NCAA Basketball: Auburn, Oregon, Purdue rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
25. Drake (7-0)
Considering the absolute chaos of this early season, it seems strangely fitting to see the Bulldogs featured here. Drake lost their head coach and star player in the offseason to West Virginia, but made one of the hires of the offseason in grabbing Ben McCollum, who had won multiple D2 national titles. The Bulldogs, certainly expected to play decently in MVC play, certainly exceeded early expectations.
They gained notoriety for beating Miami, Florida Atlantic, and Vanderbilt to win the Charleston Classic last week, but kept the winning going this week back at home. Drake beat Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon, winning 61-47 for their seventh victory. They got 15 points from Daniel Abreu, one of several players who followed McCollum from Northwest Missouri State, and are playing great team basketball.
At some point, the Bulldogs are going to lose a few games, but nobody expected that performance down in Charleston. McCollum’s squad is unquestionably one of the standout stories of the opening month of the season even if none of those three teams are exactly world-beaters. Regardless, Drake is playing smart basketball and will look to keep that going at Valparaiso next week in the season’s first taste of MVC play.