reno to face off against a tough Nevada team. After that the Bears have a long road trip to Jonesboro, Arkansas to take on Arkansas State four days later. For an inexperienced team, that opening road trip is a lot tougher than it may sound. Then it is back home for a game that is yet to be determined, preferably against a cupcake for the sake of morale if the road trip does not go well. Then the Bears host Tulsa before traveling to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play at consistent Summit League contender Oral Roberts.
And that is just November. December starts off just as tough with a trip to New Mexico. Then Coach Lusk will host a Big 12 team in Oklahoma State before heading back to Arkansas to take on 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Arkansas-Little Rock. Most of those games can be considered winnable, but there is not an easy game on the schedule either. Do not be fooled by teams like Arkansas State and Oral Roberts…especially when they are playing at home.
The iBN Sports Las Vegas Classic will give Coach Lusk a little relief. As part of the tournament the Bears will host Kennesaw State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before heading off to Vegas where they could run into the likes of West Virginia, Baylor or St. Mary’s. That schedule will either prepare this team for a nice run in the MVC or have them heading into conference play with their tail between their legs.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
