The 2024–25 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs, led by Ben McCollum in his only season as head coach, played their home games at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). They finished the regular season 27–3, 17–3 in MVC play to win the school's first outright conference title since the 2007–08 season. In the MVC tournament, the seed and defeated Southern Illinois, Belmont, and Bradley to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their third straight appearance. There the defeated Missouri in the First Round marking the school's first NCAA tournament win since 1971. In the second round, they lost to Texas Tech.

On March 24, 2025, head coach Ben McCollum left the team to take the head coach position at Iowa. On March 28, the school named South Dakota State head coach Eric Henderson the team's new head coach.

Previous season The Bulldogs finished the 2023–24 season 28–7, 16–4 in MVC play to finish in second place. In the MVC tournament, they defeated Evansville, Bradley, and Indiana State to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 10 seed in the West region, where they narrowly lost to Washington State in the first round.

On March 24, 2024, it was announced that head coach Darian DeVries was leaving the school to take the head coaching job at West Virginia. Subsequently, most of the roster entered the transfer portal. On April 1, the school named Division II Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum as the team's new head coach.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Kyron Gibson 0 G 6'1" 198 Sr Alexandria, LA Graduated Kevin Overton 1 G 6'5" 180 Fr Oklahoma City, OK Transferred to Texas Tech Brashon Hall 2 G 6'1" 185 RS So Roswell, GA Transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson Colby Garland 3 G 6'1" 183 Fr Magnolia, AR Transferred to Longwood Conor Enright 4 G 6'0" 180 RS So Mundelein, IL Transferred to DePaul Patrick Bath 9 F 6'9" 210 Fr Plymouth, MN Transferred to North Dakota State Atin Wright 10 G 6'1" 185 Jr Hawthorne, CA Transferred to North Texas Bennett Fried 11 F 6'7" 170 Fr La Crosse, WI Transferred to Augustana (SD) Tucker DeVries 12 G/F 6'7" 210 Jr Waukee, IA Transferred to West Virginia Carlos Rosario 13 F 6'7" 180 RS So Santo Domingo, D.R. Transferred to Oral Roberts Chico Johnson 20 G 6'3" 180 Fr Toledo, OH Transferred to USC Upstate Elijah Price 22 F 6'9" 195 Fr Long Beach, CA Transferred to Fresno State Ethan Roberts 23 G 6'5" 195 So Arlington Heights, IL Transferred to Penn Eric Northweather 35 F/C 6'10" 225 Jr Jefferson City, MO Left Program Darnell Brodie 51 C 6'10" 275 GS Newark, NJ Graduated

Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Cam Manyawu 3 F 6'8" 230 So Kansas City, MO Transferred from Wyoming Isaiah Jackson 4 G 6'3" 180 GS Independence, MO Transferred from NW Missouri State Eli Shetlar 10 G 6'6" 190 So Wichita, KS Transferred from Indiana State Kael Combs 11 G 6'4" 190 So Nixa, MO Transferred from Wyoming Bennett Stirtz 14 G 6'4" 180 Jr Liberty, MO Transferred from NW Missouri State Mitch Mascari 22 G 6'5" 200 GS Geneva, IL Transferred from NW Missouri State Daniel Abreu 54 F 6'6" 220 GS Springfield, MO Transferred from NW Missouri State

2024 recruiting class

Preseason The Bulldogs, as the defending Arch Madness champions, were picked to finish fifth in the conference's preseason poll. Forward Cam Manyawu and guard Bennett Stirtz were selected to the Preseason All-MVC third team.

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=9 style=""|Regular Season

!colspan=9 style=""|

!colspan=12 style=""|

Source

Rankings

References