By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Ben McCollum finally got to take a vacation.

The new Drake men’s basketball coach was on Tuesday’s Zoom of Missouri Valley Conference coaches from the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where he was getting away for the first time after having to rebuild almost the entire Bulldogs’ roster.

“This is the first time I’ve been away in about 3 ½ months, so it’s been a good couple of days,” McCollum said.

After McCollum was hired to take over for Darian DeVries, who left to become the head coach at West Virginia, only forward Nate Ferguson and walk-on guard Andrew Alia remained from last season’s team that went 28-7, won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title, and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

But, after a summer of workouts and a chance to get to know his players, McCollum likes where the program is at heading into the fall.

“We had to get 10, essentially 12, new players in and then try to acclimate them to how we want things done,” McCollum said. “So we tried to make sure that we prioritize character, toughness, and effort to make sure that we created that connectivity early on, especially when just rebuilding a program.”

McCollum won four NCAA Division II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, so of course he was going to surround himself with the success of that program. Three of his assistants graduated from there, and four of the transfers he brought in during the spring played for him there.

It’s a pattern that Josh Schertz used when building his program at Indiana State, bringing players and staff with him from Division II Lincoln Memorial as he turned the Sycamores into a program that won the Valley regular-season title and advanced to the championship game of the NIT last season.

“I’m good friends with Josh, so obviously I picked his brain,” McCollum said. “I picked quite a few other people’s brains in regards to how to make that transition and some of the mistakes that they made and one of the things that Josh did say is that he didn’t bring enough from Lincoln Memorial. He said that a lot of the kids that he had gotten in the transfer portal weren’t as good as the kids that he had at Lincoln Memorial. And if they were as good, they didn’t understand the standard that he wanted.”

But McCollum said the four players he brought from Northwest Missouri State — guard Isaiah Jackson, guard Bennett Stirtz, guard Mitch Mascari and forward Daniel Abreu — have helped set up an early foundation.

“They’ve done a great job of helping establish that effort that we need to operate with,” McCollum said. “And they are plenty good enough. I mean, these are kids that are four-and-five-year kids, one’s a six-year kid. So I think that that definitely helps just with the transition between Division I and Division II.”

The rest of the Bulldogs’ roster is heavy with transfers. Forward Cam Manyawu and guard Kael Combs are from Wyoming, Eli Shetlar is from Indiana State, and guard/forward Tavion Banks transferred from Northwest Florida State College.

McCollum has been able to sell the Drake success — the Bulldogs have five consecutive 20-win seasons and have been to three of the last four NCAA tournaments.

“I think Des Moines helps, being a very, very nice city,” McCollum said. “It feels like a small town, even though you’ve got all of the amenities that you need.

“And then given the success — when you call somebody, they’re very aware of the program and the success that it’s had. So when you introduce yourself and you say, ‘Drake University,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of it,’ it’s like ‘OK, that’s good. That’s a good start.’ So that’s definitely helped.”

Photo: Ben McCollum is ready to lead Drake after winning four NCAA Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State. (Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire)