The 2021–22 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs were led by fourth-year head coach Darian DeVries. They played their home games at the Knapp Center in

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

as members of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(MVC). They finished the regular season 22–9, 13–5 in MVC play to finish in a tie for second place. As the No. 3 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

in the quarterfinals and Missouri State in the semifinals before losing to Loyola in the championship. The Bulldogs accepted an invitation to the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

and earned the No. 1 overall seed. They defeated Purdue Fort Wayne in the first round before being upset by UNC Wilmington in the quarterfinals.

Previous season

In a season limited due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Bulldogs finished the 2020–21 season 26–5, 15–3 in MVC play to finish in second place. The team set a school record by winning their first 18 games, representing the fourth-best start by an MVC school and equaling the sixth-longest winning streak in MVC history. They also earned a ranking in the AP Poll for the first time since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

at No. 25 prior to suffering their first loss of the season to Valparaiso on February 7, 2021. In the MVC tournament, the Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals via forfeit due to COVID-19 issues at Northern Iowa. They defeated Missouri State in the semifinals before falling to Loyola in the championship game. Drake received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 11 seed in the West region. They defeated

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...

in the First Four, which was Drake's first tournament win in 50 years. They then lost to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

in the first round. Prior to the NCAA tournament, DeVries signed an eight-year contract extension through the 2028–29 season.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2021 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

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Rankings

^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team Drake Bulldogs men's basketball seasons

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...