While Drake has the second longest winning streak in the country and has climbed into the national polls, many so-called national experts still question how good a team they are. That has Missouri State coach Barry Hinson riled.
"If anybody in this country was 22-1 in any other conference besides the Missouri Valley Conference, everybody’d be talking about its one of the greatest college seasons of all time," Hinson says. He says when he hears the national prognosticators question Drake, "It just drives me absolutely nuts."
Hinson says,"They’ve done a great job, I mean lets give credit where credit is due…If you want to take your butts in and go in an play at Des Moines then go in there and play those guys and let them shoot from the Bulldog or the Illinois State Redbird or the Bluejay at halfcourt, and watch how they shoot and how they spread people apart."
Hinson says Drakes shooting ability is underrated. "This possibly is the best shooting basketball team in the county, and that includes Duke," Hinson says. He says Drake isn’t getting the respect they deserve and ought to be ranked in the top ten. Hinson says the MVC is going to get two teams in the NCCAA Tournament and "it’s just driving people nuts." Hinson says people have been running down the conference from the start of the season.
Hinson says people have said the Valley was going to be down and they wanted to jump on that bandwagon and can’t do it now. "It’s kind of like a thorn in their paw, and I got news for ’em, there’s not going to be any mice running around to pull those thorns out," Hinson says. Hinson’s team lost 65-54 in their first matchup with Drake this season in Des Moines.