It’s hard to find a bigger surprise in this college basketball season than the Drake Bulldogs.
By the day it seems, the level of the Bulldogs’ surprise this season is surpassed only by their resilience.
An outstanding debut season for head coach Darian DeVries is starting to take on special qualities, because no matter what adversity his team faces, no matter how many key players get injured, Drake is absolutely unflappable.
The Bulldogs moved into the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time in 11 years with a 78-62 win over Illinois State Friday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Second-seeded Drake backed up its regular season MVC co-title with a quarterfinal win for its 24th victory of the season, and now will take on state rival Northern Iowa in the Arch Madness semis Saturday.
This is already heady stuff for a program that before this campaign had just one 20-win season in the last 48 years-a 28-5 Cinderella year in 2007-08, the last time Drake made it to the semis in St. Louis. The Bulldogs were picked to finish ninth in the MVC’s preseason poll before this year after losing four starters and six of their top seven scorers from last year’s 17-17 team that was a surprise in itself.
This year’s run, though, took place even after the team lost senior point guard Nick Norton to an ACL injury 14 games in. Norton was playing at nothing less than an MVC player of the year-candidate level at the time, and it was thought his loss would be a fatal blow.
Instead, Drake still went on to tie Loyola Chicago for the regular season title, though the conference tournament presented another challenge when freshman guard D.J. Wilkins-who started all 31 regular season games, averaged 11.1 points and led the team in minutes played-also was sidelined with a season-ending injury.
That was already two starters down going into Friday night. Then, the unthinkable happened during the game: first team all-MVC center Nick McGlynn went to the floor grabbing his knee at the 11:12 mark of the first half. McGlynn never returned, yet the Bulldogs still persevered with still more players stepping up, and they’re still alive in St. Louis.
“I was certainly proud of our guys’ effort tonight,” said DeVries. “I thought they really competed and left it all out there. This time of year, that’s what it’s all about is finding a way to advance for the next day. These guys played with the same tremendous effort and resiliency and unselfishness they’ve played with all year, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The heroes this time were twins Tremell and Anthony Murphy, as well as backup center Liam Robbins. Add in point guard Noah Thomas too. Shoot-everyone was a hero in this one in keeping the beat going.
The Murphys-a pair of athletic 6-foot-6 junior college transfers-were spectacular. Tremell scored 14 points in the first half, one off his career high, and he obliterated it in the second half: 26 points on 11 of 15 shooting, plus seven rebounds.
Brother Anthony also set not one but two career highs. He scored 16 points, including a pair of three-pointers, and also added a Bulldogs best 10 rebounds. The two brothers seemed to be everywhere, seamlessly stepping into a bigger role when needed.
“The Murphy twins were so good with their penetration,” said Illinois State head coach Dan Muller after the game. “We were either fouling or they were getting shots around the rim and making tough shots. So we didn’t really have any answer for those two guys throughout the entire game, but they got baskets when they needed them.”
Thomas also chipped in 13 points plus five assists, and Robbins gave Drake huge minutes in place of McGlynn. The seven-footer scored five points, grabbed five rebounds and also swatted three shots while battling ISU senior Phil Fayne.
Drake lost to Illinois State twice in the regular season, and the Redbirds appeared in the final at Arch Madness each of the last two years. ISU held a significant experience edge. Despite that, the Bulldogs built a 20-point halftime lead, shot 54.2% for the game and had answers every time down the stretch even as Illinois State made a frantic push for almost the entire second half.
“These guys have a tremendous belief in one another,” said DeVries. “They don’t care who gets the credit. They just love to compete. Whatever guy we throw out there, they’ve prepared themselves.
“They’ve all put themselves in a position to go out there and perform, and I think it’s a credit to all of them that they’re ready to go and ready to play their role when they get out there. None of these guys care at all about anything but winning, and that’s what I think you saw today.”
Drake has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1969 Final Four team this year, and even again wore its baby blue replica uniforms from that year. The connections also are strong with that 2007-08 squad, which came out of nowhere to do more than just make the MVC semifinals, moving into the top 15 in the national polls, winning MVC regular season and tournament titles and appearing in the NCAA Tournament.
In fact, this season and 2007-08 are the only Bulldogs teams to win at least 20 games since 1970-71, the end of a three-year run that included that 1969 Final Four run that ended with a narrow loss to John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty, followed by two Elite Eight appearances.
It’s not an exaggeration to already say this is one of the greatest seasons in Drake history in decades. Where it ends is still a question. McGlynn’s status for Saturday was unknown after the game. Loyola is going to be tough to dethrone in St. Louis. The Bulldogs may even lack the power rating for an NIT bid, sadly.
Regardless, Drake has become one of the best stories in college basketball this year. With the way this team is seemingly MacGyver-ing together by now, nothing should be a surprise.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
