On Feb. 20, when the final buzzer sounded and Drexel men’s basketball had finished a 78-74 win over Delaware, one of the Coastal Athletic Association’s preeminent rivalries came to a conclusion. With Delaware leaving the CAA for Conference USA at the start of the fall sports season, Drexel had beaten the Blue Hens for the last time as a conference opponent. As a Drexel sports fan, I was ecstatic to see our Dragons win. However, a piece of me will miss our hated rivals.
The Drexel-Delaware rivalry has been a staple of Drexel’s athletic scene for quite some time, with the first matchup between the two teams occurring in 1912. There have been 171 total matchups between the two teams. Drexel is 86-85 in those games. Going into our final ever CAA game against the Blue Hens, the record was 85-85. Our final win gave us a winning record against our rival. Awesome.
The rivalry has been at the center of most Homecoming basketball games, bringing out the most vitriolic side of the DAC Pack year in and year out. The Drexel-Delaware rivalry is also immortalized in the NCAA history books as in 2018 Drexel completed the largest comeback victory recorded in Division I basketball history, overcoming a 32-point deficit over the Blue Hens in the DAC.
When I was a new Drexel student in 2021, I immediately wanted to know who Drexel’s biggest rival was. The truth was, very few conference opponents of ours had much excitement around them. The CAA is a very transient conference and many of our old foes who we have history with have left the conference in recent years.
Games against Northeastern had potential for a rivalry as they are a regional rival and other co-op school, but truth be told, they suck at basketball so it is hard to care about those games.
In many ways, Delaware was the perfect foil. They are a regional rival. They are consistently just about as good as us at most sports. We have beaten them in big games, they have beaten us in big games. They have a stupid mascot. They were easy to make fun of. We hated them, and they hated us. It was awesome.
Some of my best memories come from Drexel-Delaware games. One of the most memorable Drexel basketball games I have ever been to was the 2022 Women’s CAA Championship game. In an absolutely packed DAC, Drexel and Delaware faced off in a game that would send the winner to March Madness. Those two rosters were loaded with professional basketball players, headlined by Delaware’s Jasmine Dickey and Drexel’s Keishana Washington. It was an instant classic. The only issue was that Drexel lost 63-59 in an absolute heartbreaker.
That moment solidified my hatred for the Blue Hens, and the next year at Homecoming, the entire DAC was ready to hate the Blue Hens off the court. In the first of what would go on to be six straight wins for Drexel in the rivalry, we won 77-74 in overtime. It was a classic game and it kicked off a great run of Drexel basketball in the Amari Williams era.
I am sure the Dragons and the Blue Hens will meet up again in the future, but until we meet again, Delaware Blue Hens, I will miss getting to hate you.