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Murray State tops the MVC preseason poll for the first time after a 20-win season, with Ryan Miller leading a roster featuring nine newcomers.
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Murray State had never been picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference in men's basketball until Oct. 13, when the Racers took 32 first-place votes and 517 points in the league's preseason poll to finish ahead of Illinois State and UIC.
It is a big step for a program that left the Ohio Valley Conference for the Valley in 2022. The Racers were picked third in each of the past two seasons before the league's coaches, communications directors and media put them on top this time.
Murray State finished 46 points clear of Illinois State in the MVC's preseason poll. Illinois State drew seven first-place votes and 471 points, and UIC was a close third with six first-place votes and 466.
Belmont was fourth with 353 points, Valparaiso fifth with 343 and Bradley sixth with 313, and each of those three drew one first-place vote.
Voters had a deep league to sort through after the Valley put seven teams in the NET Top 120 on Selection Sunday last season, its most since 2019-20.
Murray State went 20-13 overall and 12-8 in the Valley last season, Ryan Miller's first as head coach, and that quick turnaround set the bar for this one.
Miller took over after Steve Prohm stepped down in March 2025 following a 70-62 loss to Bradley in the MVC quarterfinals, as reported by The Murray State News' Zach Simmons. Prohm went 45-52 in his second stint and never finished higher than seventh in Valley play, a sharp drop from his first stint from 2011 to 2015. Miller now has to win again with a mostly new group.
Only three Racers who played last season return. Roman Domon, the MVC Freshman of the Year, is back with fellow French sophomore Mathis Courbon and senior guard Brayden Shorter, who came over from Washburn a year ago.
Three more are back after redshirting. Ben Shtolzberg, a guard who started at Creighton and spent two seasons at UC Santa Barbara, sat out last season along with redshirt freshmen Lachlan Crate and Dillon Butler.
Miller filled the rest of the roster with four transfers and five freshmen. Guards Kaden Magwood and Christian Jones come from Auburn and George Washington. Forwards Brigham Rogers and Shon Tupuola come from Belmont and Valparaiso. The freshman class leans overseas, with players from Slovenia, Serbia and France, plus Navon Shabazz of Des Moines, Iowa.
Murray State was not the only program to set a mark. UIC had never been picked higher than eighth since joining the Valley, and now it sits third, just five points behind Illinois State.
Valparaiso was picked fifth, topping its old high of sixth from 2017-18, and Belmont's fourth-place pick is also its best as a league member.
Murray State plays an exhibition at 5 p.m. CT on Oct. 22 at Florida International in Miami. The Racers open the regular season against Tennessee State on Nov. 2 at 10:30 a.m. CT at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, then host Northwestern State on Nov. 7 at the CFSB Center.
