Drexel coach Zach Spiker looks out to the play on the court in a CAA tourney game against Stony Brook last season. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
November 2, 2024
DREXEL 2024-25 Big5Hoops.com Preview Package
-Drexel 2024-25 Capsule Preview
-Drexel Player Spotlight: Kobe MaGee
-Drexel Season Preview Podcast
Season Preview Story
Zach Spiker and Drexel have been on a strong run of success of late. Since making the NCAA tournament in 2021 for the fifth time in school history and first since the third of three consecutive trips to the Big Dance in 1996, the Dragons have been one of the best programs in the ultra-competitive Coastal Athletic Conference.
Spiker has led Drexel to at least 10 conference victories in each of the last three seasons, including a 13-5 mark in the CAA last season when Drexel earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Overall, the Dragons finished 20-12 in 2023-24, just the 11th time in school history they reached the 20-win plateau.
In addition, Spiker was named the Big 5 Coach of the Year last season in Drexel’s first season as a member of the historic Big 5. The Dragons announced their presence in a big way with a 57-55 victory over then-No. 18 Villanova in the fifth-place game of the first-ever Big 5 Classic tripleheader at the Wells Fargo Center on December 2, 2023.
However, the Dragons are going to look a lot different in 2024-25. It would be hard to find another team in the country that has to replace as much as Drexel.
A New Look
Drexel will have a new look this season after losing an astounding 80.9 percent of its scoring from 2023-24 to transfer, exhausted eligibility, and injury.
Let’s start with the transfers. Six-foot-10 forward Amari Williams and 6-3 point guard Justin Moore departed Drexel for Kentucky and Loyola Chicago, respectively. Williams averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks last season while Moore contributed 12.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per contest. Those will be two big losses for Drexel.
Then, there are the players who have exhausted eligibility. Luke House (9.2 points, 3.4 rebounds), Lucas Monroe (6.7 points, 5.2 rebounds), and Mate Okros (6.4 points) all were key players for the Dragons a year ago.
Finally, Drexel was hurt—literally—by the recent news that Garfield Turner, a 6-foot-8 senior forward who averaged 5.1 points and 4.6 rebounds last season and was slotted to fill Williams’ role, will be out for the season with a knee injury.
A New Challenge
Still, Spiker isn’t discouraged by the roster overhaul.
“Even if we had everybody back, I couldn’t coach them the same,” he recently told Big5Hoops.com. “It’s a new team, a new group, a new challenge.”
There are some strong players still in place. Kobe MaGee, a 6-foot-6 junior guard, and 6-5 senior guard Yame Butler were key contributors in 2023-24 and are looking forward to expanded roles this season. Butler made nine starts last season, the only Drexel player returning who started any games, and averaged 6.1 points. MaGee came off the bench in all 32 contests and contributed 6.3 points per game while upping his three-point percentage to 35.4 percent from 15.8 percent as a freshman. The Dragons also have 6-5 sophomore guard Shane Blakeney (2.0 points per game) and 6-8 junior forward Cole Hargrove (0.9 points per game) back from 2023-24, and both will be relied upon for bigger roles.
“There’s been too much said about what’s left our program and not enough celebrated about who decided to stay and invest in our current culture,” Spiker said at CAA media day.
A Culture of Care
Spiker is banking on the culture that has been created at Drexel. While there is much unknown about Drexel’s 2024-25 roster, something that led the CAA’s media and coaches to pick the Dragons 11th out of 14 teams in the league’s preseason rankings, the core values of the program remain.
“Culture is an over-used word, but another way to say it is just care,” Spiker said. “Whether you’re here for two years, one year, we’re going to do things a certain way. I’m proud of the program we’ve built and our sustainability will be on display in a different way this year, with the leadership of Yame, Kobe, Shane, and Cole, as well as other guys.”
Butler said the returners have embraced the opportunity to continue the recent tradition of success at Drexel.
“It’s definitely been a new experience, having to step up into a leadership role,” he said. “It’s been something new, but I think we’ve been doing it well.”
New Faces Abound
Butler and the others have been leading many new faces, including three junior college transfers: 6-2 junior guard Jason “Deuce” Drake (Butler CC), 6-7 junior forward Victor Panov (Daytona CC), and 6-2 sophomore guard Kevon Vanderhorst (Brunswick CC). The Dragons also are counting on 6-8 forward Horace Simmons, a redshirt freshman who averaged 15.8 points and 6.2 rebounds as a senior at La Salle High School, to have an impact this season.
Of going the junior college route, Spiker said, “There’s good players in junior colleges for Drexel. And you have to work to find them. We are adapting with the landscape. We are continuing to mine different areas and find players in different ways. Yet, they all still do one thing: They fit the university. And we believe they fit our culture.”
Here’s a snapshot look from Spiker at the junior college transfers:
–Drake: “Very, very athletic. Great presence defensively.”
–Panov: “Epitome of a gym rat. In the gym every single day.”
–Vanderhorst: “Very, very good creator. Playmaker.”
New Excitement
On paper, it would be easy to discount the Dragons this season. And that’s something that the players welcome.
“It definitely adds a chip on our shoulder, or as coach says a crack on our shoulder, because the chips fall off when we achieve something that we think we should,” Butler said.
Spiker has proven his ability as a coach who can recruit, develop players, and win games. He is quick to credit his staff of Paul Fortier, Will Chavis, Frantz Massenat, and Jason Allison. Fortier, Chavis, and Massenat have 36 combined years of professional playing experience in Europe, and Allison is entering his 18th season on a Division I bench. Spiker and staff have shown they can attract talent and coach them up.
“There’s a bit of a formula that we’ve developed,” he said. “There’s a bit of a science and an art to it.”
Now, in a new era with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal, Spiker and the Dragons are adjusting. Drexel is trying to boost its NIL pool.
“We’re continuing to adapt, and I’m happy we’re adapting,” Spiker said. “It’s a priority for our administration to continue to find ways to adapt and be a player in this new world.”
In the meantime, Spiker and the Dragons will continue to push forward on the court.
“Our focus is the same, frankly, as any other year,” Spiker said. “Maybe it’s a little more under the radar and people might not know the names and faces as they did the past couple of years. I think we have a plan of what we’re trying to do.”
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.