Lid Lifter Drexel Preview

So, BG plays Drexel to open the season.  The Dragons play in the CAA and have been in the NCAA Tournament four times since 1986.  They were 9-23 and 3-15 last year finishing with a kenpom of 250.  It was a rough year, though the record was three wins better than it had been the year before.  It was the first year for Coach Zach Spiker, who came to Drexel after being the third most successful Coach ever at West Point.

They are picked to be #9 in the CAA this year, despite bringing three starters back from that team and adding two transfers, one from Missouri and one from Campbell.  (They lost the CAA's top 3FG shooter Kari Jonsson in October when he decided to return to Iceland, a sentence you almost never hear)

Anyway, they are an up-tempo, guard-oriented team.  Their top returner is Kurk Lee, a 5'9" PG who is the team's leading returner in scoring and assists last year as a FR.  That includes 5 assists per game.  Now, he got those numbers playing 33 minutes a game, which I think they hope to cut down on, so the team could get better even if his gross numbers don't.

Senior guards Miles Overton (9.5 ppg) and Sammy Mojica (11.2 PPG) are also back.  Lee and Mojica were efficient shooters but Overton got his points with a poor shooting %.  The two transfers are also guards...6-1 junior Tramaine Isabell, who comes from the University of Missouri (6.2 PPG), and 6-1 junior Troy Harper, from Campbell University (13.5 PPG).

FWIW, Overton started his career at Wake Forest.

In the frontcourt, their leader is 6'8" SR F Austin Williams.

This team has four seniors (three more are expected to play significantly) and three juniors, so in that sense they present a contrast to the young Falcons.

Their biggest struggle last year was on defense.  They were #202 in offensive efficiency and #283 in defensive efficiency.  They were below average in defending the shot, preventing offensive rebounds, forcing turnovers and keeping teams off the line.

They lost to Villanova 87-68 in a charity exhibition.

They are 5-7 against current MAC teams, but have never played Bowling Green.  The CAA was the #12 ranked conference last year, one spot ahead of the MAC.

To me, this seems like a pretty even matchup.  You have lower-ranked teams from comparable conferences, with one team senior-oriented at home and one team attempting to prove themselves with young talent.  It will be part of what I think will be a very interesting season for the Falcons.