Shaping up
Drake aches to shake weight of two dreadful seasons
Posted: Monday October 19, 1998 06:14 PM
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- College basketball already has been an eye-opening experience for Drake freshman Kareem Lee. And he hasn't even practiced yet, much less play in a game.
Lee got an inkling of what the college game would be like when he went through the tough preseason conditioning program that third-year coach Kurt Kanaskie laid out for his team.
"I knew I had to get into condition when I came and I was in condition this summer," Lee said Tuesday. "But I never expected anything like this. I was hurting. I was throwing up, legs were sore, cramping in the middle of the night -- I did all of that."
Stewart Briggs, the athletic department's new strength coach, had the basketball players lifting weights for 45 minutes a day four times a week and conditioning for an hour the other three days, running 50-, 200- and 400-meter sprints outside and doing wind sprints and defensive slides on the court.
It was all part of Kanaskie's plan to get his program moving in the right direction after two miserable seasons: 2-26 two years ago, 3-24 last season and 0-18 in the Missouri Valley Conference both years.
Drake stood at 3-4 last season after a stunning victory over Iowa State, then lost its final 20 games.
"It's been pretty difficult," junior guard Armand LeVasseur said. "Winning only five games in two years, I didn't expect anything like this. We've just got to look at the positives of what we have and just build on that.
"I've seen a big change from just my freshman year to now, especially with this team. We have a whole new outlook."
Kanaskie said he has sensed a renewed commitment in his seven returning players and it started last March after Drake was eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament. All stayed in Des Moines this summer to work out and play pickup games.
They've been joined this fall by seven newcomers, including five scholarship players who comprise Kanaskie's best recruiting class to date.
"I think it will be quite noticeable that we're much more athletic than we were a year ago," Kanaskie said. "We're faster and we're bigger. So for those reasons, we're looking forward to the beginning of practice."
Drake has no seniors and LeVasseur is the only member of the team who has played with the Bulldogs for two years. He led the team in scoring last season with a 10.9 average. Guard Mike Woodley, also a junior, averaged 10.1 points and forward Joey Gaw averaged 9.8 points and 3.7 rebounds as a freshman.
Those three, along with 6-foot-7 junior Myron Richardson and 6-10 sophomore Brandon Donaldson, give Kanaskie a core to build around. Lee, a 6-2 point guard, is the most highly touted player among the newcomers, who include a pair of 6-8 junior college transfers, Dontay Harris and Aaron Deeter.
"I would be surprised if they didn't play significant roles in the season," Kanaskie said. "But we haven't seen them in team play. We've seen them in the weight room, we've seen them in conditioning, we've seen them with up to three players working with them.
"But if there's one thing that's definitely changed, it's intensity. I think the competition we have seen thus far is going to be make everybody better."
Because of that competition, Kanaskie has no idea who will start or what combinations he'll use. But he feels he'll have a versatile team.
"I think it's really going to be a fun group to coach because we don't have guys locked into roles," he said. "We'll probably play an offense that doesn't have permanent guys in the low post because we have a lot of guys that can step out and shoot it.
"It's going to allow us to play with a lot more freedom, play faster and probably be more fun to watch."
Even more fun if the Bulldogs could win a few games.
"I think the city deserves it," LeVasseur said. "The past two years, we've had great attendance and we've been losing. So we need to show our gratification to them for coming out to support us."
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