The 2017–18 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hi ...

during the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...

. The Bulldogs were led by first-year head coach

Niko Medved Niko Medved (born August 10, 1973) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head men's basketball coach at Colorado State University. Prior to becoming head coach at Colorado State, he was head coach at Drake University and Furman. ...

. They played their home games at Knapp Center in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

as members of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

. They finished the season 17–17, 10–8 in MVC play to finish in to finish in a tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament to

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

. They were invited to the

CollegeInsider.com Tournament The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was an American men's college basketball postseason tournament founded by Collegeinsider.com. The tournament was oriented toward schools that did not get selected for the NCAA Division I men's ba ...

where they defeated Abilene Christian in the first round in a game referred to as the Lou Henson Classic. In the second round they were defeated by

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

. On March 22, 2018, it was announced that head coach Niko Medved had accepted the head coaching position at

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

, where he had previously served as an assistant. A week after Medved's departure, Drake hired Creighton assistant and Iowa native

Darian DeVries Darian Dale DeVries (born April 7, 1975) is the head men's basketball coach at Drake University. Coaching history A native of Aplington, Iowa, DeVries played collegiately at Northern Iowa. After graduating, he joined Creighton University as a ...

for the head coaching job.

Previous season

The

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.2016–17 season They finished the season 7–24, 5–13 to finish in a tie for ninth place in MVC play. They lost in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament to

. Fourth-year head coach

Ray Giacoletti Raymond Bryan Giacoletti (born April 14, 1962) is a retired men's basketball coach, having served as head coach at Drake University, and The University of Utah. He played collegiate basketball at Minot State University in North Dakota from 1980 to ...

resigned on December 6, 2016 after the first eight games of the season. Assistant coach

Jeff Rutter Jeff Rutter (born January 28, 1965) is an American basketball coach. He currently serves as an assistant men's basketball coach at Western Michigan. Rutter also served as the interim head coach at Drake from December 2016 to March 2017. Coaching ...

was named interim head coach. Following the season, the school chose not to keep Jeff Rutter as head coach and hired Niko Medved, former head coach at Furman, as the Bulldogs' new head coach.

Offseason

Departures

2017 recruiting class

2018 recruiting class

Preseason

In the conference's preseason poll, the Bulldogs were picked to finish in last place in the MVC. Senior guard Reed Timmer was named to the preseason All-MVC first team.

Roster

Schedule and results

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team Drake Bulldogs men's basketball seasons

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...