7 seed in the MVC tournament, they beat Valparaiso in the first round before losing to Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals.

On March 3, 2018, the school announced that head coach Paul Lusk had been fired.

6 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals before losing to Wichita State in the semifinals.

Sources: In the conference's preseason poll, the Bears were picked to win the MVC, receiving 30 of 40 first place votes.

[4] Senior forward Alize Johnson was named the preseason MVC Player of the Year.