Hoops HD

On Sunday Drake beat top-seeded Bradley 77-51 in the MVC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs won 25 games last year and made the CBI quarterfinals but have already won 27 games this year to claim the school’s 2nd NCAA tourney bid in the past 3 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Drake SO G/F Tucker DeVries about being named conference tourney MVP last weekend.

Your coach is also named “DeVries”: what is the best part of having your father Darian as your coach? Just the everyday process of getting to experience everything with him: the ups, downs, and everything in between. This has been the best time of my life and we have shared it together.

Last year you were named conference ROY: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? It had a lot to do with the guys around me. We had a veteran group and they embraced me from the day that I stepped onto campus. They have confidence in me, which made it really easy for me to play well.

Last March you scored 14 PTS in the 2022 CBI quarterfinal 1-PT loss to UNCW: what did you learn from that loss that you think can help you in the postseason this year? Having this week off between the conference tourney and NCAA tourney is what I took away the most. When it comes to postseason basketball, if you lose then you are done, so having played in those types of games always helps. We have been to the MVC tourney title game for 3 years in a row and gained some valuable experience…and it showed.

Last month you had to check into the hospital due to a “scary infection” and spent 5 days there hooked up to IV’s: how is your health doing at the moment? For the most part I am 100% healthy from that. I was very thankful to have great people around me to ensure that it did not get any scarier. It is not ideal to try to get back into shape during the middle of the season but now I am back to normal.

Last week you were named conference POY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It comes down to 2 things: team success leads to individual accolades, and it shows all of the hard work put in by me and the entire team. I am grateful to have been recognized and was very happy to win the award.

Last Sunday in the MVC tourney title game you scored a team-high 22 PTS en route to being named conference tourney MVP in a huge win over Bradley: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? Our whole team was very hungry to get that done. It makes it a lot easier to perform individually when the whole group is playing well all week.

Your 4 fellow starters are all seniors (Roman Penn/Darnell Brodie/Garrett Sturtz/DJ Wilkins): how crucial has all of that experience been to your team’s success? Having a veteran group that has played a LOT of college basketball is great. Having 4th/5th/6th year seniors who remain hungry does not always happen. I am so proud of this group that has laid the foundation for our program.

1 of your high school teammates was Payton Sandfort, who will play for Iowa on Thursday in the Big 10 tourney: how excited are you that Payton will probably make the NCAA tourney even if his team does not win its conference tourney? Payton and I are really close and still talk almost every day and watch each other’s games. I am more stressed about his games than my own because there is nothing you can do when you are watching on TV! He was just named Big 10 6th Man of the Year a few hours ago and I wish him the best of luck in the NCAA tourney.

Your father played basketball at Northern Iowa, your uncle Dusty played football at Iowa, your aunt Jodi played volleyball at Northern Iowa, and your uncle Jared played in the NFL: who is the best athlete in the family? Oh boy…they are all so different in their own way. I heard the stories about all of my uncles while I was growing up: it was fun to learn about everyone’s journey in athletics and it has been special to have them all in my corner. It makes for some competitive tackle football during Christmas and random games at the lake during summertime!

What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? There is a lot of basketball left for a lot of teams in their own conference tourneys but the last 1-2 months we have been playing great by winning 13 of our past 14 games and we are excited to carry that momentum into the NCAA tourney. I am really happy with where we are and I see the same bracketology that you do. I have seen the experts list us as a 12-seed but whatever seed we end up getting I know that we will have a lot of fun!