New KenPom preseason rankings are out
MBB: Murray State is 7th in the Missouri Valley in first computer rankings of the year
In the initial release of Ken Pomeroy’s 2025-26 computer rankings, Murray State is picked to finish 7th in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
Ken Pomeroy’s site is nothing short of a buffet of basketball minutiae that helps put into context a team’s resume and standing among their peers. It is also an important metric that is used, alongside the NCAA NET rankings and others, to help determine the NCAA Tournament field.
KenPom’s preseason methodology is one part results, one part projection, and one part historical bias. Teams will get some benefit of the doubt for what they have done in the past, and that will certainly provide an October boost to some schools that will ultimately not deserve it. In the end, these numbers are a starting point, but they will quickly evolve once the season begins. If a team outperforms it’s preseason projections, the KenPom rankings will reflect that.
While the Racers come in 7th in the Valley in the preseason rankings, the top eight teams in the conference are bunched tightly together, before there is a significant drop to the the bottom three.
Here is how KenPom ranks the Missouri Valley teams nationally, and how he predicts the conference race to shape out. Please note, according to Pomeroy, “projected conference records may not sum to .500 due to rounding.”
#106 Bradley (13-7)
#108 Belmont (12-8)
#117 Northern Iowa (12-8)
#121 Illinois State (11-9)
#123 Drake (11-9)
#130 Southern Illinois (11-9)
#134 Murray State (10-10)
#135 UIC (10-10)
#186 Indiana State (8-12)
#246 Evansville (6-14)
#283 Valparaiso (5-15)
Here are where Murray State’s Division I non-conference opponents are ranked nationally in the KenPom preseason rankings:
#187 Omaha
#365 Mississippi Valley
#43 SMU
#225 Nicholls
#152 Little Rock
#159 Middle Tennessee
#101 McNeese
#81 George Washington
#293 Morehead State
#310 Bellarmine
#94 Akron
In the game-by-game projections, KenPom projects Murray State to finish the season 17-14 overall. His computer system has Murray State winning five of their first six games, with the only loss over that stretch being at SMU.
The Missouri Valley Conference is projected to be ranked #10 in the country this year, the same spot they’ve finished in each of the last two seasons.