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Who Knew? By Ron Jumper Okay, I will admit it. I was just as ignorant as the next guy at the start of the season. I thought to myself, “Drake? Where in the world is that? Are they even D-I?” None the less, I have since learned my lesson. This Bulldogs squad sits at 16-1 (7-0 in MVC play) and is ranked 22nd in the country. Furthermore, I have done my homework on this small school in Des Moines, Iowa to see just how the pieces were put into place. What I found was quite intriguing. Drake is in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is becoming a quality conference and is on the verge of losing its “Mid-Major” label (more on this later). So for a team to be 7-0 thus far in Missouri Valley Conference play means they have to be pretty darn good. Looking at what they did out of conference, most people don’t think much when they see wins over Iowa and Iowa State. However, I beg to differ since Drake is in Iowa and it is always tough to beat the bigger schools in your home state. Besides, winning at Iowa is tough for anyone (ask Michigan State). Also, it isn’t like they just beat Iowa State because they won by 35, which is by far the Cyclones worst loss of the year. I can promise at the beginning of the year, Iowa State looked at Alabama, Bradley, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon State, and Purdue on their non-conference schedule and figured those would be much tougher matchups than Drake. The one loss they have is at St. Mary’s, who currently sits at 15-2 and 24th in the polls. Even in that game, which was only the second game of the year, they held the lead at halftime 38-35 before St. Mary’s rallied in the second half to win 72-66. So why aren’t they getting any respect? Good question. It probably has to do with the fact they don’t really have a signature win to hang their hats on. However, winning 15 games in a row is tough for anybody. We will find out what they are made of soon enough though, as MVC play heats up. They get Creighton twice in the next 3 games, plus 5 of their next 8 are on the road. One would have thought the winning streak would have been snapped 3 games ago, when leading scorer Josh Young went down with an ankle injury. None the less, they seem to not have missed a beat. That doesn’t mean Young isn’t a great talent though, as he has been outstanding his entire career. He currently leads the MVC in scoring at 16.3 points as a sophomore, following up his MVC All-Freshman performance last season. Young, out of Lawton, Oklahoma, has always been a big time scorer. In high school, he led the state in scoring as a junior by averaging a whopping 35 points a game! His career high was 64 points. I can’t figure out why he wasn’t more highly sought after, maybe he didn’t get enough exposure playing for Team Oklahoma on the AAU circuit or maybe some schools didn’t want to take the chance on him because he went to a small Christian high school. None the less, Drake got a steal of a guard and it is paying off huge dividends. Taking another peak at Drake on the recruiting trails, they have another intriguing prospect coming in next season by the name of Sean Jones. Jones is a 6’11” center out of Michigan that is considered raw but has great upside. He probably won’t do much as a freshman next season, but is someone to keep an eye on down the road. Anyways, on to the guy that helped get those guys on campus to begin with: Keno Davis. Serving in his first season as head coach at Drake, Keno has done a great job keeping the program afloat. The coaching situation is an interesting one, as Keno is taking over after his father Dr. Tom Davis retired and took a position as a special assistant to the athletic director. While Tom laid the foundation, it has been Keno that has made the jump into the top of the MVC standings. Last season, they finished 17-15 overall but just 6-12 in MVC play (which again speaks to the strength of The Valley). With 4 starters returning, one couldn’t help but see a solid season ahead. However, predicting they would be this good would have led to some serious head scratching by the experts. One would certainly think Keno Davis is in the running for MVC coach of the year, and even some recognition nationally might be justified. Just a thought… Drake is an interesting school altogether, if you ask me. Located in Des Moines, Iowa, it doesn’t get much attention for its athletic programs. Most of the attention Drake receives is for its academic excellence. However, that doesn’t stop the school from having plenty of enthusiasm for the basketball program. The Knapp Center is a nice basketball facility that holds just over 7,000 people. Interestingly, their home games are consistently sold out. So far, in their 10 home games attendance is just under 5,500. There are some SEC or Big 12 schools that would be jealous of those figures. Consider Auburn only averages 5,300 per game and schools like Baylor aren’t far behind. When I try to decide how good this Drake team is, in terms of competing in March, I can’t help but feel like they have some of the key components: great guards, experience, and excellent 3-point shooting. Another thing is, get ready for it, they will be tested on a nightly basis in the MVC. There, I said it. The MVC is just good, okay. If you can win 12 or 13 games in MVC play, then you are a pretty tough basketball team that can play with anyone. I know everyone remembers George Mason’s Final Four run, but don’t forget The Valley had 2 teams in the Sweet 16 that season as well. You could make the argument the conference is deeper than some of the “Major” conferences. To be a deep conference, you have to have quality from top to bottom. Take Wichita State, even they have non-conference wins over LSU, UAB, and Appalachian State despite being just 1-6 in MVC play. Then take Bradley, who has non-conference wins over Iowa and Iowa State while staying within 5 points of Michigan State, despite only being 2-5 in MVC play. Missouri State has solid wins over Winthrop and UNC-Greensboro, as well as hanging tough with Alabama and Purdue, despite them also being under .500 in MVC play at 3-4. So what about the top teams in MVC? Thought you’d never ask. Besides Drake, there is Illinois State, Creighton, Indiana State, and Southern Illinois that sit above .500 in MVC play. Those teams have non-conference wins over Cincinnati, Depaul, Nebraska, Mississippi State, St. Joe’s, St. Mary’s, and Western Kentucky. Not too bad, if you ask me. I won’t bore you, but if you compare those quality wins with the quality wins of “Major” conferences the gap isn’t that far. All in all, I like this Drake basketball team. After taking a closer look, I get a sense that this Bulldog team is going to be this year’s “feel-good story” in March. If they make a tournament run, we’ll see features on ESPN and CBS about a lot of the things I just wrote about. Oh well, all my readers can say they already knew about this great little ball club out in Iowa, though it is typically known more for its academics than on the hardwood. January 21, 2008 |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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