Walking off with glory

The message on the Drake website to prospective students describes the university as, “A multifaceted educational community of individuals pushing boundaries, raising standards, lifting spirits and gaining knowledge . . .”

In the spirit of March Madness, perhaps no other student embodies the philosophy more than Bulldogs senior Adam Emmenecker.

A former walk-on from Saginaw, Mich., the 6-foot-1 guard has led Drake to a berth in the NCAA tournament, its first since 1971.

After winning the Ohio Valley Conference’s regular-season and tournament titles, the Bulldogs (28-4) earned the No. 5 seeding in the West Regional and will play 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (27-6) in a first-round game in Tampa, Fla., on Friday.

Emmenecker’s improved play has been instrumental for the upstart Bulldogs.

While maintaining a 3.97 grade-point average, Emmenecker is averaging 8.5 points and 6.2 assists a game.

He started only two games before this season but ended up setting Drake’s single-season assist record with 199 and earned the league’s player-of-the-year award and tournament most-outstanding-player honors.

“I was speechless,” Emmenecker said in a telephone interview. “The way I play, I’m trying to set up other people.

“I’ve never been considered for that type of award in my entire life. It was kind of overwhelming. I’m not sure it’s completely sunk in yet.”

Like the Bulldogs, who were picked to finish ninth out of 10 conference teams before the season, Emmenecker was a longshot to even play Division I basketball.

Although he received scholarship offers from Division II schools, big-name college coaches didn’t pursue a player who averaged 4.7 points, 8.4 assists and 5.9 rebounds as a high school senior.

So, he decided to attend Boston College and try to make the baseball team as a walk-on, but his love of basketball ultimately brought him to Drake.

Emmenecker played a total of 24 minutes his freshman year, and though his numbers gradually improved, few could have predicted what he would accomplish this season.

In his first three seasons, he produced a modest 69 assists and 55 points while averaging 7.5 minutes a game.

He only shed his non-scholarship status before the start of this season.

“It really meant a lot to me,” Emmenecker said. “I was fortunate to come into a program like Drake, where players and coaching staff accepted me as part of the team early on.

“But as a player, you still feel that little bit of difference. You’re still referred to as a walk-on, so to be able to achieve that [scholarship] status, it was a great honor.”

And then there is his success in the classroom.

Emmenecker was named the Academic All-American of the Year for the University Division by the College Sports Information Directors of America, and he has already accepted a job in a leadership development program with a Fortune 500 company.

Emmenecker’s unlikely story parallels that of Drake, which has a first-year head coach in Keno Davis, two former walk-ons and four starters who have GPAs of 3.0 or better.