Drake is Dancing

Relief and Satisfaction

(St. Louis, MO) – Des Moines is dancing with joy because Drake is dancing in the NCAA Tournament. Sunday’s invitation to the big dance wasn’t a sure thing. As ‘bid stealers’ were doing their thing Bulldog fans, players and coaches grew more apprehensive. Now, they are experiencing some relief and satisfaction.

When that first ‘First Four’ matchup was announced, there was great celebration on that Bulldog squad and fan base. Drake will play former Missouri Valley Conference foe Wichita State on Thursday.

Drake (25-4) faces the American Athletic Conference champion Shockers (16-5) for the right to play USC during the tournament’s first round.

Relief and Satisfaction – The Announcement

Third year coach Darian DeVries was hopeful, but knew the mixture of schedules made the process less predictable. While the Bulldogs possess many of the ‘metrics’ the Committee looks for, the unknowns were too great to measure.

DeVries says his week was one of confidence, worry and waiting.

 

 

The former Creighton Bluejay assistant coach has competed with WSU numerous times. He says he truly didn’t care who they played as long as they were in the field.

 

 

Relief and Satisfaction – The Journey

DeVries was hired prior to the 2018 season. With practically no roster returning, he went to work recruiting and building his team from scratch. During his three years in Des Moines the Bulldogs have won an amazing 71% of their games.

The program has built around several players from Northwest Indiana who took a chance on a rookie coach with a program that hadn’t had a winning season for six straight years. Twins Anthony and Tremell Murphy and D.J. Wilkins were kind of a package deal, bolstering the roster from the day of their signing.

DeVries has no words for how he feels about this season and talks about his gratitude for those players coming to Drake.

 

 

DeVries was an assistant for numerous Creighton NCAA Tournament teams, so preparing with an more time off than many programs was not new to the Valley’s Coach of the Year. DeVries is the USBWA’s District (VI) Coach of the year. 

Drake has been preparing for postseason play by getting some rest and getting back to fundamentals. Due to the injuries to Roman Penn and ShanQuan Hemphill the Bulldogs have been playing short-handed and needed the break.

 

 

Player Reaction

Juniors Garrett Sturtz and D.J. Wilkins have been with the DeVries from the beginning. Wilkins is a part of that Northwest Indiana contingent and Stutrz walked on the same season. The Newton, Iowa native was part of the Valley’s all-bench team. He says a lot of the players are so versed in the guessing game of the NCAA’s selection process that they could probably work on that committee in the future. Sturtz is grateful for the opportunity to prove himself in Des Moines.

 

 

The Murphys and Wilkins came to Drake with their junior college coach Marty Richter. Their special bond with the Bulldog assistant is deep. Richter was 56-10 at Florida Southwestern State and has been invaluable to DeVries’ building of the program.

Wilkins is grateful for Richter’s role in his career and in his life.

 

 

DeVries does not guarantee that Hemphill will play Thursday, but is hopeful, saying he is on course and they are keeping their fingers crossed.

Drake is making its first appearance in the Big Dance since the Adam Emmenecker led 2008 team. They haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1971. Imagine the relief and satisfaction for Bulldog fans if this gritty team could prevail over Wichita State.

Do Good

 

Editor: Feature photo of D.J. Wilkins courtesy of Doug DeVoe and the Missouri Valley Conference.