Expectations high for Missouri Southern basketball

Expectations surrounding Missouri Southern basketball are high.

The Missouri Southern women have been picked third in both conference preseason polls, while the men climbed to fourth in the coaches poll.

The bigger reason for optimism may be how much of both teams returned.

Women's coach Ronnie Ressel brings back three All-MIAA selections in Ashlyn Alloway, Grace Frazier and Nariah Clay from a team that finished 20-10 overall and 13-6 in conference play.

Frazier led Southern with 15.9 points per game last season, Clay averaged 13.3 and Alloway added 12.8 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds.

Ressel said Tuesday at MIAA Basketball Media Day that the experience should be a major advantage.

"They just know how to compete and they know how to win," Ressel said.

Southern returns 10 players, giving Ressel more options after Alloway, Frazier and Clay each averaged more than 30 minutes per game last season.

The confidence surrounding the men's program represents an even bigger shift.

Missouri Southern was picked 13th in both MIAA preseason polls last year before finishing 18-13, going 10-9 in conference play and reaching the tournament semifinals.

This year, the Lions received a first-place vote and were picked fourth by conference coaches.

Sam McMahon, entering his fifth season as head coach said those expectations mean little once games begin.

"Preseason rankings don't mean nothing," McMahon said. "It's what you do every day."

The Lions return All-MIAA honorable mention guards Gavyn Elkamil and Colin Ruffin, along with Isaiah Atwater, Brayden Williams and Hunter Fitch.

McMahon called him one of the best shooters in the MIAA.

Southern also gets back Tyrique Brooks, who returns to Joplin after spending last season at Division I Missouri State.

Brooks averaged 13.1 points as a freshman at MSSU in 2024-25 before transferring.

McMahon said Brooks has fit back into the program seamlessly and believes the number of veterans who stayed at Southern says something about what the program has built.

"They came back because there's unfinished business," McMahon said.

McMahon also singled out Atwater's leadership, calling him "the head of the snake" of what he described as an increasingly player-led team.

"We're more than just a team, we're a family," McMahon said.

Both teams begin play the second week of November.