When was the last time an NCAA Tournament ‘Cinderella Team’ was a dominant defensive team? ‘Cinderella’ is usually from a mid-major program with a lot of ‘can do’, plucky players that outshine their normal abilities.
This is not the case for the Drake Bulldogs.
Drake is second only to Duke for the most wins and highest winning percentage in college basketball. At 30-3 the Bulldogs .909 winning percentage is better than Auburn’s, Houston’s, St. John’s, and any other team you can name other than Duke.
The Bulldogs are the nation’s best defensive team (58.4 points per game). They are one of only three Division 1 teams allowing fewer than 60 points per game and despite being a smaller team, they are an outstanding rebounding squad.
Drake led the Missouri Valley Conference in both rebound margin and the percentage of offensive rebounds. This is a tough-minded, no-nonsense team, with a proven winner at the helm and an all-important point guard to run the show.
The Bulldogs will be a slight underdog when they face Missouri in the NCAA Tournament’s first round (Thursday, March 20, 6:35 on truTV).
How does an undersized, slow paced team like Drake compete with and defeat a high powered team like the Tigers (22-11)?
The answers may surprise you.
Three Keys for Drake to Defeat Missouri
1. Stay true to their identity.
Drake plays a methodical offense and a positionally sound defensive philosophy. While their defense could be compared to Tony Bennet’s ‘pack the line’ defense from his former Virginia teams, when they get a turnover, they fly to the other end of the court and score. Drake makes you pay for turnovers.
The Bulldogs must be true to their ‘slow the pace’ philosophy. Ben McCollum’s team plays at the slowest pace in the NCAA. They lead the nation in scoring during the shot clock’s final four seconds and aren’t afraid of the violation.
Missouri Valley Conference player of the year Bennett Stirtz, is the main reason this slow pace can be so effective. Drake is also a top-50 team nationally in effective field goal percentage. Stirtz led the Valley in scoring (19.1 ppg), assists (5.7) and steals (2.2). He never makes a mistake and never leaves the floor. The 6’4 junior leads the nation in minutes played.
Drake wears teams down with their very long possessiona and attention to detail. Stirtz and teammates, Mitch Mascari, Daniel Abreu and Isaiah Jackson played for McCollum at Division 2 Northwest Missouri State, where national championships, Elite Eights, and Sweet Sixteens were the normal course of life under McCollum and for those players.
They know what their coach wants and know how to execute his blueprint. Staying true to their identity is priority number one.
2. Get Mascari and Abreu rolling again.
Mascari and Abreu are key to the Drake offensive scheme and they are each in something of an offensive decline. This could be somewhat attributed to the rise of MVC ‘Sixth Man of the Year’ Tavion Banks’ emergence on offense, but these two must find their scoring acumen if the Bulldogs are to advance.
Mascari (9.8 ppg) has watched his scoring average and even shot totals diminish over recent weeks and Abreu (10.4) is in a similar situation. Each player has made huge shots and contributions to Drake’s success and averaged double figures all season long, but over the team’s last seven games, that hasn’t been the case.
Abreu reached double figures once in the last seven and Mascari never did. Mascari is averaging 4.1 points and Abreu 7.4 during that stretch. To defeat Missouri, Stirtz will need their help on the offensive end.
3. Slow Down Missouri’s outstanding offense.
The high-flying Missouri offense averages 84.5 points per game (ninth nationally) with over 36 points coming from Tigers coming off the bench. Mizzou presents so many matchup problems that Drake’s outstanding defense will be challenged.
MU leading scorer Mark Mitchel is a 6’9 explosive wing that is an obvious matchup problem. Mitchel is dinged up and left the team’s SEC Tournament win over Mississippi State after playing just twelve minutes and didn’t play during the Tigers’ loss to Florida. His status for Thursday's game is unknown.
SEC ‘Sixth Man’ Caleb Grill and starter Tamar Bates each average over 13 points-per-game and make better than 40 percent of their three-point attempts.
While Drake has won seven straight games and 18 of their last nineteen games, the Tigers have lost four of their last five.
The challenge for Drake forwards Cam Manyawu, Tavion Banks and Daniel Abreu is to continue to rebound at a high level against the taller and athletic Tigers.
Drake will attempt to slow down and wear down the Tigers. If they can ‘be themselves’, get some more offense from Mascari and Abreu, and defend at a high level, the Bulldogs can pull off the six/eleven upset.