Drake Basketball: Preview of the Round of 64 matchup with Miami

Drake Basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years and faces the Miami Hurricanes. Can the Bulldogs find a way to win?

TV schedule, Friday, March 17, 6:26 pm on TBS
 MVP Arena, Albany New York

Atlantic Coast Conference regular season co-champion Miami faces the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champion Drake Bulldogs. The Bulldogs finished second to Bradley in the Valley’s regular season race.

Drake will be a heavy underdog to the Canes (25-7) who advanced to last season’s Elite Eight. Miami was thirty-fifth in the NET compared to Drake’s season concluding number of 55.

While Drake (27-7) won with a lineup of home-grown players and program history-makers, Miami was built through the transfer portal. The Bulldogs are led by Valley Player of the Year Tucker DeVries and three graduate performers Roman Penn, D.J. Wilkins and Garrett Sturtz. Wilkins and Sturtz are five-year performers at Drake and Penn is finishing his fourth.

DeVries was also the Valley Tournament MVP.

ACC Player of the Year Isaiah Wong is the Miami leader and a holdover from last year, but Jordan Miller, Norchad Ormier, and Nijel Pack were first-year transfers. All four players were double-digit scorers.

Miami and Drake enjoyed in-season roster stability as five Canes and five Bulldogs started 30 or more games. However, Miami’s Ormier was injured in the ACC Tournament and his status for the Big Dance is questionable.

How the Drake Bulldogs handle the taller Hurricanes will be the key ingredient to this game. The Bulldogs have been defeating taller and more athletic teams all season. Only center Darnell Brodie and DeVries stand taller than 6’3, but the veteran group knows how to defend in the post and exploit its offensive versatility against taller and more physical teams.

Drake’s cohesive unit is playing in its second NCAA Tournament in three years and takes on a Miami team that lost to then-Valley member Loyola Chicago in 2018.

Both teams are coached by successful coaches that are used to winning. Miami’s Jim Larranaga has won over 700 games in 39 years of coaching and Drake’s Darian DeVries has won 122 during his first five seasons.

This game could come down to the matchup of elite point guards Wong and Penn.