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It's a game that Drake should win, but Texas Southern is kind of an intriguing team. They have 2 players who were top 100 recruits in high school. One is a 6-7 point guard who previously played at both USC and Kentucky and the other is a guard who transfered from Texas. In addition, they have another 6-7 player who some are picking as the preseason POY in the SWAC.

I know very, very little about TSU, but typically the SWAC teams that have visited DU in the past were athletic, but not very good. A lot of guys who are great "athletes" but not necessarily great basketball players.

I know that Phelps has talked a lot about pushing tempo and being very aggressive, both offensively and defensively. DU was able to do that against a clearly outmanned Wisconsin-Parkside team in the exhibition game. It will be interesting to see how that works out against a bigger, more athletic team.

Bullpups by 11 in this one...home court gets her done.

It will be an intersting game. Seems some thier players have been in a lot of different basketball environments. I am ready to see how all the new Bulldogs mesh and take them on.
Texas Southern goes to Wichita State next Tuesday. Then the Texas Southern team has road games after WSU with Oklahoma, Oregon and Oregon State all 2-3 days apart.
WSU beat them just over 30 pts last year in Wichita.

This game scares me a little. Most of their early losses last year were close, and they have raised the talent level this year. I saw some video of the kid from Kentucky while he was at Kentucky, and an uptempo game will be just what he wants. hopefully they haven't meshed.

Drake's starting line-up will be:

Van Deest (6-11 soph)
Clarke (6-8 soph)
Rice (6-4 frosh)
Wedel (6-0 senior)
Wiseler (6-2 junior)

I expect juco transfer Kurt Alexander to get as many minutes at the point as Wiseler.

According to the student newspaper, freshman PG Karl Madison will redshirt this season.

AT HALF
Drake 26
Texas Southern 21

Drake is having a tough time penetrating Texas Southern's zone - which, needless to say, is not a good sign. Offensively, the team is largely relying on 2007-like three-pointers that are mostly clinking off the rim with authority because its not 2007 anymore. The team appears to be a little nervous, which is to be expected with so many new and young players. Anyway, I hope things pick up in the second half and the team can themselves further. The Knapp Center is really rocking tonight and of course I'm kidding about this last part.

Drake up 45-28 with ten to go.

7:18
Drake: 52
Texas Southern: 32

Drake wins 60-46. DU had a sluggish first half, but used a 24-6 2nd half run to put TSU away. Wedel had 20 points, Hawley had 15 points, and Van Deest had 12 points and 9 rebounds.

Definitely an ugly game....DU played very well for about 10 minutes in the 2nd half, turning a relatively close game into a blowout, leading by 22 with about 6-7 minutes left. Kurt Alexander was key, as the offense finally got going when he was playing point and Wiseler was on the bench. Not sure why he played only 10 minutes and Wiseler 30. It would be very interesting to see the +/- for the game, as I'm guessing most (all?) of the 14 point margin was accomplished when Alexander was on the floor.

Drake shot very, very poorly, missing a lot of good (wide open) shots, finishing 20-58 from the field for the game. If they had shot decently, this would have been a very easy victory.