Niko Medved

[letsgoAces]

Many on this board may not recognize this name, but he is the first year head coach at Drake. I remember the day the Bulldogs named his as head coach - I read his resume, was quite impressed, and thought he was a got fit for them and wondered how me might do for Evansville. Coach Medved is hands down going to be the MVC coach of the year - the program is having a resurgence under his leadership. I am happy for Drake and will be pulling for them to win the MVC (now that Evansville has no chance at all).

There are other new hires I could discuss as well but I wanted to focus on Drake. A fellow MVC member who has struggled mightily for many years (though I have always respected their program). Didn't take this coach long to start turning around things. Great offensive scheme and Coach Medved has played to the teams strengths. Obviously this kind of hire easily demonstrates what can happen when you put a new set of eyes on a program with a fresh perspective. Go Bulldogs.

[pafan]

I would add that Medved did this turnaround without a huge recruiting clas at Drake. He did get a couple of "his guys", but the core of the team played last season for Giacoletti/Rutter.

[letsgoAces]

Absolutely correct....amazing when you play to pay attention to the skill set of your players.

[AcesHigh]

I was watching Drake on ESPN3 recently and at the halftime break Coach Medved was asked what his team needed to do differently in the second half. Coach was very specific and named individual players. His team came out made the adjustments and won the game.

When Coach Simmons is asked the same question by ESPN3 his response is usually play harder, execute better or some variation. No adjustments appear to have been made and we see the results.

It makes me wonder what things would be like Coach Medved would be at UE.

[acecard]

I was watching Drake on ESPN3 recently and at the halftime break Coach Medved was asked what his team needed to do differently in the second half. Coach was very specific and named individual players. His team came out made the adjustments and won the game.

When Coach Simmons is asked the same question by ESPN3 his response is usually play harder, execute better or some variation. No adjustments appear to have been made and we see the results.

It makes me wonder what things would be like Coach Medved would be at UE.

Well, I bet we would win more games than we would lose, and the the game would be a hell of a lot more enjoyable to watch. I do realize that Drake has a more talented team than the Aces. They play defense like it is the last game they will ever play, and they have a presence in the paint that the Aces can only dream about.

[acesfan27]

Good for Drake and Drake is the most experience team in the valley player wise all Seniors and Juniors so you'd expect them to have a good season with a new decent coach which we absolutely need our ap and president to do.

[IBLEEDPURPLE]

Good for Drake and Drake is the most experience team in the valley player wise all Seniors and Juniors so you'd expect them to have a good season with a new decent coach which we absolutely need our ap and president to do.

Despite this, the pre season folks picked Drake to finish dead last in The Valley.