1968–69 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 1968–69 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University in the 1968–69 college basketball season. The team was led by eleventh-year head coach Maury John. In 1967–68, the Bulldogs finished 18–8 (9–7 in the Missouri Valley Conference). They were also trying to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since as well as their first postseason appearance since their National Invitation Tournament appearance in 1964.

1968–69 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball
Missouri Valley Conference Co-Champions
NCAA tournament Third Place vs. North Carolina, W, 104–84
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 11
Record	26–5 (13–3 MVC)
Head coach	Maury John (11th season)
Assistant coaches	Dan Callahan Gus Guydon
Home arena	Veterans Memorial Auditorium

1968–69 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 11 Drake	13	–	3		.813			26	–	5		.839
No. 15 Louisville	13	–	3		.813			21	–	6		.778
Tulsa	11	–	5		.688			19	–	8		.704
Cincinnati	8	–	8		.500			17	–	9		.654
North Texas State	8	–	8		.500			15	–	10		.600
Bradley	7	–	9		.438			14	–	12		.538
Wichita State	7	–	9		.438			11	–	15		.423
Saint Louis	5	–	11		.313			6	–	20		.231
Memphis State	0	–	16		.000			6	–	19		.240
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

The Bulldogs were 12–1 at home as well as 8–3 on the road and 6–1 at neutral locations. With their third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament Drake had their best NCAA finish up to that point, and as of the start of the 2022–2023 season. On December 27–28, 1968 Drake played in the Dallas Classic in Dallas, Texas against Minnesota and Southern Methodist. Drake was ranked in the AP Top 20 Poll on several occasions during the season. Drake was ranked 18th during the week of January 7, 1969. Drake was once again ranked 11th on March 4, 1969. On March 8, 1969, Drake won a MVC playoff game 77–73 in Wichita, Kansas to determine the conference champion. A documentary on the 1968–69 Drake Basketball team was made in 2004 by filmmaker Jacob Adams of Impossible Productions and is available from his website. Most of the UCLA—Drake game was recreated with an old coach's film and radio play by play. Intercut are commentaries by Drake players and coaches.

Missouri Valley Conference standings

#	Team	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
1	Drake	13–3	.813	26–5	.839
2	Louisville	13–3	.813	21–6	.778
3	Tulsa	11–5	.688	19–8	.704
4	Cincinnati	8–8	.500	17–9	.654
5	North Texas State	8–8	.500	15–10	.600
6	Bradley	7–9	.438	14–12	.539
7	Wichita State	7–9	.438	11–15	.423
8	Saint Louis	5–11	.313	6–19	.240
9	Memphis State	0–16	.000	6–19	.240

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

No. Position Player 5 F Dolph Pulliam 32 G Don Draper 12 F/G Ron Gwin 31 G Bob Mast 15 G Willie McCarter ?? C Jim O'Dea ?? C Garry Odom ?3 C Larry Sharp

No. Position Player 42 F Willie Wise 34 F Dale Teeter 43 C Rick Wanamaker 41 F Al Williams 22 G Gary Zeller 24 F Jim Nordrum 10 G Al Sakys 21 G Dave Wicklund

Player statistics

Note: GP= Games played; RPG = Rebounds per Game; PPG = Points per Game

Player	GP	RPG	PPG
Willie McCarter	31	3.7	20.4
Willie Wise	30	11.4	14.6
Dolph Pulliam	31	7.7	13.2
Don Draper	31	2.4	12.2
Al Williams	31	7.2	8.8
Gary Zeller	31	1.6	6.3
Rick Wanamaker	28	3.3	4.3
Gary Odom	30	4.4	3.7
Ron Gwin	25	1.3	2.6
Al Sakys	7	0.2	1.8
Larry Sharp	17	1.1	1.5
Others	31	0.6	2.7

Schedule

MVC Standing: 1st
Date	Opponent*	Rank*	Location	Time#	Result	Overall	Conference
Regular Season Games
December 2, 1968	Cal Poly Pomona		Des Moines, IA		W 118–79	1–0	0–0
December 7, 1968	St. Cloud State		Des Moines, IA		W 92–52	2–0	0–0
December 9, 1968	#20 Marquette		Des Moines, IA		W 68–63	3–0	0–0
December 14, 1968	Iowa		Des Moines, IA		W 89–74	4–0	0–0
December 19, 1968	Iowa State		State Gymnasium, Ames, IA		W 81–71	4–0	0–0
December 21, 1968	Nevada-Reno		Reno, NV		W 90–76	6–0	0–0
December 23, 1968	Pacific		Stockton, CA		L 75–77	6–1	0–0
December 27, 1968	Minnesota		Moody Coliseum, University Park, TX		W 71–48	7–1	0–0
December 28, 1968	SMU		Moody Coliseum, University Park, TX		W 86–81	8–1	0–0
January 2, 1969	Memphis State		Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN		W 73–71	9–1	1–0
January 4, 1969	Saint Louis		Des Moines, IA		W 104–65	10–1	2–0
January 9, 1969	Wichita State	#18	Des Moines, IA		W 86–81	11–1	3–0
January 11, 1969	Tulsa	#18	Des Moines, IA		L 78–86	11–2	3–1
January 14, 1969	#19 Cincinnati		Armory Fieldhouse, Cincinnati, OH		W 69–64	12–2	4–1
January 23, 1969	Bradley		Des Moines, IA		W 93–76	13–2	5–1
January 25, 1969	Louisville		Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY		L 70–84	13–3	5–2
January 30, 1969	North Texas State		Denton, TX		L 99–118	13–4	5–3
February 1, 1969	Memphis State		Des Moines, IA		W 85–72	14–4	6–3
February 5, 1969	Iowa State		Des Moines, IA		W 94–71	15–4	6–3
February 11, 1969	North Texas State		Des Moines, IA		W 91–76	16–4	7–3
February 13, 1969	Bradley		Peoria, IL		W 91–76	17–4	8–3
February 20, 1969	Wichita State		Wichita Field House, Wichita, KS		W 120–94	18–4	9–3
February 22, 1969	#14 Tulsa		Tulsa, OK		W 87–78	19–4	10–3
February 23, 1969	Cincinnati		Des Moines, IA		W 85–68	20–4	11–3
March 1, 1969	#11 Louisville		Des Moines, IA		W 101–67	21–4	12–3
March 6, 1969	Saint Louis	#11	St. Louis, MO		W 93–78	22–4	13–3
March 8, 1969	#15 Louisville	#11	Wichita, KS		W 77–73	23–4	13–3
NCAA tournament
March 13, 1969	Texas A&M		Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, KS		W 81–63	24–4	13–3
March 15, 1969	Colorado State		Ahearn Field House, Manhattan, KS		W 84–77	25–4	13–3
March 20, 1969	UCLA		Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY		L 82–85	25–5	13–3
March 22, 1969	North Carolina		Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY		W 104–84	26–5	13–3
*Rank according to AP Top 20 Poll. #All times are in EST. Conference games in BOLD.

Rankings

Main article: 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

NBA draft

Main article: 1969 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	12	Willie McCarter	Los Angeles Lakers
5	64	Willie Wise	San Francisco Warriors