Mark Bennett: Sycamores' game site has eyes of Missouri Valley, America on it
Jan. 9—On Wednesday night, inside Knapp Center on the Drake University campus, thousands of college basketball fans will cheer on their teams — the host DU Bulldogs or the visiting Indiana State Sycamores.
One hour after tipoff, the latest nationally televised Republican presidential candidates debate will commence in another Drake campus building, Sheslow Auditorium, about a football field's distance away.
Many folks avidly root for the same basketball team, yet stridently support opposing presidential candidates.
Wednesday night's simultaneous events on that private university's campus in Des Moines, Iowa, exemplify that contrast.
Ain't that America, as John Mellencamp once sang.
The Indiana State and Drake men's basketball teams play at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday in Knapp Center. The game pits ISU, which has sterling records of 13-2 overall and 4-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, against defending MVC champion Drake.
The first-place Sycamores received five votes in this week's USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Bulldogs (12-3, 3-1) are in second place in the conference.
And at 9 p.m. Wednesday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begin their Republican presidential debate in Sheslow Auditorium. Their duel comes five days before the nation's first presidential contest, Monday's Iowa Caucuses, which former President Donald Trump is expected to win handily. Trump is skipping Wednesday's debate, as he's done all the others, and instead arranged a Fox News "town hall" at the same time as the debate.
CNN will carry the Haley-DeSantis debate, with its anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash as moderators. The MVC TV Network will air the basketball game on ESPN+.
The overlap of Wednesday's events hadn't been on ISU Coach Josh Schertz's radar.
"That's interesting," Schertz said Monday after his team practiced in a AAU fieldhouse at nearby Ames, Iowa. "There's probably not much in life that's more divisive than politics. And there's not much in life that's more unifying that sports. I think it'll be a nice comparative or cross-section of American life. You've got a presidential debate which is of the utmost importance, and you've got a basketball game. That's unique.
"Hopefully, people will come over after the debate's over and check out the game — well, if they cheer for us," Schertz quipped before boarding a bus bound for Des Moines.
His Sycamores are on a two-game road trip through the Hawkeye State. They beat Northern Iowa on Sunday in Cedar Falls to claim sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley.
Reminders of the impending Iowa Caucuses come at residents like a full-court press in basketball.
Stories about Wednesday's debate and a 10-year-old Republican activist dot the front pages of the Des Moines Register and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, respectively. A plain campaign sign that reads "Vivek Truth" for conservative firebrand Vivek Ramaswamy stands starkly in a vast cattle pasture. Attack ads run every few minutes on seemingly every TV channel.
But it's basketball season, too.
Drake's campus staffs are fully prepared to accommodate both, and enthusiastic about it.
"It's an exciting time to be at Drake University," Athletic Director Brian Hardin said Monday. "It's certainly felt like the eyes of the [Missouri] Valley would be on the Knapp Center this Wednesday, and now the eyes of the nation will be on our campus as well."
Drake knows the drill. The university has a long history in basketball and presidential politics. It joined the newly formed Missouri Valley Conference in the 1907-08 season as a charter member, just before William Howard Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan in the race for U.S. president.
Drake has also hosted three Democratic debates and now three Republican debates in the five most recent presidential campaign cycles.
"Drake has long been known to be a basketball school, and from an academic standpoint, Drake is a place for politics," explained Hardin, a Des Moines native. "We've got a very strong political science program. We've got a long history with American politics because of the strength of the Iowa caucuses. That goes back generations. And Drake has been a key cog in helping us determine who that next president or at least who that presidential candidate is going to be.
"So the coincidence we find ourselves in is that this most recent debate is going to happen on the same night that the highest ranked opponent comes into the Knapp Center in many years," he added, referring to ISU.
The coinciding events won't overburden Drake's staff, Hardin said.
"It is really two separate processes," Hardin said.
"We've got a really good group of people around who have done this before," he added.
Timing helps, too. Drake's students don't return for in-person spring classes until Jan. 29, so fewer than 20 percent of them are on campus now. That frees up various buildings for debate uses, such as the "spin room," where news reporters can talk with candidates and their campaign workers.
Debate activities will unfold on the north side of the campus, and basketball players, coaches, fans and athletic staffers will assemble on the south side.
"Our athletic staff will manage and run everything with the basketball game that it normally would," Hardin said. "Then our campus partners will take on everything with the debate."
It's almost as if hoops fans won't even notice the political buzz nearby. Well, maybe.
"Our fans will be able to park in their normal parking lots. They shouldn't see too much of an issue with anything about their gameday experience than what they otherwise would have experienced this Wednesday," Hardin said. "The debate, everything will happen south of the arena. You'll actually be able to see where the debate hall is from the Knapp Center. But the CNN compound and where all the media will be positioned [and] the spin room will be in a different part of campus, just south and west of the Knapp Center. But there shouldn't be any bleed over."
Curious basketball fans may not have to peer out the arena's windows to get a glimpse of the political swirl.
"It is interesting to have this political stage on our campus, not too far from where the game will be going on," Hardin said. "There's a chance, I've heard, that one of the candidates might want to pop in at the basketball game on Wednesday, and we're prepared in case that were to happen.
"Hopefully, those who want to attend and watch the debate are going to get to do that and have a good experience that way," he continued. "And we know the thousands who are coming to the basketball game will be able to enjoy that experience the way that they want as well."
The debate crowd will be around 150 people, Hardin said. One-hundred 95 seats were removed from Sheslow Auditorium to accommodate CNN's custom stage and television equipment, the Des Moines Register reported Monday.
"So they've really kind of kept the numbers small," Hardin said. "We'll have many more at our basketball game."
Knapp Center can hold up to 7,152 fans. Crowds have been large in recent seasons, as Coach Darian DeVries' Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Tournament twice in the past three years, and won the MVC Tournament last March.
"They're the defending champs, and we want what they have," Schertz said of his team's Wednesday night opponent.
Such competition in the spirit of college sports feels like an oasis to many folks in January 2024.
"It's the beauty of our basketball games that we try to provide a distraction from things that really matter in the world and in people's lives, that people can kind of come and enjoy a sporting event," Hardin said. "Hopefully, it kind of keeps things in perspective there."
He understands college sports rivalries, and the Iowa Caucuses. Hardin grew up in Des Moines, the son of two Drake graduates. He's also in his sixth season as Drake AD.
"So, I'm well aware of what it's like here on caucus night," he said. "It'll be busy.
"I've seen it back to the '80s, when there were a lot of things going on around the caucuses, and Drake's place in that," Hardin added. "It's an exciting time, while I must admit with the caucuses being Jan. 15, I am looking forward to Jan. 16 when some of the political ads will die down on our airwaves."
Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
