On Sunday Drake beat Indiana State 84-80 in the MVC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs made the NCAA tourney last March as well but had a 7-PT loss to Miami. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Drake SO G Conor Enright about what it feels like to make the NCAA tourney for the 2nd year in a row.
You were born/raised in Illinois: what made you choose Drake? It was relatively close to home and they were the 1st school to offer me when I was 15 years old. They stayed with me so I stayed with them.
You play for Coach Darian DeVries: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He cares about us, not just as a coach but also as a role model/friend. He has built a great culture here and you see how much he cares about the game.
You have done some volunteering at schools and with a group called “Feed My Starving Children”: how much importance do you place on community service? A lot: my schedule is a little crazy now but I did more of it before the season. It is cool to give back to kids who look up to you and have that ability to spend time with them: hopefully they will pay it forward someday when the next generation is looking up to them.
After redshirting in 2022 you played in all 35 games last year and were named to the MVC All-Freshman Team: how did taking a redshirt year help you either on or off the court? It definitely helped. I came in a bit weak but gained 17 pounds, which was a big thing. Being around the team and practicing every day taught me the mental/physical side of college basketball. I had not played a lot of games in a while so it definitely paid off.
In the 2023 NCAA tourney you had 2 AST in a 7-PT loss to Miami: how close did you come to pulling off the upset, and what did you learn from that loss that you think will help you this time around? We played better than them for the 1st 35 minutes but they went to the Final 4 so it shows you how good we were. It gave us a taste of the tourney and definitely made us hungry to get back there: you have to be locked in for 40 minutes.
This year you were 1 of the best 3-PT shooters in the conference at 44.3 3P%: what is the secret to making shots from behind the arc? Shot selection is important and you have to get into the gym a lot. I tweaked some stuff from last year and have gained a lot of confidence from my teammates.
Last Sunday you scored 9 PTS in a 4-PT win over Indiana State in the MVC tourney title game: what did it mean to you to win it again, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It was awesome to win it again and go back to March Madness. I am especially happy for all the guys who were not here last year. It was a 6-hour bus ride back to campus and there were not a lot of people around because it is our spring break but I got a lot of nice texts.
You are 1 of only 4 teams in the nation who has won 27+ games for each of the past 2 years (along with Houston/Purdue/UConn): do you think that your program deserve more respect for its remarkable run? I think so. Coach has built something special over the past 6 years. Mid-majors get overlooked sometimes but it is hard to win that many games regardless of what conference you are in. It is good to be underrated a bit as it gives us something to push for.
You faced Indiana State 3 times in the past 9 weeks: do you think that they are 1 of the 68 best teams in the nation? I definitely do. I have watched them all year: they have an amazing offense with a lot of firepower and a great coach. I cannot name 68 better than them.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I think something between 9 and 12 is our range, but realistically it looks like 10 is the highest and 12 is the lowest based on the projections that I have seen. I am super-excited and we wil be the underdog no matter what our seed is, which I love for us!