How incoming Missouri State recruits reacted to school's move to Conference USA

Missouri State men’s basketball signee Vincent Brady II said he was shocked when he heard the university’s athletics program was leaving the Missouri Valley Conference to join Conference USA.

Wyatt Vincent, an MSU baseball commit from Nixa High, said he couldn't believe the news when he heard it from someone else while sitting in class. Recent football commit James BlackStrain, a transfer wide receiver from Georgia Tech, added he had no idea it was coming.

Also common between the three future Bears? Excitement to help lead Missouri State athletics into its next chapter once it begins CUSA play come 2025-26.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Brady said. “Especially if we’re able to pull off winning both leagues like back-to-back in both conferences.”

The three weren’t made aware of Missouri State’s potential move to a new conference until Friday morning’s announcement from the school saying it will join the new league, meaning it will play in the Football Bowl Subdivision for the first time.

It wasn’t a recruiting tool used by second-year head coach Ryan Beard when landing BlackStrain, a 6-foot-2, 186-pound wide receiver who announced his commitment to the Bears on Saturday, a day after the school’s announcement.

The former four-star and ESPN 300 prospect out of high school has the resume of one that might’ve been influenced by the change from FCS to FBS but he said he had been quietly committed to the Bears for a while and intended to join MSU because of his relationship with Beard — one that stems from when Beard was an assistant at Louisville and was among the first to offer the wide receiver as a 15-year-old.

“I was surprised by the transition,” BlackStrain said. “I feel like it’s a nice transition for the program. I just want to make the most out of all my opportunities and hopefully, we end up in the playoffs so we can make a run at the end of the year.”

Brady, an IUPUI transfer guard was the first to commit to men’s basketball head coach Cuonzo Martin since he was hired at the end of March. He announced his transfer to MSU in mid-April and has two years of eligibility remaining. One will be played in the Valley with the other being in CUSA.

Conference USA can be argued as a weaker basketball league than the one MSU is leaving behind in pursuit of television dollars and media rights deals that come with playing in an FBS league. CUSA hasn’t received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2012 when the MVC has been a two-bid league four times since.

Several metrics list Conference USA several spots behind the Valley in men’s basketball rankings this past season but both were still one-bid leagues, despite MVC regular-season champion Indiana State having a strong season as it continues to be considered a snub after finishing as the runner-up in the National Invitation Tournament.

“I feel like they’re around the same area when it comes to the strength of the league,” Brady said. “It’s still very good competition at both conferences. I’m excited to be able to play different schools against a certain conference and then the next year play against a whole new conference for a whole new set of teams.”

In baseball, Conference USA traditionally ranks ahead of the MVC metrically. Former Valley member Dallas Baptist, which won at least a share of the regular season title three times from 2014-22, left the league for CUSA in 2023 seeing it as an upgrade in competition on the diamond.

“I think it’s going to be a big selling point because now we’re in one of the top six or seven conferences versus a nine or 10 conference,” Vincent, a 2025 outfielder, said. “That’s going to bring a lot more traction to the program and recruits when we’re close to being a top-five league. That just shows the quality of the program and the strength that they have.”

The closest league opponent to Missouri State will be Louisiana Tech, a nearly seven-hour drive when the closest MVC school, Southern Illinois, is around five. There isn't a concern among the athletes who know the extra travel won't impact their academics due to online classes and teachers having an understanding.

None complained about the uptick in plane rides. They laughed at the difference between hopping on a plane to play a road game or series at Florida International in Miami instead of taking a bus to play Indiana State in Terre Haute, Indiana.