Drake (17-15) AT Idaho (16-15)

Well, this is a surprise, isn't it? Despite their play down the stretch, Drake was able to back themselves into the CollegeInsider.com post-season tournament.

I still think this is a big deal for Drake. If you throw last year out of the equation, getting to a post-season tournament is a big deal for our program. Obviously, we've taken a step or two back down the stretch. But like in college football, it would be amazing how a good run in the post-season (similar to winning a bowl game) would help us keep things rolling in 2009-2010.

Their first round opponent is the Idaho Vandals, a team that finished fifth in the WAC with a 9-7 conference record and a 16-15 record overall. While they were fifth, they were really tied for third (with three teams at a 9-7 record) but appear to have lost the tie-breaker.

Overall they've played some great teams and have gotten hammered. Early in the year they lost 100-62 to Michigan State and 80-46 to Gonzaga. They also were beat 56-41 by Washington State -- so I think they've shown they have difficulty playing against high level teams. Fortunately for Idaho, Drake is not among those teams.

They appear to be a one man team, led by 6-2 Junior Guard Mac Hopson. Hopson averages 16.6 PPG (leader), 5.0 RPG (second), and 5.9 APG (leader). He also leads the team with 1.8 steals/game. Shoots 45% from the three. Really seems to be the spark plug for the Vandals.

Kashif Watson is his running mate, a 6-4 Junior Guard that averages 10.3 PPG and appears from the numbers to be more of a slasher as he doesn't shoot the three and still gets to the line very frequently.

Marvin Johnson is their 6-10 center who gets just over 9 a game and is one of their significant contributors. Surprisingly, for a guy that size, he averages only 4.4 rebounds/game -- seems to suggest to me that he's either slow or is soft. Possibly he's been playing injured, but I'd expect 6-10 guys to at least average 6-8 boards in 22 minutes of play, especially for a team that doesn't seem to shoot an inordinate amount of three pointers. Even Jordan Eglseder, the 7 footer for UNI, averages 6.5 RPG in just over 19 minutes of play per game. Should give you a feel for why I think this guy appears to be not pulling his weight on the boards.

Add in a few more gunners off the bench (Luciano de Souza and Trevor Morris) who shoot the three at 37% and 35%, and two other forwards who are in for rebounding and limited scoring roles (Brandon Wiley and Luis Augusto) and you've got yourself about 90% of all of the minutes played for Idaho.

Overall, the Vandals appear to have enough size to compete with us, and Mac Hopson appears to be dynamic enough offensively to give us some problems. Still, I feel like JY or JP should be able to keep speed on the perimeter of the 3-2 to present problems defensively for Idaho. Plus, a zone is going to limit the size of the 6-10 Johnson, who doesn't appear to be that dynamic of a scorer anyway. If Hopson goes lights off, we're in for some trouble. But if our D contains him, we're looking pretty good. That's probably the #1 key of the game from my perspective.

Other key notable items to me are that they don't appear to have anyone that can hang with Bucky on Drake's offensive possessions. I feel like he's going to be able to victimize a 6-10 or 6-8 guy from the WAC off the dribble or will get enough space to pop. Still concerned about JY's shot and game right now, but I'd imagine between him and Parker one of the two is going to present a matchup problem. Let's keep in mind that this team hasn't seen Josh Young twice a year for three years now, so I would not be surprised if he goes off for 25.

The fact that Idaho is playing at home is huge. Rough calculations of the numbers for this game come out to a wash, suggesting 65-62 for Idaho -- primarily driven by their homecourt advantage and the even numbers on their offensive and defensive efficiencies.

Given the matchups, I'd be a bit more apt to flip the two and predict a 64-58 victory for the Bulldogs. Be sure to catch it on 1350 KRNT or 1350KRNT.com if you are away from DSM. 10:05 ET start time.