Drury Panthers

[crazznewt]

One of the best summer pro-am teams I've ever seen was the College of the Ozarks Men of about 15 years ago. Their communication, trust, and selflessness rivaled Drury's national championship team (albeit they had much less talent than Drury). These teams had incredible point guards. That C of O team had Hartville's NAIA All American, Kyle Mays and Drury had NCAA-2 All-American, Brandon Lockhart.

Someone brought up the importance of a good floor general a while back on this board. Sophomore All American candidate, Colin Hardrick (IMO), and freshman Kion Epps fit this mold for this season's Panther squad.

I have no idea who will take that role for the Lady Panthers. While there are good, hard working returning guards for Drury, I just dont see the usual All American level, ball handling point guard Drury seems to always be blessed with.:

*Kaitlyn Daniels
^Kaylee Damitz
*Paige Robinson
*Daejah Benard
*Annie Armstrong
*Lindsey Ballweg
*Molly Carter Miller
*Kara Rutledge

All were All-Americans

Hopefully Flora Lukow or Reagan Halliday are ready to contribute just in case.

[crazznewt]

Thanks for the poll info UCMjennies!
I hope Reese continues to humble any detractors. She more than proved herself last season.

[crazznewt]

School	Points (1st-place votes)
1.	Drury	191 (10)
2.	Maryville	165
3.	Lewis	163 (4)
4.	Missouri-St. Louis	158
5.	Missouri S&T	141 (1)
6.	McKendree	135
7.	Truman State	108
8.	Upper Iowa	101
9.	Rockhurst	85
10.	Quincy	84
11. 12.	Indianapolis Illinois Springfield	83 60
13.	Southwest Baptist	55
14.	William Jewell	24
15.	Lincoln

[crazznewt]

Quincy losing a good coach, the player who followed her to Quincy (McDermott), and the defensive studs that Kaci Bailey recruited and coached (mainly Williams and Dawson), led to low expectations for the Hawks this season. That is a big drop after winning the league tournament last season.

[Bballfan]

Drury basically will win the conference by default as there are a lot of bad teams in the GLVC this year.

As you said Quincy dropped off a cliff. I don't expect much out of Lewis, especially with their new coach. Drury women should be back on top of the GLVC now for several years to come. Best consistent program in the league.

[crazznewt]

Quincy also lost a double digit scorer to Truman and another player to Southwest Baptist.

The Lady Panthers had a down season last year, but were still a top team in the league. Drury beat tourney champion Quincy by nine in Springfield, lost in double overtime at Quincy, and fell apart in the second half against the Hawks in the GLVC tournament. Foul trouble WAS WITHOUT A DOUBT an issue in that game. For starters, Daniels played 21 minutes and Mendal played 9. That was devastating to a thin team. Also, Drury beat tourney finalist Maryville by 21, and the Lady Panthers led the league in several statistical catagories. Again, they weren't that far off.

Barring injury, I agree with the league favorite pick. Although, I think there will be some early losses. I would be more optimistic if Drury had a dynamic ball handler.

Just saw the men were picked fifth. Hopefully this team will live up to high expectations despite being so young.

One thing for sure, the annual meet and greet for both basketball teams needs to be in a bigger room next year, as it was packed with standing room only for this year's.

[crazznewt]

Crud. Oops

[Bballfan]

I followed the Drury/Quincy double-OT game last year. It was crazy!

While I think Drury women will pretty easily win the GLVC, in the GLIAC their ceiling would probably be 4th at best this season. And the same might be for the GMAC winner this year. Ferris, Northern Michigan, and of course Grand Valley (who will probably be as good as their starting five last year....but not as deep on the bench) are three of the strongest if not the three strongest teams in the Midwest this year.

[Bballfan]

Thanks for the poll info UCMjennies!
I hope Reese continues to humble any detractors. She more than proved herself last season.

Speaking of Reese....
7 returning DII women's basketball guards to watch in 2025-26 | NCAA.com

[crazznewt]

Drury's Josie Storey was just starting to come into her own when she went down with injury with several games left in the season. She would have been a big asset against Quincy. She showed her potential by scoring 16 points in the four point loss to Ferris State at the "O". I would feel better if the rematch scheduled in November at Ferris was later in the season.

Again, barring injury, I think this team will be good in March.

[Bballfan]

Depth is such a problem anymore with this era of college sports. One injury can derail a season.

Everyone wants to play somewhere versus spending time developing and getting better as a role player. You can thank NIL and all the other nonsense going on for that! Read today that former professionals are now enrolling to play back in college. Yuck.

[crazznewt]

Very true about depth! It wasn't that long ago, defending division 2 player of the year, Paige Robinson, was injured after scoring 36 points against Michigan tech. Despite her missing the next twelve games and finishing that season wearing a soft cast on her shooting carpals, Drury still managed to win thirty two games that season. Now, a big injury would be much harder to overcome to any important player. But hey, what do I know. I'm just a fan who grew up directly across the street to the west, who could walk across the street and enjoy great basketball when the snow was deep on the ground. It's been fun. I'm going to enjoy the process no matter what happens.

[Bballfan]

Did you have to walk uphill both ways to watch a game :)

The women's game certainly has been impacted by all the transfer nonsense. And it is even worse for the men. There is one D2 school in the Midwest region who had to bring in THIRTEEN new players. On a roster where you probably have 15 guys. That is a LOT!

[crazznewt]

If I heard coach Foster correctly this morning, there is only one returning all GLVC player this season. I'm 99% sure thats what I heard. If this is true, I dont know how many were non seniors. I dont have time to check this out yet. The audio was horrible for media day streamed on GLVCSN. Concerning GLVCSN, Drury is lagging behind other schools in video quality. The colors are dull compared to others.

[Bballfan]

In talking about past Drury women's players I was thinking about one recruit that never played but maybe she would have come to Drury if Molly Miller stayed? Her name was Katie Scott. Molly got her to play at Grand Canyon one year and she had a great freshman season in the WAC. Then for whatever reason she transferred to Oral Roberts her sophomore year and had success there. Then for whatever reason she ended up at D2 Point Loma in California and flamed out after playing one season. She didn't even start there. She never even played 4 years in college. I know her sister was also committed to Oral Roberts a couple years ago and for whatever reason she dropped off the basketball earth too.

I know Katie was Missouri Player of the Year but what was her story? With Molly she was great. After that it was all downhill. Grew up less than an hour from Springfield right?