The Setup
DePaul plays the Miami of Ohio Redhawks on Thursday, 12/21 at 8pm Central at the Wintrust Arena in front of a bunch of blue seats. It will be carried on FS1 and on the Score.
It will be the last non-conference game of the season, against the 291st team in the country. Not so great for the Strength of Schedule, but hey, this might be our last home win!
The Redhawks are out of the MAC, which is currently the 15th best conference in the land. Says here that Miami is the Worst team in the MAC. Sweet!
Gambling Corner
DePaul is favored by 11.5. Kenpom expects DePaul to win by 13, so they had better do that.
Fun Facts about Miami of Ohio
If you like fraternities and frat houses, then you will love Miami of Ohio, the birthplace of the US Greek system the “Mother of Fraternities”. Being a DePaul alumni, where fraternity and sorority houses did not exist, I consider Miami of Ohio a cultural enemy of the DePaul way. The Blue Demons need to defend the University’s honor of unaffordable housing and minimal Greek life. Then again, so many good movies about fraternity life.
What the hell happened to Ron Tammen, did he disappear or was it something more sinister?
Chicago connection: Ron Harper of the 1996-98 World Champion Bulls went to Miami of Ohio.
Was once the 4th largest college in the United States.
Ton of Chicago Alumni.
Fun Story
Miami’s last Sweet Sixteen run was in 1999 behind the great Wally Szczerbiak. At the time, I back barred and bar-tended at the dearly departed Parkway Tavern at Fullerton, Lincoln, and Halsted in Lincoln Park. A couple of regulars who were Miami of Ohio alumni asked if they could rent our party room. We were like, ‘you sure you can get 15-20 people here?’ On game day, we had to turn people away from the building, because it was rapidly becoming a fire hazard. The entire place was invaded. Blown away at the amount of Alumni who showed. Top 5 tip day for me. High ten to Wally!
The Current flavor of Redhawks
Overall
Bad.
Offense
Inefficient. Ranked 317 out of 351.
They slow the pace of the game down, with one of the slowest tempos in the country.
They are a turnover machine (advantage Demons, since DePaul causes TOs).
Defense
Slightly better than their offense, ranked 213 out of 351.
They play mostly man, contest 3pt shots, do not block shots, and are above average in steals.
Awesome at Defending Free Throws (hoodoo alert)
They do not give up many free throws, but when they do, they must put some sort of hoodoo on opposing Free Throw shooters. For whatever reason, the Redhawks’ opponents have shot the WORST FREE THROW percentage in the country at 60.8%. Maybe they put their hoodoo on DePaul one game early since, in case you haven’t heard or read, DePaul missed 15 damn Free Throws against NU. Let’s hope that the ghost of Ron Tammen haunted the wrong game.
I went through the 9 DI games that the Redhawks have played this year, and in all of them, except one (Indiana-Fort Wayne), their opponent shots free-throws at a worse percentage than their season free throw percentage. Serious hoodoo.
The 2nd Luckiest Team in Division I
This probably goes along with the crazy opponent free-throw issue, but Miami is the 2nd luckiest team in DI per kenpom.com. For those of you who care, and you might have expected this, DePaul is the 303rd most lucky.
Best Player
Darrian Ringo, 6-2 Junior Point Guard (#12 in your program). He is a pass first point guard, with the 2nd highest Assist Rate in DI, behind super-human, Trae Young of Oklahoma.
Ringo’s defense is like an octopus, having the 3rd highest steal percentage per possession in the country.
3pt Specialist
Jake Wright, 6-4 Junior, shoots 44% on 3pts.
Starters
DePaul’s Status
Coming off of the painful loss to NU, it looks like DePaul will match up well with Miami.
DePaul has crap 3pt. defense, Miami has crap 3pt. shooting. Push
DePaul’s defense causes turnovers, Miami likes to turnover the ball. Advantage DePaul
Miami is terrible at scoring in the paint, DePaul is great at stopping teams from scoring in the pain. Advantage DePaul
Miami is sloppy with the ball, while DePaul is average at taking it. Advantage DePaul
DePaul’s 3pt shooting is atrocious but improving (281st at 31.5%), Miami’s opponents shoot 34.3% Advantage Miami
Miami’s 2pt defense is awful. Advantage DePaul
Is Maric coming back? I say rest him until Villanova.
In conclusion, DePaul will end their non-conference schedule with another win against a sub-200 team.
