The bracket is out. We are a 16 seed against Big 10 champs Illinois. We play on Friday. Lets go!

3 years ago I was at the DAC with my buddy watching Drexel get slaughtered by Delaware. I told him as the game kept on getting worse and worse...."that's OK, it will just make things that much more awesome when we come back and beat them.". And we all know what happened that night.

So I'll say the same thing about Drexel being a 16 seed. It will make a win against Illinois all that much special. And hey, Illinois just won the BIGX title in front of a lot of people in Indy. Maybe there's a chance that they'll break Covid protocols. Unlikely, but you never know.

21 point underdogs already. Cockburn is a handful and will be a nightmare for us. If we limit our turnovers we can stay competitive. We will have to make our 3s like we did in the CAAT

(03-14-2021 06:08 PM)J.B. Wrote:  3 years ago I was at the DAC with my buddy watching Drexel get slaughtered by Delaware. I told him as the game kept on getting worse and worse...."that's OK, it will just make things that much more awesome when we come back and beat them.". And we all know what happened that night.

So I'll say the same thing about Drexel being a 16 seed. It will make a win against Illinois all that much special. And hey, Illinois just won the BIGX title in front of a lot of people in Indy. Maybe there's a chance that they'll break Covid protocols. Unlikely, but you never know.

Let's all chip in and fly them down to Texas for a few rounds of drinks at a crowded bar!

(03-14-2021 06:13 PM)Timer Wrote:  

(03-14-2021 06:08 PM)J.B. Wrote:  3 years ago I was at the DAC with my buddy watching Drexel get slaughtered by Delaware. I told him as the game kept on getting worse and worse...."that's OK, it will just make things that much more awesome when we come back and beat them.". And we all know what happened that night.

So I'll say the same thing about Drexel being a 16 seed. It will make a win against Illinois all that much special. And hey, Illinois just won the BIGX title in front of a lot of people in Indy. Maybe there's a chance that they'll break Covid protocols. Unlikely, but you never know.

Let's all chip in and fly them down to Texas for a few rounds of drinks at a crowded bar!

Or you know just let them celebrate downtown Indy where they already are...

(03-14-2021 06:13 PM)dan10 Wrote:  21 point underdogs already. Cockburn is a handful and will be a nightmare for us. If we limit our turnovers we can stay competitive. We will have to make our 3s like we did in the CAAT

I love your optimism! Have fun.

Drexel's game looks to be on the Saturday schedule, time and channel TBA.

(03-14-2021 07:35 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Drexel's game looks to be on the Saturday schedule, time and channel TBA.

ESPN's website list the game on Friday, so who knows. I guess I just need to be patient.

(03-14-2021 08:09 PM)J.B. Wrote:  

(03-14-2021 07:35 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Drexel's game looks to be on the Saturday schedule, time and channel TBA.

ESPN's website list the game on Friday, so who knows. I guess I just need to be patient.

CBS shows Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium with time TBA.

Friday @ 1:15 pm

Drexel is going to the Elite 8! Calling it now :)

Good luck fella’s. I honestly think a spread of 21+ is an over reach, but I’ve not seen much of Illinois either.

Great “season” you all have had thus far, MBB and WBB both moving on? Wow.

Will be watching on Friday. Good luck

Being one of the first games of the tournament also means early on some of the most eyes watching. Lets go!

For those who did not tune into the Big 10 championship prior to the selection show, Illinois is a balanced team. They use guard Ayo Dosunmo and center Kofi Cockburn a lot. They are a dangerous duo for sure. Dosunmo mostly plays winger for them

Cockburn averages 17.6ppg, 9.6 rpg and blocks 1.2 shots per game
Dosunmo averages 20.7ppg, 6.3 rpg and 5.3 apg

They have one other player averaging double figures however they do have 2 others that are close. They play 8-9 guys per game. Frazier and Dosunmo are the only guys on their roster that get steals, so they dont focus on getting any (5 per game). Miller and Frazier are their 3 point threats though Dosunmu will take some as well. As a team Illinois takes about 18 per game. They play 4 guards

They play good defense and will be difficult to score on. They are not going to overpower us on size alone. Cockburn is a 7 footer and Dosunmo is 6'5". They are a quick team so we will have to really focus on staying in front of them while trying to eliminate their inside out game between their 2 stars.

Starting lineup sizes:
7'0" C
6'6" G
6'5" G
6'3" G
6'2" G

We would be smart to double Cockburn quickly once he gets the ball. We are going to need Mate and Walton and TJ to really step up on defense. those guys' length could cause Illinois some problems if we can stay with them. If we get caught flat footed we will be scrambling all over the court and it wont end well. Illinois shoots FTs at 68%. We should not be scared of putting them to the line.

On offense we need to keep doing what we did in the CAAT. Produce some open shots and hit them. Getting to the rim should not be too much trouble. Butler should be able to pull Cockburn away from the basket so we can avoid getting blocked.

There are worse matchups for us than this one. It wont be easy, obviously, but I dont think we are completely dead in the water before it starts, either.

Game is Friday at 1:15 as bmf mentioned...

Being played at the 6,500 seat and 82 year old Indiana Farmers Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It's not your typical arena for an NCAA Tournament game, but as I said before, "it is what it is".

This also means that I'm sure there will be very limited tickets available. Season ticket holders who were interested were put on a waiting list for tickets. In a normal year, they probably would have been available to anybody who wanted them.

Game is on TBS, which is a cable network available to everyone. I was a bit concerned that the game would be on TruTV, but that's not the case.

Yeah we got the smallest arena. It is not a bad one. Its old but recently renovated. It hosts the Horizon championships and is home to IUPUI and minor league hockey. At 25% tickets are scarse and will be. Especially against Illinois. I live here and I am not sure I will be able to get a ticket. There just are not any available. Hopefully anyone who is a season ticket holder will be able to come out. At 25% you are less than 2K in attendance. It will be a sea of orange. I have a ticket to a tournament game Sunday, but I doubt it is our bracket. Presales tickets were gone in minutes, unfortunately I had a customer in that day I had to attend to when first round games were available, so I had to settle on guessing for the 2nd round. It is an early game so you never know I suppose.

(03-14-2021 11:07 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  Good luck fella’s. I honestly think a spread of 21+ is an over reach, but I’ve not seen much of Illinois either.

Illinois is 19.62 better in the Sagarin and 28.99 better in KenPom. Illinois is third in both. You're 142nd in the Sagarin and 146th in KenPom. That means KenPom thinks the gap from 3rd to the 140s is much better than the Sagarin thinks it is. The gap from best to worst in Division I is 51.32 in the Sagarin and 78.54 in KenPom, which is over 50 percent bigger in KenPom. In both, Gonzaga is best and Mississippi Valley State is worst. In KenPom, Mississippi Valley State is 12.52 worse than the second worst team, which is 0-9 Chicago State.

I was just listening to Hartford's coach, John Gallagher, who by the way gave an incredible interview. His team is playing at Lucas Oil Stadium, and talked about how the huge backdrop in football stadiums can be difficult for 3-point shooters. Drexel will need to hit a lot of 3-point shots in this game if they want to have any chance of even being competitive. So from that standpoint, playing in a mid-major size arena might be helpful for them.

our lack of games could be helpful. i don't think i know this team well since last weekend came out of nowhere. there's not a lot of tape out there...and even less tape of us playing good basketball.

i wouldn't be surprised to see williams and more of oden. i don't remember williams playing much since the start of the season. he showed some potential as a defender in particular. given the improvement in some other guys...i'd like to see what he can give us as rim protector against a bigger team.

(03-15-2021 03:10 PM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  our lack of games could be helpful. i don't think i know this team well since last weekend came out of nowhere. there's not a lot of tape out there...and even less tape of us playing good basketball.

i wouldn't be surprised to see williams and more of oden. i don't remember williams playing much since the start of the season. he showed some potential as a defender in particular. given the improvement in some other guys...i'd like to see what he can give us as rim protector against a bigger team.

Williams is the next Tim Perry. Drexel seems to have had one since the beginning of time. Tim Perry turned into a much better player this year, compared to when he started here. You're right, that we could see more of him for defense. However, we are a pretty tall team.

I'm think that our best chance might be to not panic and change too much. Just run our slow methodical Princeton type offense, try hard to limit turnovers, let Cam Wynter be Cam Wynter, set up for open three point shots, and hope that they fall. I kind of picture Butler and TJ really struggling to score in the paint.