Checking in with Missouri State basketball coach Dana Ford during 2023 offseason
A surprising, and welcomed, quiet offseason from Missouri State basketball has seen Dana Ford retain most of his roster from the year before he enters his sixth season as head coach.
Names like Donovan Clay, Alston Mason, Chance Moore and others from a year ago are back when the previous offseason saw the Bears have to replace 87.5% of their scoring after transfers and graduations.
Continuity has allowed Missouri State to try and build off a 17-15 campaign and a sixth-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a younger roster that showed promise at different positions.
"We've been able to work with our core group together all summer and we can tell a noticeable difference and that cohesiveness has been a huge emphasis of ours this offseason," Ford said. "I do think that's an advantage for this year's team than what we had over last year's team and that's not a bad thing. I'm happy to see some progress we've made in that area a little earlier than in offseasons in the past."
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Tuesday was the Missouri Valley Conference's annual summer coaches teleconference with Ford entering the second-to-last season on his current contract. The Bears have yet to reach the Arch Madness title game under the head coach and demands will be higher for a program that hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament since 1999.
Ford spoke Tuesday about his current roster, the points of emphasis in offseason practice and where his newcomers will fit in the upcoming season.
Matthew Lee is getting closer to being cleared to play
During Ford's time coaching Missouri State, he has been unlucky with the health of his starting point guards. Last season was the latest example when the Bears lost Matthew Lee, who was the starting point guard for a Saint Peter's team that went to the Elite Eight in the previous NCAA Tournament. Lee tore his ACL in the second game of the season.
Ford said Lee is considered "82%" ready to return to the court heading into his second season with the program and that he's "almost cleared to play." He's participated in non-contact drills and is expected to be 100% before the season begins.
"He does everything else other than five on five," Ford said. "I think our technique has been to involve him in everything when he knows his next move. We don't want him doing anything right now that's unpredictable. Everyone has done a good job at getting him back on board and a lot of that has to do with him. He's got extreme work ethic and he's probably ahead of progress, but at the same time, we're not going to rush it and he doesn't need to be on the floor playing in a game for another 100 days."
A focus among the coaching staff has been to develop more ballhandlers behind Lee. The Bears have had to use younger players and some who haven't been pure point guards in the past to fill in for injured players. For example, Lu'Cye Patterson wasn't a pure point guard when Demarcus Sharp was out for a season and the likes of Damien Mayo and Alston Mason were young when they were pushed into ballhandling roles a year ago after Lee's injury.
Mayo has been a focus for the coaching staff to develop him into someone who can handle the position.
"That's been a priority of ours, developing him into a, I wouldn't say 'natural point guard' but definitely someone that if we didn't get Matthew back, we could go with Mayo at the point," Ford said. "He is definitely someone beyond where we've started that process with him."
Donovan Clay figures to get some time in the halfcourt while Ford also mentioned Alston Mason's name a few times as someone who has drastically improved from last year to now. Ford said Mason will be a 30-plus-minute player and that he would start at the point if games were started now. Freshman Davion Hill could also find his way into that mix.
Chance Moore needs to be an 'all-league type of guy'
There were flashes a season ago proving that Chance Moore can be a really good player in the Missouri Valley Conference. He earned MVC All-Bench honors and had 17 games in which he scored 10 points or more as someone seeing his first extended action following a year at the end of Arkansas' bench.
Moore's minutes fluctuated a bit throughout the season, but Ford appears to be committed to having him on the floor a lot more heading into his junior year.
"I have communicated that I'm committed to playing him in more minutes than what he played last year," Ford said. "He was kind of going through some growing pains having really been like a freshman last season. I think the first order of business for our staff this offseason was trying to establish Chance as a guy that we would like to be on the floor for extended minutes."
Ford said the idea was to give Moore that confidence heading into the offseason and to prepare for a long year ahead, knowing he'd have a bigger role. The Bears have never been worried about what he could do offensively. They've also seen him take a step forward in his strength and conditioning in addition to defensive awareness.
"I think, if we are going to be as good as we can be, which our team can be really good, then Chance Moore has to be an all-league and even probably a Player of the Year-type of guy," Ford said. "There's no doubt that he could do that. The question then becomes if he is willing to navigate through that process and what it entails. I feel confident that he will and he's going to be a big part of what we're doing moving forward."
How Jay Spoonhour has impacted Missouri State early on
Maybe Ford's biggest addition of the offseason, in the eyes of the fanbase, was adding a beloved name to his coaching staff after associate head coach Jase Herl moved to become an assistant at North Texas.
Jay Spoonhour, the son of Missouri State coaching legend Charlie Spoonhour, is now an assistant on Ford's staff.
Behind the scenes, we've heard that Spoonhour has been active in the community and has worked to establish recruiting pipelines starting at the local level and beyond. The former Eastern Illinois head coach spent nine seasons in Charleston before taking the last two seasons off.
"You don't have to teach him the job," Ford said. "He's been great with our guys and he's been good in the community. He's been fun to be around and is the right man for the job. The best thing I like about him is his optimism. He's probably been around when our program was at its all-time high. He has an understanding of what it takes and what it feels like. Getting that perspective has been good for not just me, but I think our players as well."
Dana Ford on Cesare Edwards and Davion Hill
The splashiest of the Bears' offseason roster additions came when they added Xavier transfer Cesare Edwards and Neumann Regional Academy (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) incoming freshman Davion Hill.
Edwards is a 6-foot-9 forward who was added around the same time Jonathan Mogbo, a forward, departed the Bears to transfer to San Francisco. Mogbo was one of the Bears' better defenders and leading rebounder last season.
Edwards and Mogbo are different in their strengths and the Bears will have a few different looks at both ends of the floor with Edwards on the court.
"He's a good rebounder when Jonathan was an elite rebounder," Ford said. "I think Cesare, right now, is a good rebounder with the potential to become elite. Offensively, he stretches the defense a little more and his mid-range shot is pretty consistent. We're working on him developing a 3-point shot> he can make them but I think he has to get to a point where he can make them a bit more consistently.
"Defensively, I don't know if he's as versatile as Jonathan was but he's definitely a guy who can defend inside and defend another team's interior guy from a one-on-one standpoint. There are a few things similar and then a little bit different."
Hill is a 6-foot-2 incoming freshman and the younger brother of former Missouri State standout Alize Johnson. The Bears had Hill's older brother, David Hill, on the roster last season as a walk-on, but he's since departed the program.
Hill isn't the same player as Johnson, who was a high-motor walking double-double at the forward before becoming a standout in the NBA G League along with some brief stints at the end of a few NBA benches. Hill has been lauded for his toughness and work ethic after averaging 34.3 points per game last season in Pennsylvania along with earning two statewide Player of the Year honors.
"He's definitely tough enough to play at this level," Ford said. "He's got extreme confidence. He still has to learn the things that freshmen have to learn in regard to defense and taking care of the ball. He's not afraid to work hard and he's responsible. He's definitely a different player right now and he's a lot younger than what his brother was when he played her. Over time, I do think he's someone who can impact games and I think even as a freshman, if he's able to work his way to the floor, he will have an impact on winning with hustle plays and some of his heads-up plays offensively.
"He's a really good piece to have on a team like this one with our returning guys because he can do a little bit of everything in regards to handling the ball, shooting the ball and defending. He'll find his way to the floor sooner rather than later."
Other nuggets from Dana Ford on Tuesday
Scheduling
Ford said the staff feels like it upheld its part in scheduling with the hopes of the Valley turning into a multi-bid league again — while noting the Bears have to win those games. He sees West Virginia, Saint Mary's and Oral Roberts as teams that are going to contend for NCAA Tournament bids come the end of the season.
Donovan Clay
Ford said Clay has further embraced a leadership role heading into his final year of eligibility. Others jumping into those roles include Mason and Moore.
How the Bears are focusing on improving at the free throw line and taking care of the ball
Missouri State was terrible from the free throw line a year ago shooting 62.6%, placing the Bears as the seventh-worst in Division I. They weren't quite as bad in turning over the ball but still gave it up over 12 times per game. That put them in the bottom half of the MVC and right in the middle of the country.
With much of the same roster returning, the Bears coaching staff has made it a priority to get the team better from the line this season.
"We've emphasized those areas," Ford said. "We start everything we do with free throws for 15 minutes. We get hundreds of free throws up every day and every turnover that we have had this summer results in an extreme amount of pushups for everyone involved. We've definitely tried to clean up our efficiency. It starts with making our layups, making our free throws and taking care of the ball."
Missouri State men's basketball 2023-24 non-conference schedule
Nov. 6 - @ West Virginia
Nov. 13 - Oral Roberts
Nov. 17 - Florida Gulf Coast (Virgin Islands)
Nov. 18 - Kent State or Hampton (Virgin Islands)
Nov. 20 - TBD (Virgin Islands)
Nov. 25 - South Carolina State
Dec. 5 - @ Middle Tennessee
Dec. 9 - Sam Houston
Dec. 16 - @ Tulsa
Dec. 19 - Lindenwood
Dec. 22 - @ Saint Mary's
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.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball Dana Ford on 2023-24 roster during summer
