Most Improved Boys AND Girls Missouri basketball programs from last year to this year - April 30, 2022

Only four teams in each class end up with a state championship trophy or plaque (Champs, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place) but there are many basketball programs that should get accolades.

I posted the most improved boy's teams and the most improved girl's teams earlier.  So I thought I would look at both programs together to see which schools are getting it right as they work toward improving the programs.

 I know that often the boy's and girls' programs are separate but in some cases, the two head coaches coordinate their feeder programs and collaborate whenever they can on camps and skill sessions.  

So who made the most progress this past year?  Who should put a new nameplate on an old trophy titled "Most Improved Missouri Basketball Program, 2021-2022"?

I am giving a shout-out to STEAM Academy McCluer South Berkley, Seneca, Seymour, and Scotland County Memphis as the boy's and girls' programs that made the biggest combined improvement over last season to this season.  

STEAM has only been in existence as STEAM Academy for three seasons.  Prior to that, the school was McCluer South Berkley, and prior to that just Berkley.  Under Donnell Bland, the girls have gone 8-13, 7-3, and 19-9 this past year while the boys, under Joshua Parker, have struggled but continue to improve, going 0-15, 0-6, and 3-13 but improving from a 71 to 105 rating, a whopping 31 point improvement.  Their combined improvement in Gramps' ratings and ranking, makes them the hands-down winner of the most improved program this past year.  Continued success to the Bulldogs.

Seneca, under boy's coach Will King, has bounced back from 4-20 season two years ago to 9-19 this past year, with a 29 point rating improvement, and looks to maybe get back to the 18 win level of 2019 under new coach, Cort Hardy. Girl's coach, Drew Schulte, improved from 13-15 to 22-7 this past season with a 28-point rating improvement.  Look for good things with both programs next year.

Seymour, Boy's coach Chris Hastings has improved the boys from 9-15 to 19-8 this past year, a 25-point rating jump, while the Girls coach. Derrick Jesson. has turned around the Owls from a 10-13 record to 17-10 this past year and a 31 rating point improvement. 

Scotland County Memphis was the program with the second-best improvement in boy's and girl's ratings from last year to this year.  The boy's team, coached Jeremy Austin didn't appear to make progress with an 8-16 record after going 12-14 in 2021 but the team improved by 19 rating points.  The girls, coached by Corey Schultz, have been on a roll the past three years, going 25-4, 22-7, and 24-4.  Their rating jumped a whopping 40 points from last to this year.

Rank calculations are based upon the improvement in ranking for both teams this past year.  Rating calculations are based upon the improvement in Gramps Braggin Rights rating this past year.

Here are the top 50 Most Improved Combined programs:

Here are all 502 teams that have both boy's and girl's programs.  Obviously, I left out boy's only and girl's only schools: