Drake A Valley Mainstay

One-on-One with Darian DeVries

(St. Louis, MO) – Drake University is most permanent part of the Missouri Valley Conference. This is the Bulldogs 108th season as a Valley member. With their first conference win next season, they will become the winningest team in league history. The Bulldogs are a Valley mainstay.

AND, they have the right man at the ship’s helm. Darian DeVries is a ‘Valley Guy’ through and through. As he guides his Bulldogs to St. Louis for Arch Madness, he simply gushes MVC. During his two seasons at Drake he has guided them to 42 wins, a conference championship, postseason play and several players have landed multiple personal honors.

DeVries’ History

As a two-time captain of the Northern Iowa squad, DeVries was a 1,000 point scorer and a two-time, MVC Scholar Athlete. After graduation, DeVries joined the coaching staff at Valley member Creighton. The Iowa native stayed with the Bluejays for 20 years serving two outstanding coaches. Dana Altman and Greg McDermott led CU to some amazing Valley seasons before leaving for the Big East.

On more than one occasion, DeVries sought out the Drake head coaching position and two years ago, he broke through. For more on that part of the story see ‘DeVries All In @ Drake.’

Solid Season But Playing on Thursday

This Valley mainstay won 18 regular season games but finished 8-10 in league play, so the Bulldogs play in the dreaded ‘opening round’ of the State Farm Missouri Valley Men’s Basketball Tournament. DeVries says the fact that his team is playing in the ‘play-in’ round is a testament to league-wide improvement.

 

 

The Bulldogs face Illinois State Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. and can be seen on the MVC TV Network, or it can be heard locally on KTRS, 550 AM. Yours truly will be on the broadcast.

It has been a league-wide solid season. NET ratings are higher, the RPI is solid, KenPom seems to like the Valley and attendance is up. Drake hosted a sold out Knapp Center during the season’s final game. DeVries a Valley mainstay himself says it’s fun to see the league he loves moving in such a positive direction.

 

 

Valley Players Become Valley Coaches

Five Missouri Valley head coaches were MVC players. Dan Muller and Bryan Mullins are coaching for the team they played for, while Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser played at Creighton and Dana Ford was an Illinois State Redbird.

DeVries says coming back to the Valley makes coaching particularly special. He believes those other league alumni coaches feel the same way and there is true passion that comes from being connected to the same conference, schools, and cities for such a long time.

 

 

What About the Redbirds?

Illinois State is a Valley mainstay too. The Redbirds have played the fifth most seasons (39) of the current league configuration. While the Redbirds have won just ten games so far, Dan Muller’s team won the regular season crown just three seasons ago.

The two rivals split the regular season games. Each team won at home. No Valley team wants to be playing in the Thursday night edition of Arch Madness, but DeVries says the game should be exciting. ISU’s Zach Copeland has been in a shooting slump, but the senior’s season high of 32 points came in Des Moines at the Bulldogs’ expense.

Illinois State won the most recent contest between the two and the Redbirds have won two of their last three games overall. DeVries says the winner will probably be the team that shoots most accurately.

 

 

To listen to our entire, unedited interview with coach DeVries head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcast.

Drake is a Valley mainstay and DeVries hopes to be one too. The Bulldogs are playing in their 108th Valley season. Bradley is the second longest tenured team while playing in their 68th year.

Arch Madness is here. Enjoy the ride.

Do Good