Drexel Hoping Seven (Players) Is Lucky Number In CAA Tourney

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The Drexel Dragons open play in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament on Friday night in Baltimore. The #7 seed, the Dragons will face the #10 seed, the College of Charleston in the first round.

Drexel brings an 11-18 record into the tournament in a season that has been devastated, marred, dominated, whatever word you want to use, by injuries. The Dragons will have just seven players available the rest of the way because of those injuries. In fact, that's all they had in their regular season finale (just six played) in a game where the Dragons pulled off an upset down in Williamsburg on Saturday, taking care of William and Mary (who ended up being the top seed in the CAA Tournament), 80-66.

"I told the guys it was as good a win as I've ever had as a coach," Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint tells KYW Newsradio. "We've gone through a lot this year, but those guys really came ready to play. Guys did what we talked about doing before the game and everybody stepped up."

Listen: Bruiser Flint with KYW's Matt Leon

You would be hard-pressed to find a team in recent memory that has had to deal with what the Dragons have had to deal with, injury-wise, this season. But Flint says he has a group that has really fought through the adversity.

"I'm real proud of this group because we've been through a lot this year and a lot of things have happened," Flint says. "But everyday they come in, they give me all they can, they come out, they work hard. Its been a rough season in terms of our record. But I've got to give my kids credit, they've been unbelievable in terms of their attitude and how they've worked."

The Dragons won both regular season match-ups with Charleston. On January 24th they grabbed a 53-51 decision at the DAC and then triumphed in the rematch down in South Carolina on February 7th, 59-45.

"I think they are one of the better defensive teams in our league," Flint says. "They just have some problems scoring at times. So the biggest thing is going to be whether or not we can put some balls in the basket."

The winner of this game will face the #2 seed UNC-Wilmington in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Drexel and Charleston will tip-off at approximately 8:30pm on Friday night.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.