This isn’t exactly what Slay signed up for and if it takes nationally televised games to help with recognition, the Eagles have already played their two primetime games this season. “Shoot, I just control what I can control honestly,” Slay said. I can’t change the whole narrative, the whole team. But I will do whatever I can do to help us get to that situation. All I can do is just keep going out there, work hard every day, help the guys that’s underneath me, help them get better. I just want the best for everybody on this team.” But at the end of the day, I’m all about helping people too. What’s best for the team on Saturday might be hopping in an Uber with Slay to go get some chicken. As Slay passed Javon Hargrave on Wednesday, he asked him if he knew about Captain Jay’s and Hargrave said he didn’t.Drake could be the best story in college basketball through the first seven weeks of the season. At 13-0, Darian DeVries' Bulldogs are receiving AP Top 25 votes and have managed to pull off one of the best starts in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference.Īnd they've done it despite losing Liam Robbins, who was the team's best defender a season ago (he set the league record for blocks in a season) and can currently be seen starring for upstart, NCAA Tournament-bound Minnesota. Normally when a mid-major loses such a high-quality starter, the next season doesn't go so swimmingly. Yet here's Drake looking like a top-30 team and just maybe a March Madness Cinderella. "Chemistry's been awesome," DeVries told CBS Sports this week. "We try to always keep a positive outlook on things. When someone leaves your program you've got to have guys fill in. We look at it as opportunities for someone to step up and fill a hole. Our team's been very resilient with that over the three years here. The first year we had a Valley player of the year in Nick Norton and he tore his ACL when the team was 11-2 in our first league game. But we went on with a good culture in place and a good group of guys rowing in the same direction."ĭrake finished 24-10, tied atop the MVC standings that 2018-19 season. Drake has been to just four NCAA Tournaments in its history and only one since 1971. That was the quirky 2007-08 year, when the Bulldogs went 28-5 and promptly lost as a No. The Drake gig has long been considered the hardest (or, at best, second-hardest) job in the Valley. He had nine scholarships to fill when he got the job, with only one returning starter.ĭeVries has overcome the obstacles with ease though, holding a 57-24 record through his first two and a half seasons. This is one of the best rebuilds in college basketball since 2018.ĭeVries even being Drake's coach is a story that might not have a parallel in men's college basketball.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2022
Categories |