Put em in. Put the Drake Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament. THEY’VE EARNED IT.
I said going into the weekend that even at 23-4, I wasn’t sure that the selection committee was going to give them an at-large bid if they lost in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. It happens every year. A mid major team with a GREAT record loses in the conference tournament and doesn’t get in….meanwhile a the 10th Big Ten team gets in. And it’s not that I didn’t think they deserved one. It’s the fact that they had lost 3 games in the last month and lost their 2 best players within 2 weeks of each other. The Bradley loss at the end of the regular season REALLY ramped up my feelings. I wanted ONE MORE win for Drake to insure that at-large birth. And then Friday happened…
OK, that wasn’t gonna move the needle for the committee.
But the GREAT MVC Semifinal game between Drake and Missouri State on Saturday was the one. That did it. Regardless of what was gonna happen in the MVC Championship, I was certain (sitting in my car in a Walgreen’s parking lot listening to Michael Admire call the game on 1350 ESPN) that Drake had done enough.
Can we please watch Joseph Yesufu’s game winner one more time?
JOSEPH YESUFU FOR THE WIN!@DrakeBulldogsMB pic.twitter.com/2iSNVrli7m
— MVC Basketball (@ValleyHoops) March 6, 2021
Drake went on to lose by 10 to Loyola in the title game…they were out-gunned and Ramblers were at/near full strength. It wasn’t a surprise.
From everything I’m hearing, Tank Hemphill is on track to return for the NCAA Tournament. And with the TERROR that Yesufu has been on, the two of them could make for a scary backcourt for some SEC or Big Ten team in the 1st (or second) round of the NCAA Tournament. Drake is a 10, 11 or 12 seed. Mark it down.
I’ll predict they’re a 10 seed and they’ll play 7th-seeded Wisconsin. (it’s a dart throw at this point)
So enjoy the week off, Drake fans…you should hearing your name next Sunday.
Cheers!
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