There’s no bullying these Drake Bulldogs

The Drake Bulldogs know that you aren’t paying attention to them.

Like a church mouse, the… The Drake Bulldogs know that you aren’t paying attention to them.

Like a church mouse, the little team from the little conference quietly has crept all the way up to No. 15 in the national rankings. And despite their loss to Southern Illinois Wednesday night, you can be sure the Bulldogs will hang around the top 25 for a while.

This team simply knows how to play.

Heading into this week, forward Jonathon Cox and guard Josh Young were Nos. 1 and 2 in 3-point shooting in the Missouri Valley Conference, the nation’s most recent source of several NCAA Tournament Cinderellas. Cox is connecting at a clip of 49.2 percent, while Young boasts a hearty 46.8 percent from behind the line.

During their 21-game winning streak prior to Wednesday, the Bulldogs were also out-rebounding opponents 34.5 to 30.6, despite their tallest roster standing at an unimposing 6-foot-8.

Drake understands why you still aren’t paying attention to them.

“I think every time we win a game this year, we’re setting some kind of record or it’s the first time for something,” Drake’s first-year head coach Keno Davis told the Des Moines Register.

There are several reasons for that.

The Bulldogs have never finished in the top 100 of the RPI standings in school history.

That will change.

Currently, Drake is sitting at 10th in the RPI, comfortably sandwiched between perennial power Connecticut and Atlantic 10-leading Xavier.

Drake’s pathetic historical record earned it a ninth-place position in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference standings this year.

Last season’s 17-15 finish was the only winning season the Bulldogs enjoyed since the 1986-87 campaign.

That will also change.

The program is long removed from the glory days of its Final Four run in 1969. In fact, Drake has never won a Missouri Valley Conference tournament since the conference’s inception in 1977.

The Bulldogs have an 11-29 all-time record in the MVC tournament and have never won more than two games in a single tournament. That, too, will change.

Like Vermont and Bucknell of the past decade, the Bulldogs have experienced a meteoric rise through the college rankings without much explanation or fanfare. Perhaps like these teams, Drake will also etch itself in the history books with a huge win against a highly ranked, big-conference program in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs are almost there – they beat power conference programs Iowa and Iowa State earlier this season.

It isn’t so far-fetched at this point.

The Missouri Valley Conference has produced several very strong tournament teams over the past few years. In fact, many analysts consider the MVC to be up with the ACC and Big East in terms of talent and competitive balance within the conference.

Last season, conference regular season champion Southern Illinois advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 after earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing a heartbreaking 61-58 decision to top-seeded Kansas.

The Salukis have made six straight NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to 2002.

In 2006, Patrick O’Bryant led Missouri Valley’s Bradley to wins over Kansas and Pitt on their way to the Sweet 16.

The Bulldogs’ only two losses this season have both come at the hands of capable teams – No. 25 St. Mary’s and Southern Illinois, a team that was ranked as high as No. 24 before the season began.

Yes, this team will live and die by the 3-pointer. Yes, they are undersized. Yes, they are young and inexperienced on the big stage. But throw all of that out the window.

Anyone following this team realizes that something special is happening, and reason and logic have little to do with it.

Credit Davis, a likely national-coach-of-the-year candidate, with getting the most out of the talent that was assembled for him. Davis runs the flex offense, which is one of the most widely used offenses in basketball.

Credit his father and legendary Iowa coach, Tom Davis, for assembling that talent for him. Davis coached Drake for four seasons before handing over the reins to his son.

And credit the players for believing in themselves when it seems no one else in the country did. Drake knows you aren’t paying attention to them.

That will also change very soon.