Drake Basketball: 2022-23 season preview and outlook for the Bulldogs

Mar 5, 2022; St. Louis, MO, USA; Drake Bulldogs guard Tucker Devries (12) shoots against the Missouri State Bears during the second half in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

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Yuri Collins #1 of the Saint Louis Billikens (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Key parts of 2022-23 schedule

Drake university basketball has a schedule that is perfect for the Bulldogs to build a postseason resume.

After two relatively easy season-opening home games, they play in the Paradise Jam where they face a 19-win Buffalo squad with second-round games against either Wyoming (25 wins) or Howard (16). There is a third game in the Virgin Islands tournament.

Louisiana and Omaha are games that wrap around the Valley’s two early-season conference games and then the schedule becomes very demanding.

Prior to heading fully into conference play the Bulldogs tangle with two outstanding Atlantic Ten teams. They travel to Richmond (24 wins last season) and to Saint Louis (23) in mid-December. SLU is picked to finish second in the A-Ten and returns last year’s preseason conference player of the year Javonte Perkins, who missed all last season with an injury.

Mississippi State and a Division 3 opponent round out the schedule. Drake travels to Lincoln, Nebraska for the ‘Battle in the Vault’ to face the SEC’s Bulldogs. Last year Mississippi State was 18-16 with a winning (10-8) league mark.

First-year head coach Chris Jans led New Mexico State to the NCAA Tournament last season.

During the conference season, Drake doesn’t play in-state rival Northern Iowa until February and then play coach DeVries’ alma mater two times that month. Valley teams will play 20 conference games this season.