Spring Break
Sports editors: Drexel deserves a bid to the NCAA Tournament
Brett Fischer
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports
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To Whom It May Concern:
I find it interesting that several sports articles I have read regarding men's basketball in the Colonial Athletic Association show the strong bias writers have toward powerhouse conferences. I am tired of reading about how the CAA does not deserve to get more than one at-large bid, if any. I also am befuddled concerning the reasoning behind this mid-major conference's placement. If the top four teams in the CAA were in the Big East, there wouldn't be any problems giving more bids. But the committee cannot just throw out bids to "unworthy" teams.
In addition, several "experts" tend to only analyze wins and losses as opposed to situational circumstances. Based on resumes, Drexel University, an engineering school in Philadelphia, deserves to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. If a true college basketball guru were to completely dissect Drexel's resume, he or she would feel comfortable putting the Dragons into the tournament. Yes, Drexel has bad losses against Penn, Rider, and William & Mary. The Dragons have a 1-4 record against the top three teams in a conference that is probably only the 13th best in the country.
However, what wins and losses will not tell you is the following:
The losses to Penn and Rider were the third and fourth games, respectively, in Drexel's season. The Dragons followed those tough losses by winning 10 games in a row. Four of those came on the road against good teams such as St. Joseph's, Temple, Villanova and Syracuse. Drexel lost on the road against William & Mary on Valentine's Day, but responded by beating the second-best team in the Missouri Valley Conference, Creighton, on the road just three days later. Including the loss to the Tribe, the Dragons still won six of their final seven games of the regular season.
Drexel lost to Old Dominion twice, Virginia Commonwealth once and Hofstra once. Three of those four losses came at home.
The Dragons blew a five-point lead in overtime against Hofstra and lost, even though Drexel guard Dominick Mejia had a chance to win it with a three in the closing seconds. The game was exhausting enough for the players, but Drexel had to travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on the Old Dominion Monarchs. The bus ride from Philadelphia to Norfolk is not an easy one. Hence, Drexel was handed its worst loss of the season, 84-57. The victory gave the Pride its 12th win in 13 games, with the lone loss coming at Syracuse. Usually, a tough game with Hofstra two nights earlier and a long trip to Virginia would be a pretty bad excuse for a team to lose a basketball game - that is, until you look at what Hofstra did in the game following its overtime win over Drexel. The Pride traveled to Northeastern, a team that had a poor record of 4-12 at the time, and lost by 10.
I find it interesting that several sports articles I have read regarding men's basketball in the Colonial Athletic Association show the strong bias writers have toward powerhouse conferences. I am tired of reading about how the CAA does not deserve to get more than one at-large bid, if any. I also am befuddled concerning the reasoning behind this mid-major conference's placement. If the top four teams in the CAA were in the Big East, there wouldn't be any problems giving more bids. But the committee cannot just throw out bids to "unworthy" teams.
In addition, several "experts" tend to only analyze wins and losses as opposed to situational circumstances. Based on resumes, Drexel University, an engineering school in Philadelphia, deserves to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. If a true college basketball guru were to completely dissect Drexel's resume, he or she would feel comfortable putting the Dragons into the tournament. Yes, Drexel has bad losses against Penn, Rider, and William & Mary. The Dragons have a 1-4 record against the top three teams in a conference that is probably only the 13th best in the country.
However, what wins and losses will not tell you is the following:
The losses to Penn and Rider were the third and fourth games, respectively, in Drexel's season. The Dragons followed those tough losses by winning 10 games in a row. Four of those came on the road against good teams such as St. Joseph's, Temple, Villanova and Syracuse. Drexel lost on the road against William & Mary on Valentine's Day, but responded by beating the second-best team in the Missouri Valley Conference, Creighton, on the road just three days later. Including the loss to the Tribe, the Dragons still won six of their final seven games of the regular season.
Drexel lost to Old Dominion twice, Virginia Commonwealth once and Hofstra once. Three of those four losses came at home.
The Dragons blew a five-point lead in overtime against Hofstra and lost, even though Drexel guard Dominick Mejia had a chance to win it with a three in the closing seconds. The game was exhausting enough for the players, but Drexel had to travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on the Old Dominion Monarchs. The bus ride from Philadelphia to Norfolk is not an easy one. Hence, Drexel was handed its worst loss of the season, 84-57. The victory gave the Pride its 12th win in 13 games, with the lone loss coming at Syracuse. Usually, a tough game with Hofstra two nights earlier and a long trip to Virginia would be a pretty bad excuse for a team to lose a basketball game - that is, until you look at what Hofstra did in the game following its overtime win over Drexel. The Pride traveled to Northeastern, a team that had a poor record of 4-12 at the time, and lost by 10.
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