2020-21 Finish: 26-5; 15-3 MVC (2nd)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 13/3
Starters Returning/Lost: 5/0
The Drake University men’s basketball team enters the 2021-22 campaign with plenty of momentum. The Bulldogs are coming off three of the most successful seasons in program history and the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years.
The Bulldog’s third-straight 20-win season culminated with an NCAA Tournament win over former MVC rival Wichita State before being edged by eventual Elite 8 team USC.
The Bulldogs return all but two players from that team and have added Iowa High School Player of the Year and top-100 recruit Tucker DeVries to the roster, along with highly touted prep point guard Conor Enright. The team also added fifth-year transfer Ayo Akinwole, who was Omaha’s leading scorer a year ago, to give the Bulldogs a veteran roster that will be, on average, nearly 22 years old at the start of the season.
The Bulldogs return a pair of All-MVC selections in Roman Penn and ShanQuan Hemphill. Penn averaged 11.2 points with a league-best 5.5 assists per game last season and was limited to 24 games as he missed the last seven games of the season with a season-ending foot injury. Penn enters the season needing 64 assists to become the Bulldogs’ all-time leader.
Hemphill was named second-team All-MVC, MVC Newcomer of the Year, a member of the All-Newcomer and All-Defensive teams. Despite missing a significant portion of the season with a foot injury, he averaged 14.1 points per game while shooting 58.7 percent and hauling in 6.3 rebounds per game. He scored in double-figures in 17 of his 20 games, including three 20-point games.
Veteran guards D.J. Wilkins and Jonah Jackson also return to add to the Bulldogs’ experience on the perimeter.
Inside, big man Darnell Brodie is in even better form after debuting in the league last year as one of the Valley’s top rebounders at 6.8 per game to go along with 7.8 points per game. He averaged 8.7 points and 7.5 boards per night in league games, with five double-digit rebounding nights and two 20-point games.
The Bulldogs are under fourth-year head coach and two-time MVC Coach of the Year Darian DeVries. He has already racked up 70 wins in three seasons, the most wins in any three years in program history. Three of the program’s eight 20-win seasons have come under DeVries as he already ranks seventh in career wins at Drake.