TAMPA, Fla. -- Call it Tampandemonium.
After all of Thursday's games yielded just one upset that wasn't an 8-9 game, Tampa gave us four in a row on Friday.
If you're religious, today was Good Friday. If you're a hoops fan, it was great.
TAMPA, Fla. -- What a finish.
Just when it seemed that Drake had put away pesky Western Kentucky, Hilltoppers' guard Ty Rogers drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal a 101-99 upset win.
The shot came after Drake's Jon Cox, who sent the game to overtime with a 3-pointer near the end of regulation, hit two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining in overtime to give his team a 1-point lead.
WKU's Tyrone Brazelton brought the ball down court, and it looked like he would take the last shot. With 33 points already behind him, why not? Instead he dished to Rogers, who send the red-clad Toppers' fans into complete bedlam.
Drake isn't giving up without a fight.
Josh Young hit a 3-pointer to pull the Bulldogs within 1, and the roof barely stayed on the St. Pete Times Forum.
Of course, Tyrone Brazelton answered with a 2 for WKU, but Jon Cox went down the other end and drained a 3 to tie the score at 88, with 24.6 seconds to go.
Emmenecker missed a chance with about 8 seconds left for Drake, and WKU's desperation heave didn't go, so we'll head to overtime tied at 88.
Western Kentucky is still in control, but they may have looked up for a second, similar to what Belmont did last night in its loss to Duke. The Hilltoppers stopped playing to win and just looked to kill some clock, and it cost them a few points.
Drake seems to be resting its fate in the hands of Klayton Korver. That's who they look to when they need quick points, and he is 5 of 9 from the field, all 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs have started getting their hands dirty too, scrapping for rebounds and keeping WKU off the glass.
My bracket is crying out to Drake to put together a run.
The Hilltoppers are playing at a much higher level in every aspect right now, shooting, rebounding, passing and defense.
It looks like both teams are a little tired, but they're keeping up the frantic pace from the first half. Drake favors quick possessions to open up a jump shot, while the Hilltoppers are trying to feed it down low to Magley and Evans.
Magley nearly got fouled on a layup and then got called for one himself on the other end. That's three, and he went back to the bench after just 3 minutes.
Uh-oh.
This is crazy. Drake's shot chart includes just one 2-point shot besides layups. Klayton Korver has taken a few shots from the Gulf of Mexico that, needless to say, didn't go in.
Leonard Houston leads Drake with 11 points, while Courtney Lee and Tyrone Brazelton have 9 each for WKU.
Are the refs playing favorites?
Maybe. Drake has shot 16 free throws compared to NONE in the first half for WKU. The Hilltoppers got called for 13 fouls to Drake's 6.
Tyrone Brazelton doesn't care, he just keeps shooting 3's, including a desperation heave at the buzzer that nearly dropped from half court. If they keep going in (he's 3-6) then it won't matter how many fouls are called.
Emmenecker looks a little frustrated. He's off his game and trying to drive, which isn't his strength. The Bulldogs need him functioning in his normal capacity of dishing assists and just being efficient.
Both teams have made it clear that they'll shoot from anywhere. WKU's Courtney Lee drilled about a 24-footer, and Korver tried the same but missed on the other end.
The forum is getting pretty rowdy now. It's almost full, with a lot of fans who look like they're trying to figure out who to root for.
Hilltoppers' fans are pretty ticked off at the officiating. D.J. Magley was looking pretty solid in the paint, but two early fouls forced him to sit. They're in an odd position, an underdog team playing Drake, who was an underdog all year beloved by most. WKU doesn't seem to be getting any love as the little guy - from fans or refs.
Great start for WKU's Jeremy Adams. He had a dunk on the first possession and then blocked a Drake layin. The Hilltoppers are dominating down low and keeping their fans in a frenzy.
Drake is mostly staying outside, trying to pick the right opportunities to go in the paint. The Hilltoppers have a definite size advantage, so it looks like the Bulldogs will need to get hot from outside.
First off, I don't have an assigned seat so I'm a bit of a drifter today. My apologies if I disappear for a half.
We're about to tip off between Drake and Western Kentucky, and there's a lot of blue here in Tampa. No, not Drake fans, empty blue seats in the St. Pete Times Forum.
I'm sure it will fill up more as the game goes on, and as of now both Drake and Western Kentucky have a rowdy few sections of supporters.
(FYI: The Hilltoppers' band is playing 'You Give Love a Bad Name' by Bon Jovi. Major points there)
Several of Drake's fans are still hanging around Hinkle after the game, cheering on the players as they emerge from the locker room.
Some stats and notes from Drake's 71-64 win over Butler.
Both teams shot 24-54 from the floor. Drake made one less three pointer, shooting 5-17. Butler was 6-24, but only 1-8 in the second half. The teams each averaged just over 9 made threes per game, so those are pretty low totals.
Drake won the game at the line, shooting 18-20 Butler was 10-16, with a couple of missed front ends of 1-and-1s in the second half.
In the first half, Butler had 8 assists and one turnover. In the second half, they had two assists and 9 turnovers.
Drake outrebounded Butler by seven today, which lines up with the team stats. Drake has a 3 board per game lead over its opponents, but Butler gets outrebounded by an average of one per game.
Josh Young led Drake with 25 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor, including 3-5 from beyond the arc. He was also 8-8 from the line.
Leonard Houston had 16 and Jonathan Cox had 11 in support.
Butler was led by Graves' 18 and Matt Howard's 16. Mike Green had 12.
There were only four fast break points in the entire game, two by each team.
There wasn't much noteworthy said after the game. Butler coach Brad Stevens and Graves, already changed into a t-shirt and jeans, were pretty somber, as you might expect.
Keno Davis, Josh Young and Adam Emmenecker were happier, of course, but not in the "we've never done this before" way. They weren't overly exuberant either.
Emmenecker did talk about how they were looking forward to playing here. He said, "It's a historic place. We were all excited to come here. Even though I'm from Michigan, I had heard a lot about this place. It's an honor to play here."
And that's a wrap from Indy. I think security may have to kick the Drake fans out. They aren't in any hurry to go.
Drake and Butler meet today in the highlight game of this year's bracket buster series to decide which is the better Bulldog. There isn't much else at stake though. Like most of the bracket buster games over the years, this one really has no bearing on selection for the tournament. Both of these teams are in barring a major collapse.
Seeding could be affected though. Neither team has a win over a sure tournament team this year, and neither has even played many. Drake's best opponent by far was St. Mary's, which beat the Bulldogs in the second game of the year. Butler smoked Ohio St at home in December. The committee is unlikely to reward either of these teams with terribly high seeds (compared to their respective poll rankings), but the winner would have an edge over the loser.
Both teams like to bomb away from the three-point line. Drake is 15th in the nation in made threes per game with 9.3, and Butler is right behind them at 9.2. Both are also in the top 25 in the nation in free throw percentage, which makes coming back on either of them difficult.
The game may end up getting won in the post then, where Butler has freshman Matt Howard. Howard is having a terrific debut season, leading the Horizon league in FG percentage. He is also second in offensive rebounds and fourth in blocked shots. Keeping him off the offensive glass will be a key for Drake.
They also need to stop the penetration of Mike Green, who creates a lot off offense for Butler by getting into the lane.
For Drake, the formula is easy - hit their long range shots and take care of the ball. Sophomore Josh Young leads the league in three pointers made and is second in scoring. His range has no limit and he doesn't care if he's open. When I saw him at Illinois St a few weeks ago, he only shot two of his 11 three pointers inside of 25', and was only a step closer on those. Only four or five of those shots were open. In spite of that, he's second in the league and 33rd nationally in three point percentage.
You can follow along with the action in the box below. You can vote in polls, comment or ask questions about the game, so feel free to pitch in.
NORMAL, Ill. -- The historic run continues for Drake after a 73-70 win over Illinois State. The Bulldogs are now 21-1, which is the best start in school history. It's only the fifth time ever they have won 21 in one season, and it hasn't happened in 37 years.
Their 20-game winning streak is obviously the longest in school history and the fourth-longest ever by a MVC team. It is also the first time since 1970 that Drake has won 12 conference games.
After the game, coach Keno Davis talked about how his team feels about having a four game lead.
"We haven't talked to our team about our lead, what place we're in, our streak or any of that. We only talk about playing our best when we get to St. Louis [the site of the MVC tournament]. Usually, that's the only chance we have at the post season. This year is a little different in that regard."
He also talked about shot selection.
"We have no real inside presence, so we need to rely on the threes. People watch tapes of us and see quick shots and say, 'That's a bad shot,' because it's early in the shot clock, but Josh Young open from 19' 9" is probably the best shot we're going to get, even if we pass the ball 10 more times, so why not shoot it then?"
Of course, Young didn't get anywhere near 19' 9" on his three pointers tonight. He was always at least two full steps behind the line, but that doesn't change his point.
When ISU coach Tim Jankovich was asked what he told his team after the game, he said, "I told them I'm proud of them. They gave great effort. Sure, they made some mistakes, but they were 'trying' mistakes. How could I not be proud of them?"
He kind of rambled on a bit, but ended with, "too often we get focused on the wins and losses. I think if you going and give it your best effort, you should be happy with that as an athlete."
It's not the kind of thing you hear winning coaches say, I suppose, but I liked it. When I coach kids, that's always my message. Play hard, do the best you can, and let wins and losses take care of themselves. Sometimes, the other team is just better. That's what happened to ISU today.
I got to write all this while listening to some opera singer practice singing the fight song with the pep band. I'm not even sure he was singing it in English, but whatever he was singing, he sang it well.
Welcome to live, Super Tuesday coverage of the Drake-Illinois St primary from Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena in Normal, IL.
15th-ranked Drake is undefeated in Missouri Valley play at 11-0, while ISU is second at 7-3.
Drake has won 19 straight overall and is one of the nation's biggest surprises. They are seventh in the nation in three pointers made per game with 9.5. They are led in scoring by sophomore Josh Young at 16.1 ppg. The Bulldogs are also an excellent FT shooting team. Only one player in their nine-man rotation shoots below 71% (Brent Heemskerk, 47%)
ISU has lost three of five entering this game, but stgaring forward Anthony Slack missed two and a half of those games with a shoulder injury. He returned with a 12 rebound performance against Missouri St on Saturday.
The Redbirds leading scorer is Osiris Eldridge, a sophomore, with 15.2 ppg.
Drake won the first meeting on January 19th by a score of 79-73 in Des Moines. In spite of that, exit polling shows Illinois St as a 3.5 point favorite.
The rest of the blogging will take place in the box below. Feel free to join in the conversation as the evening goes on.
