Now in his second season as the head coach of the Drew’s men’s basketball team, Michael McSloy expected some growth after a middling 13-12 campaign to start his tenure with the Rangers.

But considering what Drew is doing right now, having surged to a record-smashing start to the 2023-2024 season, McSloy’s plans for long-term success, as he told FloHoops earlier this week, definitely are “ahead of schedule.”

More alumni are reaching out. More eyeballs are keeping tabs on Drew. And that’s all due to the fact that the Rangers keep winning.

Drew has ripped out to a 10-0 start this season and a 4-0 mark in Landmark Conference play, with its winning streak not only being the school’s best start in men’s basketball, it’s also its longest stretch of consecutive victories at any point during the program’s 95-year history.

If the Rangers defeat Lebanon Valley College (2-8) on Saturday at home (a game that will be streamed live and exclusively on FloHoops) in their nonconference finale, they’ll officially be unbeaten heading into 2024 and the rest of Landmark play, where Drew will continue to seek its third regular-season conference title in six seasons – and first under McSloy.

That’s not bad for a squad projected to finish sixth in its league in the preseason.

“Given the start that we’ve had, I’ve heard from alums I haven’t heard from before who are showing their support and excitement and coming to games,” McSloy said. “(They’re) sending emails – some of them sending emails after almost every game – and just seem to have really taken an interest in the players and what they’ve been able to do on the court.”

Drew definitely wasn’t a slouch before McSloy arrived. The school’s all-time winningest coach, Darryl Keckler, led the Rangers for 14 years and won two Landmark Conference Coach of the Year Awards, before stepping down to take the same job at league opponent Moravian following the 2021-2022 season.

McSloy, a New York native who was hired away from St. Joseph’s University Long Island, another Division III school, got to work right away as the Rangers’ leader. 

He was important in installing a high-octane system full of pressure defense and firing away from 3-point range, one that features plenty of in-and-out substitutions and flinging fresh legs at opponents throughout games.

All that running also meant there would be a lot of conditioning drills in practices, too.

“We know that in order to play that way, we have to be in really good shape,” senior guard Andrew Turco said. “So, we practice in an intense way. With playing 10 guys, we’re able to compete every day and just make sure we stay in shape.”

McSloy Named Division III Coach of the Week by https://t.co/5AEllHFXSo https://t.co/2Pfi14e44n

— Drew Rangers (@GoDrewRangers) December 11, 2023

Though McSloy’s first Drew team a season ago had its ups and downs, it definitely wasn’t short on entertainment. The Rangers finished second in the Landmark in scoring (75 points per game) and 3-pointers made (10) per game, while its 238 total steals were the most by a Drew men’s hoops squad in over three decades.

That already-potent system has taken a giant leap to start the 2023-2024 season, however, and Drew isn’t just wearing the crown as the most lethal scoring machine in the Landmark, it’s also laying claim to being one of the best offenses in all of Division III.

As of Thursday night, the Rangers rank sixth nationally in scoring at a staggering 91.8 points per game, being part of a top-10 list that includes the well-known, record-setting systems of Greenville (Illinois) and Grinnell (Iowa). 

And, in a 112-79 rout of John Jay (New York) on Nov. 17, Drew broke the school and Landmark record for 3-pointers with 23, as 10 players connected on deep shots, showing in an eye-popping way just how much depth the Rangers bring on a nightly basis.

Having so many players who can do damage is another reason why Drew has been so good to start the year.

Turco leads the team at 15.2 points per game, but he’s one of six names on the roster who have played in all 10 games and are averaging double-figure scoring numbers. 

Oh, and turnover creation on defense has been elite, too, as the Rangers have averaged the sixth-most swipes in Division III (as of Thursday night) at 12.8 per night.

“It starts with the coaches,” said James Anderson, a senior guard who averages 11.1 points per game off of the bench. “They did a great job of recruiting guys that fit our style of play that we wanted this year. They’re also great guys off of the court, and we all get along really well. … That’s why we’re always pulling for each other on the court.”

In Drew’s official year-by-year records dating back to the 1970-1971 campaign, the men’s basketball team has only hit the 20-win mark twice. This year’s team made it halfway to that mark before Christmas.

National buzz surrounding the Rangers has been tempered thus far, with D3hoops.com’s latest national top-25 poll (released following games through Dec. 10) not even showing Drew receiving votes in the rankings, despite an unblemished record. 

But if the Rangers keep taking down foes with an exciting style and building a resume that is to be feared come postseason time, they’re bound, sooner rather than later, to eventually be too loud to ignore.

“I thought last year we were good enough to compete with anybody in our conference, and I think we feel the same way this year,” McSloy said. “I think it’s nice (that we are) more so proving to ourselves that what the guys are doing day in and day out on the court … it’s paying dividends. I think that’s more important for us, for them to realize the work they’re putting in and how unselfish they are and how team-first they are can go a long way.”