Eli LedermanMar 20, 2025, 11:04 PM ET
CloseEli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.Open Extended Reactions
WICHITA, Kan. — First-year Drake coach Ben McCollum couldn’t have quite seen all of this coming 365 days ago. In fact, at this time last year, McCollum was still several weeks away from leaving Division II Northwest Missouri State for the Bulldogs’ top job.
But nights such as Thursday were most certainly part of the vision when McCollum landed at Drake last April 1. It’s why nothing about the 11th-seeded Bulldogs’ 67-57 first-round NCAA tournament victory over sixth-seeded Missouri at Intrust Bank Arena came as a surprise, at least not to the 43-year-old McCollum.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect this,” McCollum said late Thursday night after Drake secured its first NCAA tournament win since 2021. “… I expected exactly this. I expected [my players] to compete. I brought winners with me. That’s what I brought. I guess my superpower is finding winners, finding tough kids and believing in them. So I kind of expected this. I’d be lying if I