For Drexel’s men’s and women’s basketball programs this season, ‘continuity can be king’

Zach Spiker understands it, but he is not a fan of the revolving-door approach to college basketball.

Entering his 10th season as Drexel’s men’s basketball coach, Spiker says he realizes that for many programs, specifically mid-majors, is that players will come, play, and move on.

But that is not a recipe for the success he’s trying to achieve with his Dragons.

It’s a mentality that permeates the program, as Spiker has nine returning players from last season’s squad, which went 18-15 and reached the quarterfinals of the Coastal Athletic Association tournament.

“People get caught up in the excitement of the portal and how the rosters can change; [essentially it becomes] a little bit of modern-day free agency,” Spiker said during CAA media day earlier this fall. “But, you know, consistency wins and continuity wins. And I think in the last three seasons we’ve had as little a turnover as anybody in our league. Two years ago, we had our entire roster come back. This year, we had nine players return. … That continuity and experience is really important.”

One big part of that returning corps is Shane Blakeney, a junior guard who is prepared to step up with the loss of key players Kobe Magee and Yame Butler. Blakeney, who averaged 7.5 points last season and was among the team leaders in rebounds, had an opportunity to seek more time with a new team but chose to come back and be one of the leaders at Drexel.

Blakeney, who was honorable mention on the CAA preseason all-conference teams, said his relationship with Spiker and the coaching staff made his return a no-brainer. Now, he says it’s about finishing what he started as his third season with the Dragons begins.

“I was very effective last year,” Blakeney said. “I had a lot of minutes, a lot of time out there on the court. A lot of the things that I went through last year just let me know and resolidified everything I had been feeling when I decided to come to Drexel.

“[This is a] good coaching staff, good culture. And I wanted to be a part of that another year. I really appreciate our coaches and the players [who] decided to come back and the players that we’re looking at recruiting.”

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Drexel will start its season at home against Widener on Monday (6 p.m., FloSports) before an early Big 5 test against St. Joseph’s on Nov. 8 (1 p.m., ESPN+). In addition to the Big 5 Classic at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 6, the Dragons are scheduled to host Syracuse at the South Philly arena on Nov. 15.

In terms of conference play, the Dragons are eager to prove that they’re better than a projected 10th-place finish, their spot in this year’s CAA preseason poll. But with its returning corps, Spiker says Drexel is ready to play the role of underdog and prove that through continuity, it is far better than what its conference foes expect.

“Continuity can be king as you build programs,” he said. “When you’ve got those players that are carrying the message beyond what we’re saying is really important. So I think [continuity] has helped us, and it’s made us effective. And we want to build on that, for sure.”

On the women’s side, the Dragons have the personification of continuity in Amaris Baker. The graduate guard chose to use her final year of eligibility to remain with a Dragons side picked to finish second in preseason polls, largely because Baker has returned to lead by example. She averaged 17 points a game last season.

A key piece to the team’s improbable run to the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago, Baker has returned to lead a Dragons collective with visions of being the class of the conference.

“My decision to return was just based on our coaches, the players, and Drexel’s program in general,” said Baker, the Philly native and Cardinal O’Hara graduate. “Being a Philly kid, I want to be home. This is home. So, I mean, I’m just happy to really be here and take the court with them and just push them. Our job is to come in every single day and just get better.”

While Spiker preaches continuity, women’s coach Amy Mallon has been all about consistency leading to favorable results.

“We say we’d rather be consistently great than remarkable once,” said Mallon, whose program is one of the few in the country this season that did not have a player transfer. “I think we’ve been able to stay pretty consistent with what we do and how we do it, [and if you’re doing that] you’re always going to be in a position to contend whether it’s for a title or [in] the championship game.

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The Dragons are putting themselves to the test early, opening the season on the road against Pittsburgh at 6 p.m. Tuesday (6 p.m.) followed by Marist at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7. They’ll then come home for their first Big 5 clash of the season against Penn on Nov. 12 (6 p.m., FloSports). They open their CAA campaign against Stony Brook on Jan. 9 (6:30 p.m., FloSports).

“The one thing that’s great about having Amaris and so many returnees back, especially from the [2024] championship team, is they know what it’s like to win, and they know what it’s like to lose,” Mallon said. “So that will help them, and that will only drive them more for what we’re going to do every day.”