Are They the Favorites?
(St. Louis, MO) – Drake’s Darian DeVries is enjoying unparalleled success as Drake’s head coach. During his first four seasons the Bulldogs have won 95 games, one conference championship and he has accumulated two Valley Coach of the Year awards.
His roster is likely to be the league favorite and is filled with veterans. Drake returners have accumulated a lot of Missouri Valley Conference hardware. Guards Roman Penn, D.J. Wilkins and Garrett Sturtz are utilizing their ‘covid year’ to grow their Des Moines legacy and sophomore wing Tucker DeVries will likely be the league’s preseason ‘Player of the Year’.
Penn and Wilkins have battled injuries, but when healthy they have been highly productive. The 6’1 Penn has been named to all-league teams three times in three seasons, including being named to the Valley all-newcomer team in 2020. While Wilkins landed on the all-freshman team of 2019, last season he was named to the all-defensive team.
Sturtz is the picture of exceeding expectations. As a college walk-on he has been named to two, all-bench team honors and last season was a Valley second-team all-star. Oh, and he earned a scholarship.
The younger DeVries is poised to be a dominant type of Valley player. Last season he was the league’s outstanding freshman and was named to the MVC all-newcomer team and was second-team honoree.
Are they the favorites? DeVries pushes those notions away, but he likes his team.
Here is our entire conversation with Darian DeVries, Wilkins, Sturtz and Tucker DeVries.
The Bulldogs open the season with a home game against IUPUI.
Do Good
Twitter Feed
Three more road wins so far in @ValleyHoops as @BradleyUMBB @BelmontMBB & @UIC_MBB capture road wins. Looks like @DrakeBulldogsMB will do so too. #FatherHarry
Well @RacersWBB followed the men's example and swept Iowa in the @ValleyHoops race! Racers are 6-1 & if @BelmontWBB holds on to their Iowa sweep, the Bruins and Racers will be tied for first. What a trip for those two teams! #FatherHarry
After today's action, @EIUWBB is 8-0 in @OVCSports play. 4 teams @usiwbb @TTUWBB @LRTrojans @LindenwoodWBB are tied at 6-2. Six other teams are under .500. Great race to the finish lies ahead. #FatherHarry
Really entertaining game between @BelmontMBB & @UEAthletics_MBB. Under four minutes left in a one point game. Gabriel Pozzato back in the Aces' lineup. Rogers is playing like I've expected. Triples are dropping. It's fun and @kylejpeach bringing it on #ThePlus #FatherHarry
