Drexel’s Challenge Begins Now
NEW YORK – Drexel played Duke and UCLA in the NIT Season Tip-Off, which might appear to be the biggest challenge on their schedule. The Dragons are, after all, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, which is a notch below the ACC and the Pac-10 (even though the Pac-10 could be headed for another down year). For that matter, Duke and UCLA project to be among the top teams in each conference, with the Blue Devils being most people’s favorites to win the national championship.
But even in light of that, the biggest challenge has just begun for the Dragons. Forget who’s on the schedule from here on out: there isn’t a team on par with UCLA or Duke remaining on their schedule. It’s not about the opponent at this point; it’s about Drexel.
Drexel played at a high level in New York, having a chance to win both games. They led for most of the game against UCLA after hanging with the Blue Devils two nights earlier. How well they played wasn’t lost on Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who said on Friday that, “they probably played the best basketball of the four teams for 80 minutes.”
Now that the Dragons have impressed everyone, they can’t have a letdown from here. They have to keep up this level of play, rather than looking like a team that put everything into the two games in New York. The Dragons are a relatively young team – starting wing Kenell Sanchez is one of just two seniors, and sophomores Frank Elegar and Randy Oveneke have been regular starters thus far – so they need to keep getting better, a point head coach Bruiser Flint acknowledged after Friday’s game.
“We talked about coming in to make a mark, and I think we did, and we’ve got to continue to try to get better, continue to improve, and get ready for our conference play,” Flint said.
The Dragons sure made a mark, grabbing the attention of many as a rare mid-major playing in the final rounds of the NIT Season Tip-Off. They drew much praise from opponents and observers, many of whom are surprised that they were picked seventh in the CAA by the league’s coaches.
“They are a very good, gritty, tough team, and they reflect their coach,” said UCLA head coach Ben Howland after Friday’s game. “We hope to not play them anytime soon.”
If they keep playing at the level they played in the NIT Season Tip-Off, it’s hard not to imagine them contending in the CAA. Despite the youth, they have an excellent leader in junior point guard Bashir Mason, who competed right to the end on Friday night despite struggling to make shots. Sanchez is also a key leader, while Dominick Mejia gives them a scorer on the wing. Elegar looked excellent against UCLA and junior Chaz Crawford gives them a defensive presence when he comes into the game, so the frontcourt looks to be in good shape.
The Colonial looks to be deep this season, with Old Dominion returning most of last season’s team and many others returning a good deal of their cast from last season. Additionally, Northeastern joins the conference with four starters back from a team that won 21 games and went 15-3 in America East last year, a season where America East was 15th in the RPI ratings. Thus far, the conference has had some success in non-conference play aside from Drexel getting to New York, as Old Dominion picked up a win over Georgia and UNC-Wilmington won the BCA Invitational.
Drexel lost to Penn on Saturday, but they can be given a slight pass in terms of analyzing this team. They played the Quakers less than 24 hours after Friday’s game started, and they had to make the two-hour bus ride back to Philadelphia on Friday evening. The Quakers, heavy favorites in the Ivy League, are hardly pushovers as well, so it’s not as though the Dragons lost to a team of stiffs.
The ingredients appear to be there for Drexel to contend in the CAA. Flint likes where the team is right now, though he knows they can’t stop working to get better if they are to keep up the success they’ve had thus far. They have the leadership with Sanchez and Mason, who were AAU teammates in high school, and if the inside game develops, they will be that much better off. With the personnel being there, now it’s up to the Dragons to continue to play at the level at which they played in New York. Anything less would leave the Dragons living up to what the CAA’s coaches predicted last month.
