THE BASICS
Drake men's basketball earned the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and a No. 10 seed in the East Region, facing No. 7 seed Washington State in the first round at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb., with a late tip-off scheduled for 9:05 p.m.
Drake is back in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years, one of 37 Division-I teams to qualify for the Big Dance in at least three of the last four seasons.
The Bulldogs repeated as State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champs with wins over Evansville, Bradley and Indiana State.