2016–17 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs were led by interim head coach Jeff Rutter. They played their home games at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

2016–17 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	7–24 (5–13 MVC)
Head coach	Ray Giacoletti (8 games) Jeff Rutter (interim)
Assistant coaches	Dave Buchanan JR Blount
Home arena	Knapp Center
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Illinois State	17	–	1		.944			28	–	7		.800
No. 19 Wichita State†	17	–	1		.944			31	–	5		.861
Northern Iowa	9	–	9		.500			14	–	16		.467
Southern Illinois	9	–	9		.500			17	–	16		.515
Loyola Chicago	8	–	10		.444			18	–	14		.563
Missouri State	7	–	11		.389			17	–	16		.515
Bradley	7	–	11		.389			13	–	20		.394
Evansville	6	–	12		.333			16	–	17		.485
Indiana State	5	–	13		.278			11	–	20		.355
Drake	5	–	13		.278			7	–	24		.226
† 2017 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Fourth-year head coach Ray Giacoletti resigned on December 6, 2016 after the first eight games of the season.^[1] Assistant coach Jeff Rutter was named interim head coach.^[1]

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 Bradley.

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.^[2]

Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the season 7–24, 2–16 in Missouri Valley play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the Missouri Valley tournament to Missouri State.

Preseason

Drake was picked to finish last in the preseason MVC poll.^[3]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Karl Madison	1	G	5'11"	174	RS Senior	Springfield, IL	Graduated
Kale Abrahamson	31	F	6'8"	221	RS Junior	West Des Moines, IA	Graduate transferred to Duquesne
Dominik Olejniczak	44	C	7'0"	249	Freshman	Toruń, Poland	Transferred to Ole Miss

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
De'Antae McMurray	4	G	6'1"	185	Junior	Alton, IL	Junior college transferred from Southwestern Illinois College
T.J. Thomas	10	F	6'8"	200	Junior	Lithonia, GA	Junior college transferred from Tyler JC

Incoming recruits

Drake did not have any incoming players in the 2016 recruiting class.

Recruiting class of 2017

College recruiting information (2017)
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Teyvion Kirk PG	Joliet, IL	Joliet West High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Tai Bibbs PG	West Chicago, IL	West Chicago Community High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	N/A
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Antonio Pilipovic SF	Germany	RheinStars Köln	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	209 lb (95 kg)
	Star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 30, 2016.

Roster

2016–17 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 C. J. Rivers 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 187 lb (85 kg) Jr Cahokia Cahokia, IL F 2 Bill Wampler 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Regis Eau Claire, WI G 3 Graham Woodward 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 182 lb (83 kg) RS Jr Penn State Edina HS Edina, MN G 4 De'Antae McMurray 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Southwestern Illinois College Alton HS Alton, IL F 10 T. J. Thomas 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Tyler JC Tucker HS Stone Mountain, GA C 11 Jacob Enevold 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 246 lb (112 kg) Sr Falkonergardens Gymnasium Lunderskov, Denmark G 12 Reed Timmer 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Eisenhower New Berlin, WI G 14 A. J. Rutter (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) RS Jr Glibert Ames, IA G 21 Will Halfon (W) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Cherry Creek Greenwood Village, CO F 22 Casey Schlatter 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 207 lb (94 kg) RS So Iowa Falls Alden Iowa Falls, IA G 23 Ore Arogundade 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr St. Viator Arlington Heights, IL G 24 Nick Girardi (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Fossil Ridge Fort Collins, CO F 25 Johannes Dolven 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) RS Fr Wang Videregående Oslo, Norway C 32 Kory Kuenstling 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 234 lb (106 kg) RS So Dunkerton Community School Dunkerton, IA F 35 Nick McGlynn 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 223 lb (101 kg) So Stoughton Stoughton, WI	Head coach Ray Giacoletti (Minot State) Assistant coach(es) Jeff Rutter (Winona State) Dave Buchanan (UW–La Crosse) JR Blount (Loyola Chicago) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/05/2016* 5:05 pm, ESPN3		Concordia–St. Paul	W 81–75		Knapp Center (2,224) Des Moines, IA
Non-conference regular season
11/11/2016 8:35 pm, ESPN3		South Dakota	L 74–79	0–1	Knapp Center (2,439) Des Moines, IA
11/15/2016 6:35 pm		at UMKC	L 62–68	0–2	Municipal Auditorium (1,535) Kansas City, MO
11/19/2016 2:05 pm, ESPN3		Simpson	W 76–61	1–2	Knapp Center (2,541) Des Moines, IA
11/24/2016* 8:30 pm, CBSSN		vs. Iona Great Alaska Shootout quarterfinals	L 53–64	1–3	Alaska Airlines Center (2,039) Anchorange, AK
11/25/2016* 5:00 pm		vs. UC Davis Great Alaska Shootout consolation 2nd round	L 58–64	1–4	Alaska Airlines Center (2,308) Anchorage, AK
11/26/2016* 3:00 pm		at Alaska Anchorage Great Alaska Shootout 7th place game	L 69–74	1–5	Alaska Airlines Center (2,030) Anchorage, AK
11/30/2016* 7:30 pm, FSN		at DePaul	L 75–77	1–6	McGrath-Phillips Arena (2,091) Chicago, IL
12/03/2016* 2:05 pm, MC22		Fresno State MW–MVC Challenge	L 76–78 OT	1–7	Knapp Center (2,633) Des Moines, IA
12/10/2016* 2:05 pm, MC22		Jackson State	L 63–68	1–8	Knapp Center (2,467) Des Moines, IA
12/17/2016* 6:00 pm, MC22		vs. Iowa State Hy-Vee Classic	L 80–97	1–9	Wells Fargo Arena (15,028) Des Moines, IA
12/19/2016* 7:05 pm, MC22		South Dakota State	L 75–83	1–10	Knapp Center (2,385) Des Moines, IA
12/22/2016* 7:05 pm, MC22		Mississippi Valley State	W 101–69	2–10	Knapp Center (2,268) Des Moines, IA
Missouri Valley Conference regular season
12/29/2016 7:05 pm, MC22		Loyola–Chicago	W 102–98	3–10 (1–0)	Knapp Center (3,007) Des Moines, IA
01/01/2017 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Southern Illinois	L 69–83	3–11 (1–1)	SIU Arena (4,143) Carbondale, IL
01/04/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Wichita State	L 65–90	3–12 (1–2)	Charles Koch Arena (10,383) Wichita, KS
01/08/2017 3:00 pm, ESPN3		Evansville	W 88–76	4–12 (2–2)	Knapp Center (2,688) Des Moines, IA
01/11/2017 7:05 pm, MC22		Indiana State	W 87–70	5–12 (3–2)	Knapp Center (2,958) Des Moines, IA
01/15/2017 3:00 pm, ESPN3		at Northern Iowa	L 60–79	5–13 (3–3)	McLeod Center (4,652) Cedar Falls, IA
01/18/2017 7:05 pm, MC22/ESPN3		Southern Illinois	W 88–84 OT	6–13 (4–3)	Knapp Center (2,508) Des Moines, IA
01/21/2017 7:00 pm, MVC TV		at Illinois State	L 58–72	6–14 (4–4)	Redbird Arena (8,123) Normal, IL
01/24/2017 7:05 pm, ESPN3		at Missouri State	W 72–71 OT	7–14 (5–4)	JQH Arena (4,729) Springfield, MO
01/28/2017 1:00 pm, CBSSN		Northern Iowa	L 63–71	7–15 (5–5)	Knapp Center (5,237) Des Moines, IA
02/01/2017 6:00 pm, CSNCHI		Wichita State	L 69–77	7–16 (5–6)	Knapp Center (3,024) Des Moines, IA
02/04/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Bradley	L 72–79	7–17 (5–7)	Carver Arena (5,815) Peoria, IL
02/07/2017 7:05 pm, MC22		Illinois State	L 53–82	7–18 (5–8)	Knapp Center (2,812) Des Moines, IA
02/11/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Indiana State	L 60–84	7–19 (5–9)	Hulman Center (4,280) Terre Haute, IN
02/14/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Evansville	L 70–87	7–20 (5–10)	Ford Center (3,639) Evansville, IN
02/18/2017 7:05 pm, MVC TV/ESPN3		Missouri State	L 73–76	7–21 (5–11)	Knapp Center (2,818) Des Moines, IA
02/22/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Loyola–Chicago	L 65–80	7–22 (5–12)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena (2,163) Chicago, IL
02/25/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3		Bradley	L 74–82	7–23 (5–13)	Knapp Center (2,860) Des Moines, IA
Missouri Valley tournament
03/02/2017 8:35 pm, ESPN3/FSMW/CSNC	(10)	vs. (7) Bradley First Round	L 58–67	7–24	Scottrade Center (5,057) St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source[4][5].

References

1. "Drake's Giacoletti resigns: 'I think it's time for a new voice'". Des Moines Register. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
2. "Jeff Rutter feels he was treated 'fairly and seriously' during Drake search". Des Moines Register. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
3. "Shockers Tabbed as MVC Men's Hoops Favorite". Missouri Valley Conference. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
4. "Men's Basketball - Schedule - GoDrakeBulldogs.com Official Web site of Drake University Athletics". godrakebulldogs.com.
5. "2021-22 Drake Bulldogs Schedule".