maly, too: Drake's Men's Basketball Schedule

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Drake's Men's Basketball Schedule

Fourteen home games and the Big Four Classic highlight the 2013-14 Drake men’s basketball schedule, announced Wednesday by first-year coach Ray Giacoletti.

The 30-game slate features 16 games against teams that finished in the top 150 of the RPI last season, including nine dates against RPI top-100 competition.

The Bulldogs will host New Mexico State, Western Michigan, Albany, Nebraska-Omaha and Iowa Wesleyan at the Knapp Center in non-conference action followed by all nine fellow Missouri Valley Conference programs, including league newcomer Loyola. They also take on in-state foe Iowa in the Big Four Classic on Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo Arena coupled with road trips to St. Mary’s and a three-day tournament at Fresno State against the host, Northern Arizona and CSU Bakersfield.

Giacoletti will attack that non-conference schedule with a roster that features five newcomers and eight other experienced players, including a pair of full-time starters in senior guard Richard Carter and senior center Seth Van Deest.

Fans will get their first look at the Bulldogs under Giacoletti on Nov. 3 with an exhibition game against Central College at 2:05 p.m. Less than a week later, the season tips off in earnest and the squad gets it first road test of the season with a visit to Illinois at Chicago (UIC) of the Horizon League on Nov. 9.

Drake opens its home schedule three days later against Iowa Wesleyan. A return visit to St. Mary’s on Nov. 16. follows, before returning home to host Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 23. Four games away from the Knapp Center follow with three contests at the Fresno State Classic and the Dec. 7 date against Iowa in the Big Four Classic.

The Bulldogs stay at home for the bulk of December with a three-game homestand before the holiday break against New Mexico State, Western Michigan and Albany on Dec. 14, 18 and 23, respectively. The squad hits the road for its final non-conference tune-up, a Dec. 29 meeting at IUPUI.

The Valley schedule gets under way at home on New Year’s Day with Evansville visiting the Knapp Center followed by the team’s first league road game at Bradley on Jan. 4. The Bulldogs welcomes 2013 NCAA Final Four participant Wichita State to the Knapp Center on Jan. 25 as part of a two-game homestand, the only one on its Valley schedule, capped by a visit from Missouri State. Tipoff times for all home Valley games will be announced with the finalization of the league’s television package in the coming weeks.

League newcomer Loyola is also on the slate twice with Drake traveling to Chicago on Jan. 15 and welcoming the Ramblers to Des Moines on Feb. 15. That Feb. 15 date begins the homestretch of the Valley schedule with the Bulldogs playing three of their final league games at home including the regular-season finale against Bradley on March 1.

The Valley tournament is set for the following week, March 6-9, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

To reserve your tickets for the 2013-14 season, visit www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com or call 515-271-DOGS.

The Schedule:

Nov. 3 Central College (Exh.) Des Moines, Iowa 2:05 p.m.

Nov. 9 at UIC Chicago, Ill. 7 p.m.

Nov. 12 Iowa Wesleyan Des Moines, Iowa 7:05 p.m.

Nov. 16 at St. Mary’s Moraga, Calif. TBA

Nov. 23 Nebraska-Omaha Des Moines, Iowa 1 p.m.

Nov. 29 at Fresno State # Fresno, Calif. TBA

Nov. 30 vs. Northern Arizona # Fresno, Calif. TBA

Dec. 1 vs. CSU Bakersfield # Fresno, Calif. TBA

Dec. 7 vs. Iowa & Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Dec. 14 New Mexico State Des Moines, Iowa 7:05 p.m.

Dec. 18 Western Michigan Des Moines, Iowa 7:05 p.m.

Dec. 23 Albany Des Moines, Iowa 7:05 p.m.

Dec. 29 at IUPUI Indianapolis, Ind. TBA

Jan. 1 Evansville * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Jan. 4 at Bradley * Peoria, Ill. TBA

Jan. 8 Indiana State * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Jan. 11 at UNI * Cedar Falls, Iowa TBA

Jan. 15 at Loyola * Chicago, Ill. TBA

Jan. 18 Illinois State * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Jan. 22 at Southern Illinois * Carbondale, Ill. TBA

Jan. 25 Wichita State * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Jan. 29 Missouri State * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Feb. 1 at Illinois State * Normal, Ill. TBA

Feb. 4 Southern Illinois * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Feb. 9 at Indiana State * Terre Haute, Ind. TBA

Feb. 12 at Missouri State * Springfield, Mo. TBA

Feb. 15 Loyola * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Feb. 18 UNI Des Moines, Iowa TBA

Feb. 22 at Wichita State * Wichita, Kan. TBA

Feb. 25 at Evansville * Evansville, Ind. TBA

March 1 Bradley * Des Moines, Iowa TBA

March 6-9 MVC Conference Tournament St. Louis, Mo.

# Fresno State Classic

& Big Four Classic

* Missouri Valley contest

(All times central)

--Ty Patton, Drake's athletic athletic director for communications

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.