Drake “Bearcats” 2024-2025

[Stanger86]

The top 2025 March Madness Cinderella candidates to bust NCAA Tournament brackets

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/618...derella-teams/

Drake Bulldogs

Missouri Valley
Underdog Rating: 58.9

Drake is single-handedly proving that the difference between Division I and Division II isn’t nearly as vast as you’d think. First-year coach Ben McCollum won four D-II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, and with the help of three key players from his old squad, he hasn’t missed a beat at Drake. The Bulldogs are 27-3, including 17-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the top mark in the league.

Even better than the Bulldogs’ 27 wins? The way they get them — at least from Slingshot’s perspective. They rank among the nation’s top 21 teams in forcing turnovers, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding, which gives them a massive edge in possessions. Drake also plays at the nation’s slowest pace, which makes that possession advantage even more pronounced. After all, in a game where each team has the ball less often than usual, each trip up or down the floor matters more.

Add it all up, and Drake profiles as an epic underdog: Their Underdog Rating is nearly twice as high as any team that made last year’s field as an 11-seed or lower. Drake will be a nightmare for any opponent … well, maybe except for Lamar.

[hudsoncat]

Southern Illinois University won today setting up a match up with Drake tomorrow in the second round of Arch Madness. I believe Drake won by 10-ish in their only meeting this year. I went to Southern for grad school, but I'm still wearing blue instead of maroon tomorrow. Not to the game unfortunately!

[libertybearcat]

The top 2025 March Madness Cinderella candidates to bust NCAA Tournament brackets

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/618...derella-teams/

Drake Bulldogs

Missouri Valley
Underdog Rating: 58.9

Drake is single-handedly proving that the difference between Division I and Division II isn’t nearly as vast as you’d think. First-year coach Ben McCollum won four D-II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, and with the help of three key players from his old squad, he hasn’t missed a beat at Drake. The Bulldogs are 27-3, including 17-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the top mark in the league.

Even better than the Bulldogs’ 27 wins? The way they get them — at least from Slingshot’s perspective. They rank among the nation’s top 21 teams in forcing turnovers, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding, which gives them a massive edge in possessions. Drake also plays at the nation’s slowest pace, which makes that possession advantage even more pronounced. After all, in a game where each team has the ball less often than usual, each trip up or down the floor matters more.

Add it all up, and Drake profiles as an epic underdog: Their Underdog Rating is nearly twice as high as any team that made last year’s field as an 11-seed or lower. Drake will be a nightmare for any opponent … well, maybe except for Lamar.

Hmm...seems as if there are 4 players that came with him!

Not as bad as some dude in a video that kept calling it Northwestern Missouri State. SMH

[NWFanatic]

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-bas...163151542.html

[NWFanatic]

Final DU 70 SIU 53…SIU scored 86 pts in their win yesterday

[NWFanatic]

Final 29-3 #1 ‘D2 Drake’ 57 #4 22-11 Belmont 50 in MVC semis…they play #2 Bradley 1:15 CDT on CBS for the MVC crown & AQ to the playoffs. Drake won by 7 on the road/lost by 2 at home.

[Thunder]

Drake defends so hard at all times. They have to be miserable to play against. Not the most athletic players, but they work their tails off and are almost always in the right spot.

[NWFanatic]

Final 30-3 Drake 63 26-8 Bradley 48. BU’s lowest score all season! Bet there aren’t many teams chomping at the bit to play them in March Madness

[Alfred33]

Embedded Tweet

[Gorilla John 92]

Drake may win one game but it's all about the matchup. At times they can really struggle to score and I'm not sure that they can contend against someone who really drives to the bucket hard with guys who can finish.

Don't get me wrong, they played well and McCollum can coach and this year proved it. They are truly a team but do they have the horses?

[Alfred33]

Drake may win one game but it's all about the matchup. At times they can really struggle to score and I'm not sure that they can contend against someone who really drives to the bucket hard with guys who can finish.

Don't get me wrong, they played well and McCollum can coach and this year proved it. They are truly a team but do they have the horses?

It’s always about matchups and Drake isn’t going to out athlete anyone. What they generally do very well is defend, defend the 3, and control the pace. Last I knew they had the slowest pace in all of D1 basketball, which doesn’t allow teams to run away from them. That doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t happen, but that’s the formula for this team to win games.

I agree with you… it’s a grind sometimes offensively, but they were still 44th out of 300+ teams in offensive efficiency at 1.109 ppp. It’s going to be interesting… if they can steal one game, it’ll be the first time that’s happened for Drake since the 70’s.

It’s a fun exercise to think about, but I don’t think this would be the best team that McCollum has ever had. This is basically the group (minus Dreamer) that lost last season to Mankato in regionals 43-42. Talk about a struggle to score. No one would’ve predicted 30 wins… that’s crazy. It shows me that the top of D2 isn’t all that far away from or even better than a lot of the mid majors.

[Thunder]

It’s always about matchups and Drake isn’t going to out athlete anyone. What they generally do very well is defend, defend the 3, and control the pace. Last I knew they had the slowest pace in all of D1 basketball, which doesn’t allow teams to run away from them. That doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t happen, but that’s the formula for this team to win games.

I agree with you… it’s a grind sometimes offensively, but they were still 44th out of 300+ teams in offensive efficiency at 1.109 ppp. It’s going to be interesting… if they can steal one game, it’ll be the first time that’s happened for Drake since the 70’s.

It’s a fun exercise to think about, but I don’t think this would be the best team that McCollum has ever had. This is basically the group (minus Dreamer) that lost last season to Mankato in regionals 43-42. Talk about a struggle to score. No one would’ve predicted 30 wins… that’s crazy. It shows me that the top of D2 isn’t all that far away from or even better than a lot of the mid majors.

I think the 2021 Bearcat team with Hudgins, Hawkins, etc. would run circles around this 2025 Beardog team. I think that team could have legit been a Sweet 16 team given the right matchups. You can almost guarantee Drake's tournament game(s) will be close this year. The pace and style they play do not lend to a blowout in either direction. If they get matched up with a team that has good size and length it will be more difficult for Stirtz to bail them out on every possession and a good penetrating team will force Mascari into some tough spots.

[Predatory Primates]

They remind me a little of the Wichita State teams of a few years back.

[NWFanatic]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_q3MA8...VuIG1jY29sbHVt

[Alfred33]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_q3MA8...VuIG1jY29sbHVt

It’s getting pretty crazy… I’ve been on some Indiana boards and he’s becoming a (if not the) front runner amongst their fans. The 3 comments on this video point to this too. I’ll still be a little surprised if this happens, but I read an article the other day that said the top 4 or 5 names that were on the Hoosier’s “wish” list (i.e. Brad Stevens, etc,) were already off. They went on to really speak highly of what McCollum was doing at Drake.