Wichita State or Missouri State: Who Will Be Missouri Valley's Bracket Buster?

Last season, it was the Northern Iowa Panthers that turned out to be the Missouri Valley Team that stunned the college basketball world and broke everyone’s brackets with their massive 69-67 upset of the No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The victory was a landmark for the conference, which has had teams such as Southern Illinois, Bradley and Creighton experience a marginal level of tournament success in the past.

The Valley is a conference whose name has been growing and gaining respect around many college basketball circles over the last few years for their take on all comers scheduling approach and their fundamentally sound teams.

As last year’s shining star Northern Iowa, a team that finished 30-5, tries to replace three key starters and five senior leaders, it would seem the balance of power in the MVS has now shifted to two other intriguing teams—the Wichita State Shockers and the Missouri State Bears.

Wichita State, who finished with a 25-10 overall record and second in conference play to the Panthers with a 12-6 mark, has already started picking up some steam around the country and garnering some preseason attention from voters. Even though the Shockers were left out of the initial preseason AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coach’s Poll, they did receive a fair amount of points from the voters in both polls.

Coach Gregg Marshall's crew was the near unanimous pick as the top team in the preseason MVC Poll, receiving 33 of a possible 39 first place votes.

They are considered to be a potentially elite mid-major team this season, and one that is capable of making a run similar to what we saw out of conference counterpart Northern Iowa this past March.

The Shockers will have to figure out a way to replace last year’s leading scorer, point guard Clevin Hannah, who averaged 12 points a game last season. Hannah was a First Team All MVC performer and his floor leadership and ability to make things happen on the offensive end will be missed.

Luckily for Wichita State, they return every other key player from last year’s NIT team including senior power forward J.T. Durley, who looks to be one of the conference’s true impact players this year.

The 6'8" Durley, who averaged 11 points and nearly five rebounds a game last season, is an effective scorer inside and has the ability to get to the free throw line and convert when needed.

The other player to keep an eye on for the Shockers is valuable 6'4" shooting guard Toure’ Murry. The junior is the team’s top returning scorer and was honored as a preseason MVC All Conference pick.

Durley and Murry will be joined by a cast of solid veteran players such as 6'4" swingman Graham Hatch, big 7'0" center Garrett Stutz and senior forward Aaron Ellis to form a solid nucleus.

They also welcome in intriguing junior college transfers, 7'0" center Ehimen Orukpe and undersized forward Ben Smith, to help strengthen their depth.

Even though they return so much firepower, Wichita State will likely be tested for the MVC crown by that talented team across the border, Missouri State.

The Bears, who were ranked second in the preseason MVC poll, return their top seven scorers from a team that won 24 games a year ago and took home the CollegeInsider.com tournament title.

Cuonzo Martin’s team welcomes back four starters led by leading returning scorer, junior Kyle Weems, who averaged 13 points a game a year ago.

The 6'6" forward was honored with a spot on the MVC preseason All Conference Team and looks to once again be the face of this talented bunch.

Weems will be joined by center Will Creekmore, who won tournament MVP honors, as well as '09-10 conference newcomer of the year Adam Leonard, a skilled three point shooter.

Senior Jermaine Mallett will join Leonard in the backcourt to give the Bears one of the best guard duos in the conference.

Both of these squads look to be trending upwards, and both have what it takes to get to the "Big Dance" and make some noise once they get there. But to do that, they both will have to get through one of the strongest mid-major conferences in the country.

Creighton will have something to say with preseason conference player of the year Kenny Lawson and you can bet Northern Iowa still has a little bit of magic up their sleeve.

Nothing is going to come easy for Wichita State and Missouri State this season, but if they both play up to their potential, the Missouri Valley Conference will send two teams to the NCAA Tournament that have a chance to shake up things up once again this year.