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Drake Basketball: 2023-24 season preview and outlook for the Bulldogs

By Harry Schroeder

Mar 5, 2023; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Drake Bulldogs hoist the Missouri Valley Conference trophy after defeating the Bradley Braves in the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2023; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Drake Bulldogs hoist the Missouri Valley Conference trophy after defeating the Bradley Braves in the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bradley Braves forward Malevy Leons (14) drives to the basket as Drake Bulldogs forward Darnell Brodie Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Bradley Braves forward Malevy Leons (14) drives to the basket as Drake Bulldogs forward Darnell Brodie Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

2023-24 season outlook

Drake should be battling for the league title and will be at least a ‘bubble-team’ come Selection Sunday. Whether they can climb higher than that depends on their non-conference successes.

Their non-conference schedule is slightly stronger than last season, but last year’s neutral site win over Mississippi State was huge, but dropping back-to-back road games to A-Ten foes Richmond and Saint Louis was devastating to their postseason chances.

They can’t afford those kinds of defeats this year.

We predicted that the Bulldogs would finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference race and the Bulldogs were picked to win the Valley in the conference’s official poll. Northern Iowa (our pick) and Bradley have each received Kenpom ratings in the 90s and have stronger, returning cores. While Drake has surrounded super-star Tucker DeVries with a lot of talented players, the on-court chemistry is yet to be proven.

Can coach DeVries get those abundantly talented players to work as a unit, or will the stability on the UNI and Bradley rosters be too much to overcome? Don’t sleep on Belmont, Missouri State nor Indiana State. We believe there are six legitimate contenders for this year’s MVC crown.

Bradley won the regular season title by defeating Drake on the final game of the regular season. Drake avenged that loss at the conference tournament and went on to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs took two of three games from Bradley and while one game took two overtimes, they swept Northern Iowa.

As wrestling super star Rik Flair says, ‘to be the champ, you gotta beat the champ’. So, a dark horse contender Missouri State, could be in the running. The Bulldogs lost both of their last season games to the Bears.

Preseason top-25 power rankings for 2023-24. dark. Next

MVC teams play nine of the other eleven other league members in a home and home fashion and play two teams just once. Drake will play Murray State at home and Illinois Chicago on the road. They tangle with Bradley in two of their final seven games, including the season’s final contest.

This time it will be played in Des Moines.

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