Darian DeVries | Drake University Basketball Head Coach

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No one told me that with Auto Trader a dealer can deliver cars to my home or that I could shop by price on Auto Trader. No one. Consider this friendship that you just learned we had officially over. Finally, it's easy. Auto Trader had a chance to catch up with Darren DeVries earlier in the day, and of course I always start with that moment as they're washing their name flash up on the board during the selection show. The atmosphere in the room when that moment finally arrives. Yeah, they were all really excited. Yeah, we had, you know, the luxury, I guess you call it, of having a full week after our conference tournament to wait for selection shows to come. So, you know, we were anxiously awaiting to see who we played and had a great turnout, you know, for everyone to view it and the guys were excited and now that we know and now it's, you know, time to get back to work and get the game preps and, you know, get ready to go try to win a game. For a mid-major school, even though you do have a recent NCAA tournament appearance and win on your resume, how much does it change for your office and on your campus when you get to the NCAA tournament and not just you but your women's basketball team too? Yeah, it's certainly a fun vibe around campus right now, you know, the students and everybody's really excited.

As you mentioned, a women's team was able to, you know, punch their ticket as well. So, on the basketball side of things, people are pretty excited about their hoops in Des Moines right now. Does it make a difference when your school is in the spotlight and then you hit the recruiting trail and people have seen the Drake Bulldogs and Drake play on national TV?

Does that help? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's all the recruits right now and it's a busy time of year for recruiting. So, you're trying to get ready for an NCAA tournament game and also, you know, making sure that you're continuing to get out there and recruit as much as you can and, you know, kids recognize it. You know, they watch it.

They see it. You know, they see the fun that our guys are having and want to be a part of it as well. Coach Darren DeVries is with us here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio, Drake Men's Basketball back into the NCAA tournament, but a significant difference for this team.

Your son is on your roster. What's the biggest challenge of coaching someone that you have lived with most of his life and that you know so well? I don't think we've had a lot of challenges.

It's actually gone pretty smooth. I think the biggest thing is just trying to always make sure that I remember that, you know, he's a college kid and to make sure and give him his space as a coach and a dad, you know, that he has his time to get away as well. But we've certainly enjoyed it. It's been an awesome two years of being able to go through this all together.

My mom was my math teacher in high school and I will just say that we clashed. So, I'm pretty impressed that you've had no major issues or problems, but I'm certainly proud of her. I can imagine he is proud of you. Was there any part of you that maybe wanted him to go out and play at a different school, take an opportunity that wasn't there in Des Moines? You know, for me, it was all about just letting him decide what he wanted to do, what was best for him, and certainly would have, you know, respected if he wanted to go somewhere else and do that. But, you know, thankfully he decided that this is where he wanted to go and then, you know, we tried to make the most of it and enjoy every moment. I know this is an unfair question, but how proud are you of the way that he's handled, not just his basketball, but all of the attention that's come on him and just being in this position? Yeah, I think it's been, he's handled it well. He's a really humble guy and, you know, he works really hard at it and he has great teammates around him as well. So, it's been a lot of fun to see how they've all interacted together and share in each other's successes as they've, you know, gone through this.

I have to ask you one more question, because you mentioned balancing dad and coach. He was in the hospital for a couple of days earlier this year. How tough was that? Just trying to focus on basketball, but also your son is in a hospital bed. Yeah, and that's one of those times where, you know, we certainly had our moment where it's like go to practice and then the rest of the time was, you know, making sure that I was there with him in the hospital and, you know, making sure he was all right and doing well and, you know, the family side of things always kicks in first and takes priority, especially in a situation like that.

So, but thankfully he was able to kind of get through that scary few days and recover and now back to doing what he loves again. Wonderful. So glad that it didn't turn out to be a much bigger challenge or take away the basketball. We're spending a few minutes with Darren DeVries of Drake Men's Basketball into the NCAA tournament for a sixth time in school history, but his second time with the Drake Bulldogs who win the Mizzou Valley Conference and will take on Miami in Albany. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Jim Laronega, another one of those coaches has been around a long time. What have you found out so far about Miami Hurricanes basketball? They're really good. First of all, you know, they won the ACC and coach does an incredible job. You know, he's got an unbelievable amount of wins and been doing a long time and just does a great job with his team and, you know, they're super talented. So, you know, like everybody in the field, there's a lot of good teams and they're certainly one of them. How much does it matter that your school does have a win under its belt going back to Dayton and that game two years ago to get into the main field?

Yeah, hopefully it helps. You always, you know, like experience and then if you can apply it in some ways, that's a good thing. I'm looking forward to, you know, getting this opportunity again for our guys and, you know, Miami's got the same type of field though. They had a bunch of guys that were part of that, you know, tournament run that they made last year. So, certainly glad that we have some experience so they can share it as we lead up into that game on Friday. Yeah, one of the challenges a lot of times for mid-majors is a size situation or really the bulk and bigger guys more physical. When you look at your schedule, what are a couple of the games and moments that maybe prepared you for a matchup like this with Miami? Maybe the main one was we had played Mississippi State in a neutral site game early in the year that, you know, we were able to pull out in a close win. But going against that size, as you mentioned, that, you know, you got to really be locked into the things that, you know, can allow you to, you know, survive, you know, when you are a little physically outmatched and that's doing a lot of little things to put yourself in a position to still succeed.

Sure. You know your personality or your team's personality, whether or not they get nervous. A lot of times though being on this stage and this opportunity can be a little overwhelming. So, what will you tell your guys when they get ready to step on the court against the Canes? Yeah, the biggest thing we're trying to do is just be awesome. What we've been all year and stay locked into the moment that is and that's the possession on the floor. And do whatever you got to do to try to win each possession and not let yourself think outside of anything else other than what we're doing.

And that's easier said than done. But I really believe this group because of their experience and their, you know, desire to continue to want to play is, you know, something that I think will outweigh all the other factors. Before I let you go, Coach, it dawned on me yesterday as I was watching Selection Show that it was March 12th, which was exactly three years since the day that March Madness was canceled in 2020. Talked about it a little bit on my radio show last night. But if you don't mind, what do you remember about that day as a basketball coach? What it's like to have all of your campus activities and your team kind of get shut down? Yeah, that was a wild few weeks there. What do you mean there's not going to be a March Madness?

There has to be a March Madness. And, you know, when that all went away, I think you even had a lot of, you know, the players and things realize like, wow, it's got taken away from me. And I think their appreciation for being able to be out there and compete again when we got that chance to get back out on the floor, you could really see how much they wanted to be out there again after such a long layoff. And let's hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon. Right. But I would agree with you. You never take it for granted.

When you go three and a half months without sports, all of a sudden, you know, it's not so much an automatic, but it's more of a luxury. All right. The Drake Bulldogs winning the Missouri Valley Conference. Coach Darren DeVries, thank you so much for a couple of minutes and good luck against Miami. Thank you very much.

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