Glory Years (1960-1986)
The 1960s through mid-1980s saw some of the all-time great Drake teams. The Bulldogs were in the national rankings on a regular basis and the Missouri Valley Conference was one of the premier conferences in men's basketball. Drake had fourteen winning seasons during this time.
Drake shared the 1963-64 conference title with Louisville and received an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament. In the tournament, Drake defeated Pittsburgh 87-82 in the first round and lost to tournament runner-up New Mexico 65-60 in the second round.
The 1968-69 season was by far the most accomplished in Drake history. The Bulldogs won the Missouri Valley Conference outright and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, finishing third. During the tournament, Drake received a bye in the first round, defeated Texas A&M 81-63 in the Sweet Sixteen and Colorado State in the Elite Eight 84-77. The Bulldogs would fall to eventual champion UCLA 85-82 in the national semifinal before routing North Carolina 104-84 in the third place game.
Drake continued its magical run during the 1969-70 season once again capturing the Missouri Valley Conference title. The Bulldogs would qualify for their second strait NCAA Tournament, earning a bye in the first round. In the Sweet Sixteen, Drake defeated Houston 92-87, but fell to New Mexico 87-78 in the Elite Eight.
In 1970-71, the Bulldogs earned their third strait Missouri Valley Conference crown, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. Drake received a bye in the first round, defeated Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen 79-72 (OT), but lost a heartbreaker to Kansas 73-71 in the Elite Eight.
Drake would win their first national torunament title during the 1974-75 season, capturing the National Commissioners Invitational Tournament postseason title. In the tournament, the Bulldogs defeated USC 80-70, Bowling Green 78-65, and Arizona in the championship game 83-76.
The Bulldogs also advanced to the National Invitational Tournament during the 1980-81 season (losing to Minnesota in the first round 90-77) and the 1985-86 seaosn (falling to Marquette 79-59 in the first round).
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Famous quotes containing the words glory and/or years:
“... it is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy: to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self—never to be fully possessed by the glory we behold, never to have our consciousness rapturously transformed into the vividness of a thought, the ardour of a passion, the energy of an action, but always to be scholarly and uninspired, ambitious and timid, scrupulous and dim-sighted.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I stir my martinis with the screw,
four-inch and stainless steel,
and think of my hip where it lay
for four years like a darkness.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)