2024-2025 Around the League and Other Games of Interest

[nadf.]

My friend overhead a Drake donor in a gym lockerroom saying that they think they are going to need to come up with 200k to keep the Stirtz kid. IDK if this nugget is worth anytime or not but this is a message board so I'm just going to leave that here.

[PantherAlum09]

That number sounds like a lot but he would be worth every penny. I also don't think it matters unless McCollum is still there.

[Wxcpanther]

One of the reasons he was able to do that was by winning in newsworthy, last second fashion against Wichita State (?) in a play in game. They also played (I think
it was UCLA?) close, and potentially could’ve upset them if one of their better players (Shaq Hemphill) wasn’t playing hurt. All that got Drake some national exposure and elevated DeVries as a coaching prospect. He turned down a few things prior to going to WV. You need national buzz to get to get noticed (even if brief) and make yourself sellable.

First, that was against USC, and they got slaughtered in that game. USC's size totally shut down their attack the basket game, which was pretty much all those guys had with Yesefu. Yesefu hit 6 3s and they still lost by 16. Second, if you think people didn't already know who Ben McCollum was in the coaching world prior to this year, it's very apparent people do now. Like Devries and Tucker, McCollum's time to move is now.

[Username]

200k seems low to me for someone who's gonna be the player of the year in a decent conference on a potential 30 win team before any tournament noise, but we also have no real transparency on numbers so who knows.

[PantherAlum09]

Bradley off to a very slow start at Drake. I did laugh, however, when Drake got called for an illegal screen literally 5 seconds into the game.

[06panther10]

Bradley wins.

Tons of work to do, its a tough road ahead, but the fact of the matter is we control our own destiny to win the Valley at this very moment.

[1994grad]

We can absolutely beat Drake at home. We have all of the tools to make it happen.

[BCPanther]

Half the league is 7-9

[MVCBeat]

It is all speculation, but I can't imagine a guy who stayed at Northwest Missouri State for 15 years and won four national championships would leave Drake after one year. I have no inside information at all, just would seem out of character.

[nadf.]

Really hard for me to think that he will not be Iowa's next HC. Ben is from Iowa City. Honestly I don't know a single thing about Iowa basketball this year but I've seen clips online of people who think Fran is done after this year. If I was Iowa, I would go after this guy even before Devries.

[BCPanther]

It is all speculation, but I can't imagine a guy who stayed at Northwest Missouri State for 15 years and won four national championships would leave Drake after one year. I have no inside information at all, just would seem out of character.

IMO, he stayed at NWMo because it's hard to get a DI AD to look at a D2 guy. It took Schertz 18 years and an .850 winning percentage to get a bad DI job. It's a really tough sell to boosters. Once you break down that door and prove it in DI, you're a lot more hireable.

Brooks McKowen is winning at a .700 clip at Upper Iowa and I don't think any of us would be terribly excited if he was the guy after Jake at this point.

[PantherAlum09]

NW Mo St is also almost cult like and supremely well funded at that level. From everything I've heard, it's a very weird dynamic down there. He was paid pretty darn well as a D2 coach and probably was being pretty choosy. If he is an Iowa guy and it looks pretty apparent Fran is on his way out, I feel like he would be the first choice for several reasons.

[MVCBeat]

IMO, he stayed at NWMo because it's hard to get a DI AD to look at a D2 guy. It took Schertz 18 years and an .850 winning percentage to get a bad DI job. It's a really tough sell to boosters. Once you break down that door and prove it in DI, you're a lot more hireable.

Brooks McKowen is winning at a .700 clip at Upper Iowa and I don't think any of us would be terribly excited if he was the guy after Jake at this point.

It is a fair point. But if Brooks had won 4 of the last 7 Nattys I would be excited about it.

[kochrab]

Redbirds could do us a huge solid if they can hang on and beat Bradley tonight. Would be great to get separation for that 2 seed.

[CyCarp]

Redbirds could do us a huge solid if they can hang on and beat Bradley tonight. Would be great to get separation for that 2 seed.

Redbirds pulling away...