A school-record 29 wins, the nation?s second-longest winning streak and a narrow six-point loss in their conference championship to a VCU team playing in its home city couldn?t prevent Drexel last season from its second NCAA tournament snub in six years.
But the team doesn?t even discuss that Selection Sunday disappointment ? ?Why should you? Everybody knows what happened,? head coach Bruiser Flint said ? and is silently using that feeling as motivation going forward.
The main difference between these Dragons and the ones that were left out of the Big Dance in 2006-07 is that this time around, almost everyone will be back.
?One of the good things about last year, although we didn?t get in the tournament, was the last time we were in this position, the following year I lost pretty much the whole team,? Flint said earlier this week. ?All those guys were pretty much seniors. This year we have a lot of guys returning from the year before.?
That includes CAA preseason Player of the Year, junior point guard Frantz Massenat. Massenat led the conference last season in assists (4.8 per game) and three-point percentage (45 percent), and averaged the second-most minutes (35.8).
Massenat?s role will increase even more this season to make up for the leadership void left by graduating senior Samme Givens, the team?s biggest loss.
?Last year, it was on Samme,? Massenat said. ?I always knew I could turn to Sam. He just backed me up on everything I did. This year, I follow my captains but I?m the leader on the court."
?Samme was a really good player for me,? Flint added. ?Guys' roles are going to change a little bit on the team. Expectations are going to change, not just outside but inside the team, too.?
Those expectations are the result of Drexel's second straight preseason projection as the top team in the CAA. And like the conference itself, the Dragons will look a bit different in 2012-13. More minutes are available for Drexel?s other big men, most notably junior forward Dartaye Ruffin.
?Dartaye has always played a big part in what we do,? Flint said of the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder who has career averages of 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds. ?I think he has to step up his game a little bit offensively. Not doing anything out of character, but he doesn?t have to be Samme. I think he has the capabilities to do that.?
Frontcourt and bench depth are Drexel?s biggest concerns heading into the season, which begins Friday at Kent State. With Ruffin slated for more minutes, someone will need to step into his previous role. And while Drexel?s bench bigs have potential, they are also unproven.
?I think one of the big things is replacing Dartaye?s spot,? Flint said. ?Somebody between (freshman) Casey Carroll, (sophomore) Kazembe Abif and (junior) Goran Pantovic, one of those three guys have got to be able to step up. I thought one of our biggest plusses of the team [last season] was we brought Dartaye off [the bench], and it was almost like having a third starter. Hopefully one of those guys can step in.?
Another concern is finding a backup to keep Massenat fresher than he was late last season. Stamina, along with his mid-range game and overall court command, are areas in which Massenat would like to improve. ?At the end of last year, I got a little tired,? he admitted.
Massenat was a top candidate for CAA Player of the Year last season as a sophomore, but there are indeed still plenty of things to work on.
?It?s time for him to take that next step in terms of command of the game,? Flint said of his point guard. ?I don?t expect the guy to be a 20-point-a-game scorer. I want him to run the team better. So does that mean his numbers have to be extravagant? No. I just want him to be more vocal, talk to the team.
?I don?t look at it in terms of ? how sometimes you guys look at it ? ?Is he going to score more points or have more assists?? That might not be the case. But does he have more control of the game when he?s out there? Is he dictating where guys go, putting guys where they?re supposed to be?
?We?re going to have some younger guys who haven?t really played. Last year was easy for Frantz because there wasn?t a lot of directing ... you had a lot of guys out there who knew what they were doing. This year, it?s going to be a little bit different, so he?s going to have to do a little bit better job at that.?
If Massenat?s command of the team can improve, the bigs can stay out of foul trouble ? which is always a concern given Drexel?s physical style of play ? and last season?s CAA Freshman of the Year, Damion Lee, continues to develop on schedule, the Dragons won?t have an overly difficult road to the CAA Championship. The conference lost last season's champion, VCU, to the Atlantic 10, and four other CAA teams are ineligible for the postseason. Old Dominion and Georgia State won?t participate because they are leaving the conference next year, and Towson and UNC Wilmington are prohibited because of Academic Progress Rate sanctions.
But still, Flint is taking nothing for granted in his quest to capture his conference?s NCAA tournament auto-bid.
?We know what will happen if we don?t take care of our own business,? he said. ?We didn?t get off to a good start last year. That?s one of the things we?re talking about, getting off to a better start.
"We were the favorites last year, so we know what we have to prepare for a little bit. I tell my guys all the time, we want all this exposure, picked to do this that and the other ... but if you?re not ready, you?re going to get exposed.?
But the team doesn?t even discuss that Selection Sunday disappointment ? ?Why should you? Everybody knows what happened,? head coach Bruiser Flint said ? and is silently using that feeling as motivation going forward.
The main difference between these Dragons and the ones that were left out of the Big Dance in 2006-07 is that this time around, almost everyone will be back.
?One of the good things about last year, although we didn?t get in the tournament, was the last time we were in this position, the following year I lost pretty much the whole team,? Flint said earlier this week. ?All those guys were pretty much seniors. This year we have a lot of guys returning from the year before.?
That includes CAA preseason Player of the Year, junior point guard Frantz Massenat. Massenat led the conference last season in assists (4.8 per game) and three-point percentage (45 percent), and averaged the second-most minutes (35.8).
Massenat?s role will increase even more this season to make up for the leadership void left by graduating senior Samme Givens, the team?s biggest loss.
?Last year, it was on Samme,? Massenat said. ?I always knew I could turn to Sam. He just backed me up on everything I did. This year, I follow my captains but I?m the leader on the court."
?Samme was a really good player for me,? Flint added. ?Guys' roles are going to change a little bit on the team. Expectations are going to change, not just outside but inside the team, too.?
Those expectations are the result of Drexel's second straight preseason projection as the top team in the CAA. And like the conference itself, the Dragons will look a bit different in 2012-13. More minutes are available for Drexel?s other big men, most notably junior forward Dartaye Ruffin.
?Dartaye has always played a big part in what we do,? Flint said of the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder who has career averages of 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds. ?I think he has to step up his game a little bit offensively. Not doing anything out of character, but he doesn?t have to be Samme. I think he has the capabilities to do that.?
Frontcourt and bench depth are Drexel?s biggest concerns heading into the season, which begins Friday at Kent State. With Ruffin slated for more minutes, someone will need to step into his previous role. And while Drexel?s bench bigs have potential, they are also unproven.
?I think one of the big things is replacing Dartaye?s spot,? Flint said. ?Somebody between (freshman) Casey Carroll, (sophomore) Kazembe Abif and (junior) Goran Pantovic, one of those three guys have got to be able to step up. I thought one of our biggest plusses of the team [last season] was we brought Dartaye off [the bench], and it was almost like having a third starter. Hopefully one of those guys can step in.?
Another concern is finding a backup to keep Massenat fresher than he was late last season. Stamina, along with his mid-range game and overall court command, are areas in which Massenat would like to improve. ?At the end of last year, I got a little tired,? he admitted.
Massenat was a top candidate for CAA Player of the Year last season as a sophomore, but there are indeed still plenty of things to work on.
?It?s time for him to take that next step in terms of command of the game,? Flint said of his point guard. ?I don?t expect the guy to be a 20-point-a-game scorer. I want him to run the team better. So does that mean his numbers have to be extravagant? No. I just want him to be more vocal, talk to the team.
?I don?t look at it in terms of ? how sometimes you guys look at it ? ?Is he going to score more points or have more assists?? That might not be the case. But does he have more control of the game when he?s out there? Is he dictating where guys go, putting guys where they?re supposed to be?
?We?re going to have some younger guys who haven?t really played. Last year was easy for Frantz because there wasn?t a lot of directing ... you had a lot of guys out there who knew what they were doing. This year, it?s going to be a little bit different, so he?s going to have to do a little bit better job at that.?
If Massenat?s command of the team can improve, the bigs can stay out of foul trouble ? which is always a concern given Drexel?s physical style of play ? and last season?s CAA Freshman of the Year, Damion Lee, continues to develop on schedule, the Dragons won?t have an overly difficult road to the CAA Championship. The conference lost last season's champion, VCU, to the Atlantic 10, and four other CAA teams are ineligible for the postseason. Old Dominion and Georgia State won?t participate because they are leaving the conference next year, and Towson and UNC Wilmington are prohibited because of Academic Progress Rate sanctions.
But still, Flint is taking nothing for granted in his quest to capture his conference?s NCAA tournament auto-bid.
?We know what will happen if we don?t take care of our own business,? he said. ?We didn?t get off to a good start last year. That?s one of the things we?re talking about, getting off to a better start.
"We were the favorites last year, so we know what we have to prepare for a little bit. I tell my guys all the time, we want all this exposure, picked to do this that and the other ... but if you?re not ready, you?re going to get exposed.?
