Chris Fouch is Really Good at Basketball

When Chris Fouch announced that he would be joining the Dragons on November 27, 2007 Senator Barack Obama was trailing in the polls, by 20+ points, to Hillary Clinton, milk was a nickle and Drexel fans were asking themselves how the team would fit in another guard, especially with the cupboard full of Rodgers, Hawthorne, [Rob] Hampton, Harris and Colds.

Looks like the fans got over it.

Sitting fifth on the all time scoring list at Drexel, Chris Fouch also has a 5-4 postseason (CAA Tourney + NIT) record, and is one win in Baltimore away from being the only Drexel player to achieve an above .500 postseason record under Coach Flint.  The cruel thing about college basketball is that almost everyone's season ends in a loss, and a team needs at least two wins in order to finish above .500 in a postseason, yet Chris' Dragon teams have rose to the occasion.  Chris has helped push Drexel through the postseason, averaging 16 points per game in postseason games despite Coach Flint bringing him off the bench in the majority of those contest.  And then, there is greatness.  Open this clip to the 2:30 minute mark and check out the degree of difficulty on the shots he made, in a tough place to shoot, in order to fight the Dragons back into one of the absolute dogfight games of the Flint era.

You may not know about the NCAA transfer rule allowing Grad Student players to transfer to another school without sitting out a year.  This rule meant that when the Dragons staff applied for Chris' sixth year redshirt, there was no promise that he would be playing in blue and gold this year, as he had the option of going to any school that would take him, and would likely have had interest from some high level conference schools.  Chris' decision to stay at Drexel, even after being forced to come off the bench in his first three years, speaks volumes about both the coaching staff's bond with the players, and Chris' own loyalty and belief that this years Drexel team could be dancing.  It's not too late to make that dream come true, and you can bet that Chris won't go down without a fight.

Actually, we can promise that he won't go down a fight:  Fun fact, Chris is shooting 36% from the field and averaging 7.7 points in the first half of games this year.  Those numbers rise to 43% and 9.3 points in the second half of games.  Chris won't go down as the best defensive player that Drexel has ever had, and he may not even be the best player of the Flint era, but he should be and is the guy who you want with the ball in late and close games.  With apologies to Robert Battle, he is the most clutch player of the Flint era, and he's got one more conference tournament to show that off.  Is that too much pressure for one guy?  His record certainly says it's not.

With six players leaving the Drexel program there's been discussion about who should start the Senior Night game.  To that I say start the guys who haven't been recognized on a previous senior night, Frantz Massenat, Stevan Manojlovic, Jake Lerner, Goran Pantovic, and Dartaye Ruffin. Recognize Chris Fouch during the time where he owned the floor.  Send out the best clutch player since Malik Rose on the floor alone at the under 4 timeout in the second half.  Let him be recognized at crunch time, because crunch time is his time.