March Madness 2021: Former Drexel players Malik Rose and Chuck Guittar discuss the Dragons’ run to the NCAA Tournament
Members of Drexel's 1996 NCAA tournament team know exactly how this year's squad feels.
Malik Rose watched a Drexel game “every now and then” in the past. For some reason, he tuned into more games this season and created a FloSports account to watch as many as he could.
The investment paid off.
Drexel won the Colonial Athletic Association title and earned an NCAA Tournament berth, and suddenly, the feelings came back from the 1996 season when Rose led the Dragons to the Big Dance. All he could think at that moment was, “What took so long?”
“I thought they had a chance to win because they were building,” Rose said. “The biggest thing that gave me confidence in them is they brought everybody back.”
Rose is Drexel’s all-time rebounding leader and a proud Dragon. He’s been humming with joy for the opportunity to speak about this year’s squad. He’s in a group chat with former Drexel players. When the final buzzer sounded after the CAA championship, the group chat was on fire.
“There were a lot of all capitals and exclamation points,” Rose said. “Everyone was excited. We’ve been talking about them all year, and it’s been great.”
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The ‘96 Dragons were a force in the North Atlantic Conference. They went 27-4 under Bill Herrion and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament after upsetting Memphis as a 12-seed.
Chuck Guittar was one of five players on the team to average more than nine points. He was known as a rebounder, but he recalls Rose telling him, “Anything close, I’m getting it,” when he transferred in.
Guittar hasn’t watched much of the Dragons all season, but the way they played in the CAA title game caught his eye as a former player and a coach for the past 20 years.
“They play with a purpose,” Guittar said. “A lot of college teams now just come down and ball screen. Not that they don’t do that, but I just felt like I constantly saw a cutter going through and some sort of sets being run to get the ball moving. It was fun to see.”
» READ MORE: Join the Madness! Fill out your 2021 NCAA Tournament bracket.
The ‘96 season was different because the Dragons had made the NCAA Tournament the previous two seasons. Drexel had respect. This year’s team, however, had its work cut out. Even though it was picked top three in the CAA before the season, the Dragons didn’t catch the national eye and the inconsistencies in the regular season didn’t help.
But there’s still a common denominator. The ‘96 team knows how it feels to be the underdog. It wasn’t supposed to beat a Memphis squad that featured future top-10 NBA draft pick Lorenzen Wright.
Drexel is a 16-seed facing top-seeded Illinois this season.
“I don’t want them to just be happy to be there,” Guittar said. “They should compete because that’s what you do, and that’s what makes the upsets.”
“You just focus on yourself,” Rose said. “You need to be prepared of course, but I wouldn’t lose myself in what the other team is going to run.”
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The best advice from members of the ‘96 team? Enjoy the moment. It’s not often Drexel basketball plays on the big stage, and with them joining Villanova as the city’s only schools in the tournament, that support has increased.
Rose, who was born in Philadelphia and prepped at Overbrook High, will attempt to attend the game in Indianapolis.
“Once you get [to the tournament], Philly loves you like no other,” Rose said. “I’ve been in that position where we were like the darlings of Philly. When you make the tournament, it’s not the Big 5 and Drexel. It’s all the Philly schools just seeing if we can get a championship.”