1968–69 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 1968–69 Drake Bulldogs Basketball DrakeBulldogold.png Missouri Valley Conference MVC 11 11 26–5 13–3 Maury John 11th Dan Callahan Gus Guydon Veterans Memorial Auditorium Missouri Valley Conference Co-Champions NCAA tournament Third Place vs. North Carolina W, 104–84 The 1968–69 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University in the 1968–69 college basketball season. The team was led by eleventh-year head coach Maury John. In 1967–68, the Bulldogs finished 18–8 (9–7 in the Missouri Valley Conference). They were also trying to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since as well as their first postseason appearance since their National Invitation Tournament appearance in 1964. Regular season The Bulldogs were 12–1 at home as well as 8–3 on the road and 6–1 at neutral locations. With their third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament Drake had their best NCAA finish up to that point, and as of the start of the 2022–2023 season. On December 27–28, 1968 Drake played in the Dallas Classic in Dallas, Texas against Minnesota and Southern Methodist. Drake was ranked in the AP Top 20 Poll on several occasions during the season. Drake was ranked 18th during the week of January 7, 1969. Drake was once again ranked 11th on March 4, 1969. On March 8, 1969, Drake won a MVC playoff game 77–73 in Wichita, Kansas to determine the conference champion. A documentary on the 1968–69 Drake Basketball team was made in 2004 by filmmaker Jacob Adams of Impossible Productions and is available from his website. Most of the UCLA—Drake game was recreated with an old coach's film and radio play by play. Intercut are commentaries by Drake players and coaches. Missouri Valley Conference standings # Team Conference Pct. Overall Pct. 1 Drake 13–3 .813 26–5 .839 2 Louisville 13–3 .813 21–6 .778 3 Tulsa 11–5 .688 19–8 .704 4 Cincinnati 8–8 .500 17–9 .654 5 North Texas State 8–8 .500 15–10 .600 6 Bradley 7–9 .438 14–12 .539 7 Wichita State 7–9 .438 11–15 .423 8 Saint Louis 5–11 .313 6–19 .240 9 Memphis State 0–16 .000 6–19 .240 Roster 5 United States F Sr Dolph Pulliam 32 United States G Sr Don Draper 12 United States F G Sr Ron Gwin 31 United States G Sr Bob Mast 15 United States G Sr Willie McCarter ?? United States C Sr Jim O'Dea ?? United States C Sr Garry Odom ?3 United States C Sr Larry Sharp 42 United States F Sr Willie Wise 34 United States F Jr Dale Teeter 43 United States C Jr Rick Wanamaker 41 United States F Jr Al Williams 22 United States G Jr Gary Zeller 24 United States F So Jim Nordrum 10 United States G So Al Sakys 21 United States G So Dave Wicklund Player statistics Note: GP= Games played; RPG = Rebounds per Game; PPG = Points per Gamehttp://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB1/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20I_1969_189_Drake%20University.pdf 1969 Cumulative Basketball Statistics Report NCAA April 16, 2022 live https://web.archive.org/web/20170208152514/http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB1/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20I_1969_189_Drake%20University.pdf February 8, 2017 Player GP RPG PPG Willie McCarter 31 3.7 20.4 Willie Wise 30 11.4 14.6 Dolph Pulliam 31 7.7 13.2 Don Draper 31 2.4 12.2 Al Williams 31 7.2 8.8 Gary Zeller 31 1.6 6.3 Rick Wanamaker 28 3.3 4.3 Gary Odom 30 4.4 3.7 Ron Gwin 25 1.3 2.6 Al Sakys 7 0.2 1.8 Larry Sharp 17 1.1 1.5 Others 31 0.6 2.7 Schedule MVC Standing: 1st Date Opponent* Rank* Location Time# Result Overall Conference Regular Season Games December 2, 1968 Cal Poly Pomona Des Moines, IA W 118–79 1–00–0 December 7, 1968 St. Cloud State Des Moines, IA W 92–52 2–00–0 December 9, 1968 #20 Marquette Des Moines, IA W 68–63 3–00–0 December 14, 1968 Iowa Des Moines, IA W 89–74 4–00–0 December 19, 1968 Iowa State State Gymnasium, Ames, IA W 81–71 4–00–0 December 21, 1968 Nevada-Reno Reno, NV W 90–76 6–00–0 December 23, 1968 Pacific Stockton, CA L 75–77 6–10–0 December 27, 1968 Minnesota Moody Coliseum, University Park, TX W 71–48 7–10–0 December 28, 1968 SMU Moody Coliseum, University Park, TX W 86–81 8–10–0 January 2, 1969 Memphis State Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN W 73–71 9–11–0 January 4, 1969 Saint Louis Des Moines, IA W 104–65 10–12–0 January 9, 1969 Wichita State #18 Des Moines, IA W 86–81 11–13–0 January 11, 1969 Tulsa #18 Des Moines, IA L 78–86 11–23–1 January 14, 1969 #19 Cincinnati Armory Fieldhouse, Cincinnati, OH W 69–64 12–24–1 January 23, 1969 Bradley Des Moines, IA W 93–76 13–25–1 January 25, 1969 Louisville Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY L 70–84 13–35–2 January 30, 1969 North Texas State Denton, TX L 99–118 13–45–3 February 1, 1969 Memphis State Des Moines, IA W 85–72 14–46–3 February 5, 1969 Iowa State Des Moines, IA W 94–71 15–46–3 February 11, 1969 North Texas State Des Moines, IA W 91–76 16–47–3 February 13, 1969 Bradley Peoria, IL W 91–76 17–48–3 February 20, 1969 Wichita State Wichita Field House, Wichita, KS W 120–94 18–49–3 February 22, 1969 #14 Tulsa Tulsa, OK W 87–78 19–410–3 February 23, 1969 Cincinnati Des Moines, IA W 85–68 20–411–3 March 1, 1969 #11 Louisville Des Moines, IA W 101–67 21–412–3 March 6, 1969 Saint Louis #11 St. Louis, MO W 93–78 22–413–3 March 8, 1969 #15 Louisville #11 Wichita, KS W 77–73 23–413–3 NCAA tournament March 13, 1969 Texas A&M Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, KS W 81–63 24–413–3 March 15, 1969 Colorado State Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, KS W 84–77 25–413–3 March 20, 1969 UCLA Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY L 82–85 25–513–3 March 22, 1969 North Carolina Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY W 104–84 26–513–3 *Rank according to AP Top 20 Poll. #All times are in EST. Conference games in BOLD. Rankings 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings NBA draft 1969 NBA draft Drake Bulldogs Round Pick Player NBA club 1 12 Willie McCarter Los Angeles Lakers 5 64 Willie Wise San Francisco Warriors https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1969.html 1969 NBA Draft Basketball-reference.com July 26, 2020 References Drake Category:Drake Bulldogs men's basketball seasons Category:NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons Drake Drake Basketball, Men's Drake Basketball, Men's