City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Bruiser Flint has had a frustrating few years.

Four years ago, Drexel was one of the darlings of the mid-major basketball world, a program on the rise thanks to the backcourt of sophomore Frantz Massenat and freshman Damion Lee, which led the Dragons to a 29-7 record and the edge of the NCAA Tournament before settling on a run to the NIT quarterfinal.

Then, injuries derailed the next three years: Lee missed 2013-14 with a torn ACL, the year after super-sub Chris Fouch--who graduated in 2014 with 1,744 points--sat on the bench with a broken ankle suffered in game No. 3. In 2014-15, Flint was forced to rely on a rotation that got to as few as seven available scholarship players due to various dings and dents, including two season-ending injuries in the offseason.

All that added up to a 13-18 (9-9 CAA) record in 2012-13, followed by a 16-14 (8-8) year and then 11-19 (9-9) last season.

“Had three of the top 10 scorers in the history of the school, they played one year together,” Flint said. “That’s been frustrating, because I know we would have been good.”

But this season, by far, takes the cake. And it’s not a good cake.

An ugly, 78-56 loss to James Madison on Thursday night continues a season for Drexel that’s going to go down as almost certainly the worst in the program’s 46th year since moving up to the NCAA’s Division I. The defeat, the team’s seventh in a row and 11th in the last 12 games, drops its record to 3-19 overall, including 1-10 in CAA play.

That first D-I season, a 7-17 campaign in 1970-71, remains the only year the Dragons failed to reach the double-digit win mark, but this year’s group would have to win its final seven regular-season games to get there.

“I’ve been getting a lot of guys calling me up and saying ‘this happens from time to time, you know that right?’” Flint said. “I get guys that call and say that all the time, ‘dude, you have seasons like this, you just have them.’ And then I tell them it’s back-to-back, and they say ‘sometimes you have them for three or four years.’”

He’s well aware. With the litany of injuries the Dragons have piled up over the last few years, there’s a feeling of “not again” every time a Drexel player gets involved in a collision or goes down on the court. Everything from sprained ankles to broken hands, busted legs and concussions. Minor, recurring problems to the season-ending variety.

Once again, the offseason hinted that things were not so rosy in University City.

Lee, who had 1,538 points heading into his final year of eligibility and would have made a serious run at Michael Anderson’s school-record 2,208 points, took the graduate transfer route to Louisville in hopes of boosting his NBA draft stock. Major Canady, who was a candidate to start at point guard last year before a broken ankle kept him out, hurt his knee and is sitting out his second consecutive season of his three on campus.

And Utah transfer Ahmad Fields, a 6-5 guard who could have stepped in and helped fill in for some of Lee’s scoring, has missed all but three games this season with a knee injury that’s threatening to keep him out the rest of the year.

“You look down there, you just don’t have the guys you thought you were going to have,” Flint said. “That’s the most frustrating thing about it….I’m asking some of those guys to do things they’re not ready to do. They shouldn’t be out there for 30 minutes, some of those guys they shouldn’t be out there that long. And your warts show when that happens.”

Up and down the current Drexel lineup are examples of what Flint is talking about. The team’s usual starting point guard, instead of Canady--who should be a junior--is a true freshman, Terrell Allen, who’s currently leading the team in minutes played (33.7 mpg). Also starting are two sophomore guards, Rashann London (7.9 ppg) and Sammy Mojica (9.9 ppg), who should be key reserves instead of asked to play 60-plus minutes like they are every night.

There’s a chance this might be Flint’s last season at Drexel, where he’s been since coming over from Massachusetts in 2001. If the Dragons’ losing continues and they finish the year at 3-27 or thereabouts, it would be understandable if the athletic department felt the need to go in a new direction, injuries or not.

But for now, Flint doesn’t think his team has quit on him--and it’s true that of the 19 losses, 11 have been by single-digits, with the Dragons close late in games in others. They just don’t have what it takes to win, and it’s tough to say how any other coach could do much better under the circumstances.

“I’m not crazy, I know what’s been happening to us,” Flint said. “I’ve been trying to get water from a rock sometimes, and that’s hard. It’s been unfortunate because I think over the last four years I’ve had some of my best talent and I haven’t been able to put them out there together.”

Looking forward, there’s a potential optimistic take yet again. The underclassmen are piling up the experience, and they should be bolstered next year by Canady and Fields’ returns as well as Wake Forest transfer Miles Overton all joining the backcourt, in addition to a three-man recruiting class.

“I think if we line up the way we’re supposed to next year, then we’ll be okay,” Flint said. “If not, then we’re back here.”