Drake Bulldogs Q&A with Mark Emmert - Des Moines Register

[MVCfans]

Our first MVC Q&A is for the Drake Bulldogs. Mark Emmert of the Des Moines Register was kind enough to take some time to answer our questions. Mark has covered Drake for the past 2 seasons. His Bulldogs coverage can be followed at: http://www.DesMoinesRegister.com/bulldogs or you can follow him on twitter - @MarkEmmert.


Question 1.
This is Coach Mark Phelps third year at the helm after taking over for
Keno Davis. Phelps' first team went 17-16 and last year the Bulldogs
finished 14-19. If Drake's win total doesn't increase this year, will
Phelps' seat warm? Are fans concerned he is more Kurt Kanaskie than Keno
Davis?

A: Absolutely. The Kanaskie comparison is starting to float around already. I still
think Phelps won't be in serious trouble this year because of the promise of his
last two recruiting classes, but then he would certainly need to contend for a
Valley title next year as his players mature and learn his system.


Question 2.
Looking at the games played so far, the 91-43 loss to Iowa State and
the 82-39 loss to St. John's jump off the page. Simply put - what
happened?

A: Those were stunning results. As you know, it's almost impossible to lose a
college game by 45 points; there just aren't that many possessions usually. So to do
it twice in a month? Ouch. I wasn't at the St. John's game (it was played in
Alaska), but I'm guessing it was similar to the Iowa State loss in many respects. In
both games, Drake allowed the opposing team to go on amazing runs late in the first
half (23-0 and 23-1). Against the Cyclones in Ames, I was struck by how
shell-shocked the Bulldogs looked while they were being pounded and afterward as
they prepared to head back to Des Moines. No one showed any fire or wanted to be the
guy that his teammates rallied around. They just looked helpless to do anything to
alter their fate. Is that youth? A lack of leadership? Being in awe of their
opponent? Not sure.


Question 3.
From the "I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own
eyes" category, have you ever seen an ending as bizarre as the
controversial one between Drake and Weber State?

A: I haven't seen anything quite like that. Again, that game was played in Alaska,
but I can tell you that Phelps had the video replay at his fingertips the following
Monday when I visited him in his office. I wonder how many times he'd replayed it?
It clearly still stung. After seeing the video, my only thought is that perhaps one
of the officials saw Aaron Hawley bounce the ball out of the corner of his eye, and
it looked much worse than it was. I'm still not sure why they looked at it on a
replay monitor, though. Very odd.


Question 4.
Drake currently ranks 314th nationally in points per game and 330th in
rebounds per game. What are the Bulldogs lacking and how can Coach Phelps
remedy these issues for the MVC season?

A: Rebounding was a problem last year, and will be again all season this year, it
appears. Certainly, the injury to starting power forward Jordan Clarke hurts. But
this just isn't a very physical team. They gave up 15 offensive rebounds yesterday
to Boise State, yet still won. It's something they'll have to compensate for
throughout the winter. And it's not a very good passing team, either, at least not
yet. The point guard play from Frank Wiseler and Kurt Alexander has been lackluster,
and it's striking how many players have to reach down or lunge to gather passes that
are slightly off-target. It certainly affects their offensive flow. Freshman forward
Rayvonte Rice and sophomore center Seth VanDeest may end up leading the team in
assists this season. In their past three games, they have just 29 assists on 72
field goals (and have won two of those games). Probably not a trend that can
continue if the team is to have success.


Question 5.
Freshman Rayvonte Rice looks to be as good as advertised. How high is
his ceiling and who would you compare him to that other MVC fans might
know?

A: He's certainly the most physically gifted player that Drake has recruited in
recent memory. He had a dunk yesterday that you just don't see very often in the
Valley, especially not from a 6-4 freshman. He also has terrific range, although he
hasn't really found his 3-point stroke yet. For now, he's being asked to penetrate
as often as possible from the wing and either drive to the hole or find an open
teammate on the perimeter. I'm not sure if there's anyone I would directly compare
him to; I guess he's a little like former Bulldog Leonard Houston, but he wasn't
really a significant factor until his junior and senior seasons. Rice looks like the
kind of player who could have his number hanging in the Knapp Center rafters in four
years.



Thanks again to Mark for participating in our team by team Q&A as we approach the conference season. I hope to post our next Q&A shortly.

[DUBulldog]

Well done. Seems like Emmert has a good feel for what's going on around DU.

I agree with all of his answers. #5 is kind of tough, because Rice is unlike anybody who's been at Drake in my memory. Leonard Houston + 30 pounds of muscle is my best attempt. Not quite as athletic as LH, but much further along as a basketball player at the same age.

[DUBulldog]

Emmert has done a great job blogging about the Bulldogs this season. Before the season even started, he did an extensive article on all 16 players on the team.

Here's a link to his Bulldog blogs for anybody who might be interested....or bored.......there is a tiny link at the bottom of the page that allows you to go back to his older blog entries.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/category/sports/bulldogs-blog/

[Snapshot9]

The answers to question 1 and 2 seem to be in natural conflict to me. I mean if you have already had 2 games in a month where you lost by more 45 points, and in question 1, it was saying he would need to contend for a Valley title next year, it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me, unless you have recruited the dream team for next year. Kind of like going from 0 to 60 in 1 second.

[DUBulldog]

The answers to question 1 and 2 seem to be in natural conflict to me. I mean if you have already had 2 games in a month where you lost by more 45 points, and in question 1, it was saying he would need to contend for a Valley title next year, it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me, unless you have recruited the dream team for next year. Kind of like going from 0 to 60 in 1 second.

Hell, it was two games in a week that they lost by 45+ points.

Still, I don't think there's any disconnect between his answers to 1 and 2. He didn't say he thought Drake would compete for the MVC title next season, only that they needed to for Phelps to not be on the hot seat.

[jayball]

Nice feature for the site. Thanks.

DU -- So has Phelps developed any sort of offensive or defensive identity for the program?

[DUBulldog]

Nice feature for the site. Thanks.

DU -- So has Phelps developed any sort of offensive or defensive identity for the program?

In a word, no.

Here, copied from Drakenation, is a list of Phelps' "6 Pillars"

Drake Basketball Six Pillars of Play

1. Commitment to great defense.
2. Commitment to great rebounding at both ends of the floor.
3. Commitment to an aggressive, attacking style and mentality at both ends of the floor.
4. Commitment to taking care of the basketball and being a low turnover team.
5. Commitment to getting the ball in the paint on offense (low post entry and dribble penetration).
6. Commitment to sharing the ball on offense.

They sound great on paper, but actually doing it is something else.

Here's my thoughts on how Drake is faring in those 6 areas:

1. For the most part, the defense has been poor to very poor. But, it's getting better. New defensive scheme this year, so everybody is still learning.

2. Absolutely an abysmal failure in this area. Drake is being outrebounded by close to double digits per game. The Bulldogs were 2nd to last in the country in offensive rebounding last season, and are only marginally better than that this season.

3. It's actually been the total opposite of that.

4. This team doesn't commit a ton of turnovers.....but, when you're not making anything happen out there, you shouldn't turn it over much.

5. Fair. They're getting better at it. Bulldogs need Van Deest to get a touch on as many possessions as possible. Penetration by the guards has been virtually non-existent.

6. The team does do a pretty good job of this.

In defense of Phelps, not a single player on the team has more than 1 year of experience at DU. It's a lot easier when you're mixing a couple of new guys in with a bunch of veterans. In this case, even the "veterans" are basically new guys.

In each of Phelps' first two seasons, the team started out very slowly, hit a hot streak midway through the season, and then faded at the end of the year. We'll see what happens.