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Drake has openly put a lot of pressure on itself because the Bulldogs feel like they should have been a bigger national player over the last two seasons. In 2021, Drake started 22-2 before losing point guard Roman Penn at the end of the regular season. The Bulldogs lost in the Missouri Valley semifinals and dropped its NCAA Tournament game by 16 to USC. The Bulldogs were also battling some knocks last year when they fell to Loyola-Chicago in the Arch Madness final for the second-straight year after going 15-5 in the conference before the finals. They finally got over the hump this year, but we can't help but note how the Missouri Valley took a competitive hit once the Ramblers left the conference. The MVC was a top-11 league each of the last three years according to KenPom's metrics, but that dropped to No. 16 this year. It's been 12 days since the Bulldogs last took the court, which is about as long of a layoff a team can have entering the tournament. Miami's glue-guy Norchard Omier is expected to play after suffering an ankle injury in the ACC Tournament. Miami reached the Elite Eight last year and few teams in the country know how to win in March like Jim Larranaga. Drake hasn't played a top-50 opponent all season and played the No. 226 non-conference schedule. Drake has had nearly two weeks to sit in Iowa and wait for this game to tip off. That might not be a good thing.