Drexel senior forward Samme Givens became the third player in Drexel history to record 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points as the Drexel Dragons extended their winning streak to 16 with a 78-61 victory over James Madison University.
Givens, the lone Drexel senior recorded his 1,000th rebound late in the second half in front a sell-out crowd including over 40 of his friends and family who were in attendance for senior night.
“For him to get 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds is incredible, we hope to go to the post season so we can end his career right,” Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint said.
It’s hard to believe but some may have laughed at Flint’s post season aspirations back in December when the team was 2-4. Few if any college basketball experts saw the Dragon’s as a potential NCAA Tournament team. However, Givens says he knew the team was better than its 2-4 start showed.
“I knew we had the potential, we had a rocky start but we buckled down and everyone got in the gym, everyone banded together and said we are a better team than this,” Givens said.
Sophomore guard Frantz Massenat credits the Dragons return to health as the reason for the team’s success.
“I knew we were going to get better in the beginning of the season a lot of guys were playing different positions, because a lot of people were hurt, I knew once everybody got back to our right positions our chemistry would get a lot better,” Massenat said after the game.
Drexel’s victory Wednesday night marked the first time since 1997-1998 the team went undefeated at home throughout the season, coach Bruiser Flint believes injuries and the lack of home cooking early in the season were to blame for the team’s slow start.
“You play six games in a row to start the season that’s not easy, we got a chance to get back home and settled ourselves down and got some people healthy and that was it,” Flint said.
Thanks to a George Mason loss Wednesday night, the Dragons as of today are in 1st place overall in the CAA, and would have a first round bye in the CAA conference tournament.
The Dragons still have one more regular season game to play Saturday at Old Dominion before the post season begins. Despite a record of (24-5) the team is not considered a lock for an at large bid in the NCAA’s. Drexel needs to keep winning to control its own destiny.
The Dragons last lost a game January 2nd against Georgia State, the team has won 22 of its last 23 games and despite Temple becoming the 22nd ranked team in the country, head coach Bruiser Flint is not backing off his comments that Drexel is the best team in the city.
“When I said it I meant it, I am not going to back down from that,” Flint said when asked if he still felt his team was number one in the city.
For Bonus Drexel post game audio click here http://youtu.be/cy-LdlE_fl8
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The CAA will get get 1, and possibly 2 Teams in for the Big Dance
Chances are that Drexel will need to get to at least the Finals of the CAA Tournament to make it into the NCAA Touranment. Just winning the Regular Season Championship does not guarantee an At-Large Bid
I think that they will get 2 teams in. They really want to have VCU in and Drexel will make the tourney as long they don’t lose in the first round of the CAA Tourney. The domination on the road against Cleve State was huge for them. This team was really good last year and got snubbed, but now they are shooting the ball really well to go along with strong defensive play and rebounding.
Might be a good move for Drexel to talk to the A-10 if Temple leaves to build on this momentum.
Im hopin at least Drexel can play in a play game to get in