1970–71 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

1970–71 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball
1970–71 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball
Missouri Valley Conference Champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
AP	No. 18
Record	21–8 (9–5 MVC)
Head coach	Maury John (13th season);
Assistant coaches	Dan Callahan; Gus Guydon;
Home arena	Veterans Memorial Auditorium
	Seasons ← 1969–70 1971–72 →

The 1970–71 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1970–71 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The team was led by 13th-year head coach Maury John and played their home games at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa. The Bulldogs were 9–5 in Missouri Valley Conference play, finishing in a 3-way tie for the league title.

1970–71 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 18 Drake	9	–	5	.643	21	–	8	.724
Louisville	9	–	5	.643	20	–	9	.690
Saint Louis	9	–	5	.643	17	–	12	.586
Memphis State	8	–	6	.571	18	–	8	.692
Tulsa	8	–	6	.571	17	–	9	.654
Bradley	6	–	8	.429	13	–	12	.520
North Texas State	4	–	10	.286	10	–	15	.400
Wichita State	3	–	11	.214	10	–	16	.385
West Texas State		–		–	19	–	7	.731
New Mexico State		–		–	19	–	8	.704

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

Drake received a bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Notre Dame in the regional semifinal. The Bulldogs would fall one game short of the Final Four in back-to-back seasons, losing to Kansas in the regional final, 73–71.^[2]

This season marked the end of a streak – the only time in program history the Bulldogs reached the NCAA tournament in three consecutive seasons (reaching the Elite Eight all three times) – and the end of an era, as head coach Maury John left to become head coach at Iowa State.

Previous season

The Bulldogs reached the NCAA tournament for the second straight season, advancing to the Elite Eight a season after making the program's only Final Four appearance in 1969. Drake completed the season with a 22–7 record (14–2 Missouri Valley) and were ranked number 9 in the final AP poll.

Roster

1970–71 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	5	Dale Gordon	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Jr	Creston, Iowa
C	23	Tom Bush	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Chicago, Illinois
G/F	42	Jeff Halliburton	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Rockville Centre, New York

Head coach

Maury John

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Dec 1, 1970*	No. 10	Wisconsin-Platteville	W 107–73	1–0	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 1, 1970*	No. 10	Cal State Fullerton	W 101–57	2–0	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 8, 1970*	No. 7	at Iowa State Iowa Big Four	W 87–63	3–0	Iowa State Armory Ames, Iowa
Dec 12, 1970*	No. 7	Iowa Iowa Big Four	W 72–70	4–0	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 18, 1970*	No. 9	vs. Texas–Arlington Texas Classic	W 102–83	5–0	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Fort Worth, Texas
Dec 19, 1970*	No. 9	at TCU Texas Classic	W 79–78	6–0	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Fort Worth, Texas
Dec 22, 1970*	No. 9	Minnesota	W 83–66	7–0	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 26, 1970*	No. 9	at Canisius Queen City Classic	W 87–74	8–0	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, New York
Dec 28, 1970*	No. 7	vs. Niagara Queen City Classic	L 77–87	8–1	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Buffalo, New York
Jan 2, 1971*	No. 7	at Cincinnati	L 59–60	8–2	Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati, Ohio
Missouri Valley Conference regular season
Jan 7, 1971	No. 16	at Wichita State	W 78–74	9–2 (1–0)	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
Jan 9, 1971*	No. 16	Tulsa	L 60–66	9–3 (1–1)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Jan 13, 1971		at Bradley	L 85–88	9–4 (1–2)	Robertson Memorial Field House Peoria, Illinois
Jan 20, 1971*		UMKC	W 130–73	10–4	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Jan 23, 1971		Louisville	W 81–78	11–4 (2–2)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Jan 28, 1971		North Texas	W 90–66	12–4 (3–2)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Jan 30, 1971*		Memphis State	W 93–70	13–4 (4–2)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Feb 2, 1971*		DePaul	W 93–80	14–4	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Feb 4, 1971		at Memphis State	L 72–73	14–5 (4–3)	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, Tennessee
Feb 11, 1971		Bradley	W 113–78	15–5 (5–3)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Feb 13, 1971		at Saint Louis	L 62–64	15–6 (5–4)	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 17, 1971		at No. 19 Louisville	L 52–94	15–7 (5–5)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 20, 1971		at Tulsa	W 87–84	16–7 (6–5)	Expo Square Pavilion Tulsa, Oklahoma
Feb 23, 1971		Wichita State	W 83–76	17–7 (7–5)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Feb 27, 1971		Saint Louis	W 89–85	18–7 (8–5)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, Iowa
Mar 2, 1971		at North Texas	W 65–60	19–7 (9–5)	North Texas Men's Gym Denton, Texas
NCAA tournament
Mar 18, 1971*	No. 18	vs. No. 12 Notre Dame Midwest Regional Semifinal	W 79–72 ^OT	21–7	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
Mar 20, 1971*	No. 18	vs. No. 4 Kansas Midwest Regional Final	L 71–73	21–8	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Central Time.