The Drexel Dragons men's basketball program represents intercollegiate men's basketball at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

. The team currently competes in the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and plays home games at the

Daskalakis Athletic Center Daskalakis Athletic Center (DAC) is a athletic and recreational facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The facility is best known for its 2,509-seat multi-purpose arena that is home to multiple Drexel University Dragons sports teams includin ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Drexel last appeared in the NCAA tournament in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Rivalries

The Dragons, a member of the

City 6 The City 6 is an informal association of college athletic programs in the Philadelphia area. It is an intra-city intramural competition, but it is also used as a colloquial term to describe all the Division-I schools in the Philadelphia area. The ...

, have rivalries with multiple institutions, these include

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. History La ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

, and

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

. The most notable rivalry Drexel has is with Penn, nicknamed

Battle of 33rd Street The Battle of 33rd Street rivalry refers to the men's college basketball sports rivalry, rivalry between Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania ('Penn') in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rivalry is fueled by the proximity of the schoo ...

, one of the closest rivalries geographically.

History

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Drexel was the 5th US school to start up collegiate basketball, their first season being 1894–1895. Drexel's first basketball game was played against

Temple College Temple College is a public community college in Temple, Texas, with regional branch campuses at other locations in Central Texas. History Temple Junior College was founded in 1926 to serve post-secondary students in eastern Bell County, Texa ...

on November 22, 1894, which Drexel won by a score of 26–1. The Dragons joined Division I in 1974. Drexel has received bids to five NCAA basketball tournaments in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and

. During the 1996 tournament,

Malik Rose Malik Jabari Rose (born November 23, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. Rose played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and 2003. High school ...

led the team to their only second round appearance after an upset of fifth-seeded Memphis. Prior to this, Drexel had appeared in four Division II NCAA tournaments in 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1967, including the very first Division II tournament in 1957. Drexel's men's basketball team was ranked as high as 35th nationally in 2007, finishing the season with a 23–9 record while making the

National Invitational Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

for the fourth time in the prior five years. On February 22, 2018, Drexel came back from a 34 point deficit (trailing 53–19 at one point), coming back to defeat Delaware 85–83 to complete the largest comeback in Division I history.

Venues

Main Building

Beginning in 1894, Drexel played their games and held all athletic activities in a gymnasium that was located in the 4th floor of the Main Building. This gymnasium was sometimes referenced as West Philadelphia College Court.

Curtis Hall Gymnasium

In 1929, Curtis Hall, an extension of Drexel Main Building, was completed and included a new gymnasium. The gymnasium was prioritized in construction to be completed 3 months before the rest of the building, in December 1928, in order to be completed prior to the start of the 1928–29 Drexel basketball season. The gym featured a full-sized basketball floor, and separate locker rooms for the home and visiting teams. This gym is known as Curtis Hall Gym, or Curtis Gym, and was also nicknamed "The Band Box." During construction of Curtis Hall, an entrance was added on Chestnut Street to allow quicker access to the gym. The gymnasium had a seating capacity of 500. After moving home games to Sayre Junior High School, games were played in Curtis Hall again for one last season in 1953–1954, before they once again were relocated back to the high school.

Sayre Junior High School

As the popularity of the basketball and other sports teams grew, Curtis Hall Gym became less suitable for hosting the games. During the 1951–52 season, Drexel decided to move 3 of its 4 remaining league games to Sayre Junior High School, located in West Philadelphia. Drexel also played 6 of its 9 home games at the high school in the following 1952–1953 season. A single home games were scheduled at Curtis Hall in the 1953–1954 season, however the remaining home games would be played at Sayre High School. From that point forward, Sayre Junior High School served the home court for Drexel through the 1968–1969 season.

Drexel Armory

Beginning in the 1969–1970 basketball season, the Drexel home basketball games were moved to the 32nd Street Armory, also known as the Drexel Armory. Drexel first began holding various athletic and recreational activities in the armory in 1947, while the building was still state owned and used exclusively for National Guard and ROTC drills. While home games were moved out of the Armory after the 1974–1975 season, the armory was considered for renovation in the 2010s in order to make it suitable for hosting home basketball games. Instead, renovations were make at Daskalakis Athletic Center, allowing the DAC to continue to serve as the home court.

Daskalakis Athletic Center

Since the 1975–1976 season, the Dragons' home games have been played at the

, formerly known as the Physical Education and Athletic Center (PEAC). While it was considered to move the games back to the Armory at one point, Drexel instead decided to renovate the Athletic Center beginning in 2012 and keep the games there instead. Within the Daskalakis Athletic Center, games are played on Sam Cozen Court in the main gym.

Other Venues

Drexel previously held a number of home games at other local venues in Philadelphia. In the 1952–53 season when 6 of Drexel's 9 home games were played at Sayre Junior High School, 2 home games were played at

Philadelphia Convention Hall The Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center – more commonly known simply as the Philadelphia Civic Center – was a convention center complex located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It developed out of a series of buildings dedicated to ...

(as was one game the previous season), and the final game was played at St. Joseph's Field House. In the 1950s and 1960s a number of Drexel home games were also played in

The Palestra The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 Sout ...

. Since moving to the Armory in the 1969–1970 season, it has become rare for home games to be played at alternative venues. In the 1995–96 season, Drexel played their first game at the CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia against conference rival Delaware, however it was considered a neutral site game. In the 2015–16 season Drexel played what was considered a home game against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

at The Palestra, and also played a home game at The Palestra against

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in the 2018–19 season. However, in many seasons, Drexel has played games at the Palestra that were considered a neutral game statistically, even while serving as a seldom used "home" court for the team's higher demand games. For example, on January 21, 1987, Drexel beat No. 18 ranked

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

at the Palestra, which was considered a neutral site (rather than an alternate home court) according to NCAA records. In the 1987–88 season, Drexel played 3 games at the Palestra that were considered at home. The designation of the Palestra being a neutral site or an alternate home court has varied over the years.

Postseason results

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Dragons have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament five times. Their combined record is 1–5.

NCAA Division II Tournament results

The Dragons have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament four times. Their combined record is 0–7.

NIT results

The Dragons have appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

(NIT) six times. Their combined record is 2–6.

Honors

Retired jerseys

Drexel has retired two jersey numbers.

Coaching awards

ECC Coach Of The Year *Ray Haesler ( 1975–76) * Eddie Burke ( 1985–86) AEC Coach Of The Year *

Bill Herrion William Richard Herrion (born April 6, 1958) is an American college basketball coach. Since 2005, he has been the men's head coach with the University of New Hampshire. Prior to coming to UNH, he served as the head coach at East Carolina Univer ...

(4) ( 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99) CAA Coach Of The Year *

Bruiser Flint James "Bruiser" Flint (born July 23, 1965) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Kentucky. He was most recently the head coach at Drexel University in west Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. Col ...

(4) ( 2001–02, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2011–12)

Player awards

ECC Player of the Year *

Len Hatzenbeller Leonard Phillip Hatzenbeller Jr. (born May 6, 1959) is an American former basketball center. In college, he competed for Drexel. He was both an honorable mention All-American and the East Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1981. A native ...

( 1980–81) * Richard Congo ( 1983–84) * Michael Anderson (2) ( 1985–86, 1987–88) AEC Player of the Year *

(2) ( 1994–95, 1995–96) ECC Rookie of the Year *Bob Stephens ( 1975–76) *Randy Burkert ( 1978–79) *John Rankin ( 1985–86) AEC Rookie of the Year *Mike DeRocckis ( 1995–96) *Joe Linderman ( 1996–97) CAA Rookie of the Year *

Chris Fouch Chris Fouch (born December 3, 1990) is an American basketball player who currently plays for BK Iskra Svit. He was named to the Second Team All-CAA following the 2013–14 season as a sixth-year senior, and was also named CAA Rookie of the Year i ...

( 2009–10) *

Damion Lee Damion Lee (born October 21, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for three years at Drexel University and transferred to Louisville f ...

( 2011–12) *Camren Wynter ( 2018–19) CAA Defensive Player of the Year *

Robert Battle Robert Battle (born August 28, 1972 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA) is a dancer, choreographer and the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Early life and education Originally from the Liberty City community of Miami, Fl ...

(2) ( 2001–02, 2002–03) *

Bashir Mason Bashir Mason (born February 11, 1984) is an American college basketball coach and current head men's basketball coach at Saint Peter's University. He was previously an assistant coach at Marist College in 2008, and an assistant coach at Wagner Col ...

( 2003–04) *Chaz Crawford ( 2006–07) *Amari Williams (2) ( 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...