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Friday the 13th: A good day for the Dragons
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Traditionally, Friday the 13th has been thought of as a day of bad luck by many. In fact as many moviegoers know, there have been scary horror films that have been made using this specific date as its title. This coming Friday, November 13th, will be the third time in 2009 that the thirteenth of the month has fallen on a Friday. This third date can be even more significant for the countless superstitious people around the world since it is only two weeks following Halloween.
However, for the Drexel University men’s and women’s basketball teams, Friday the 13th could be a good day for both programs. A week from today, both teams begin their 2009-2010 campaign in an aim to continue the success that the Dragon basketball program has had over the last several years.
Coach Bruiser Flint starts out against his alma mater, as his men’s team will take on cross-town rival, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks out of the Atlantic 10 Conference. This will mark the first regular season game played at the new home for Saint Joseph’s basketball, Hagan Arena. Coach Phil Martelli’s squad returns the back court of Darrin Govens and Garrett Williamson as well as forward Idris Hilliard. However, Martelli does not have his two leading scorers from last season – power forward Ahmad Nivins and guard Tasheed Carr. With both Nivins and Carr gone, the Hawks are not expected to be as competitive as last year giving the Dragons a good chance to win their opening game this season.
The men’s team is looking to improve upon a 15-14 season in 2008-2009 and they certainly have the talent to do so. Coach Flint will look to senior big men Evan Neisler, Leon Spencer and Kenny Tribbett to lead the way for this Dragons squad. This program is looking to get back to where they were a few years ago when they got national attention for beating teams like Villanova, Syracuse and Creighton, and this team is full of young talent that can start to bring Drexel to that point once again.
Meanwhile, Coach Denise Dillon’s women’s team is coming off the programs’ first ever Colonial Athletic Association championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. This team, which returns their top two leading scorers Gabriela Marginean and Jasmina Rosseel, has been projected to finish at the number-one spot in the CAA once again in 2009-2010.
With all of the success that the Drexel women’s team had last year, Coach Dillon has been able to schedule games against some high profile programs, including the University of Maryland and landing a spot in the Wildcat Classic hosted by Villanova. But the 2009-2010 season will start off on this Friday the 13th when Drexel plays host to the Penn State Nittany Lions out of the Big Ten Conference. Being able to have a program like Penn State come to the Daskalakis Athletic Center in University City shows the strides that Coach Dillon, her staff and her players have made over the last few seasons.
Looking at Penn State, they are coming off an 11-18 season, including going 6-12 in Big Ten play. Certainly a sub-par year for the Lady Nittany Lions, but going up against any Big Ten school is truly a tough test for the defending CAA champions.
You may be saying, “What if both the men’s and women’s Drexel teams lose on Friday the 13th? Wouldn’t that make it a bad day?” One could say that. But looking at the big picture, there is a lot of excitement and hope surrounding the 2009-2010 season for both Drexel basketball teams and this is just the beginning. Two wins on Friday the 13th would be great. But two losses wouldn’t be the end of the world either.
It’s a long season and hopefully this Friday the 13th will be a sign of good luck for Drexel Dragons basketball in 2009-2010.
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