Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Lazy Blue Demon of DePaul. I am what is known as a Double-Demon for the insanity of going back to get a 2nd degree from the same place.
My first day on campus as a student was in September of 1993. My first memory of the DePaul Blue Demons came via WGN, which I was able to watch in my hometown in Southwestern Missouri.
One of the first things I did, once I stepped foot on campus, was walk over to the DePaul Athletic Department and bought season tickets for the 1993-94 season. My exuberance paid off in that I had front row seats in the student section. I did not miss a game, other than the games played between Thanksgiving and the New Year, due to me going home for Winter Break.
Your search committee has allowed for DePaul Blue Demons fans to reach out to you to let us know about our dream candidate. Lucky for you, I have a few opinions on the matter.
Finally, after 18 years in control of the fate of DePaul Athletics, Jean Lenti Ponsetto is retiring. It’s happening.
I can remember meeting Jeanie up in Milwaukee at an Alumni gathering before a DePaul-Marquette game just after being named the new Athletic Director. I was excited for her, and I was excited that the University was progressive in its thinking. There are times when promoting from within can be the right choice. If the ship is afloat, why rock it?
This method was an excellent approach when it came to the DePaul’s Women’s Basketball program. Doug Bruno was running a well oiled machine, and the machine has kept humming, making 18 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
This approach worked well for the Women’s Softball Program as coach Eugene Lenti lead the women to four College World Series appearances over a nine year period.
This approach was working at the Men’s Basketball Program as JLP inherited Dave Leitao in 2002. Leitao brought youth, energy, and experience of being the top assistant on one of the biggest programs in college basketball in the University of Connecticut Huskies. The energy was felt on the recruiting trail. The players he inherited immediately improved. Taking a team that was 9-19 under Pat Kennedy to 16-13 in his first year. In his second year, 2003-04 Leitao lead the Blue Demons to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000, and only the 2nd appearance since 1992. The program looked to be on the rise.
DePaul travels to Providence on Saturday, March 7th at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. When these two teams met in the 2nd game of Big East Conference play, the game pushed the teams in opposite directions. The Friars had accumulated some funky results which put them near the bottom of Big East teams entering conference play. After convincingly defeating Texas and Georgetown, the Friars won the rock fight against DePaul on a last second free-throw.
Since that time, Providence has proven to be a resilient team defeating all the Big East teams at least once. The Friars are on a five game winning streak. It is incredible.
The DePaul Blue Demons, one of the worst Division One teams at shooting free-throws, shot 88.6% from the line to defeat Marquette. The Demons rode the hot free-throw shooting of 50% shooter Jaylen Butz and 57% shooter Darious Hall. Hall and Butz went a combined 15-17 or 88.2%. It was also incredible.
The DePaul Blue Demons host rival Marquette. The Golden Eagles currently sit in 5th place in the Big East with a 9-9 record. As we all know, DePaul is in the cellar with a 2-14 record in conference play. This game will be a contest of contrasts. Marquette has an excellent offense that lives by the 3 and dies by the 3, while the Blue Demons have a horrific offense that lives by the 2 and dies by the 3, because the team takes too few and shoots them poorly.
DePaul takes on Marquette Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7PM Central at Wintrust Arena in the South Loop. The game will be on FS1 Channel 237 on Comcast in Chicago and on Radio 670AM.
Tale of the Tape
Marquette has 6 great advantages, while DePaul has 5. Of course, Marquette is the 11th most lethal 3 point shooting team in the country shooting 38.2% as a team. That is just crazy.
Winner of the Tape: Marquette
Who Can Hurt the Demons?
Markus Howard
Howard is the highest usage guy in the country. 37.8% of all possessions end in his hands. 41.0% of all shots come from Howard, which is the highest percentage in the country. He is currently rated as #3 in the kenpom.com player of the year metric. He is pretty much a nightmare, so it would be interesting if he did not play. Who would pick up the shots?
Howard is also a clean point guard not turning the ball over at a high rate.
Sacar Anim
Anim is another deadly 3 point shooter shooting 39% behind the arc. Strangely, he only shoots 64% from the free-throw line.
Theo John
You do not have to worry about John’s offense, but he blocks 10% of all shots in a typical game. The Golden Eagles funnel drivers to him and he finishes them off.
Other Dangerous Shooters
Brendan Bailey shoots 39% from 3, while Jamal Cain and Greg Elliott shoot 40% and 39.5% from 3. All 3 of these guys typically have wide open attempts, which contributes to their deadliness.
What is Going to Happen on Tuesday?
It is Senior night. It is the last regular season game for DePaul at home. It will most likely be the last time we see Paul Reed at Wintrust in uniform (if he plays). That is why it is hard to say how the game will go. If Reed plays, DePaul has an excellent chance to win. If Reed’s hip-pointer keeps him out. Forgetaboutit.
DePaul and Butler met up in Hinkle Fieldhouse for the first time as Big East opponents. For the first 30 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs had the game in hand, building a 12 point lead with 10 to go. At that point, the Blue Demons mounted a furious attack lead by Cleveland Melvin, Brandon Young, and Freshman, Billy Garrett Jr. When regulation was over, the Demons found themselves tied with Butler. After 28 points combined were scored in Overtime, DePaul and the Bulldogs remained tied. Finally, after 2 Overtimes, the Blue Demons won an epic game 99-94.
Cleveland Melvin Eyes a Rebound in Last DePaul Victory against Butler. Melvin had 30 points in the Double Overtime victory.
DePaul is coming off being swept by Xavier in a game that was there for the taking. After being down by double digits for most of the first half, the Blue Demons went on a 10-0 run between the end of the 1st half and the beginning of the 2nd half, cutting the lead to 3. With multiple changes to get to less than 3 or keep it within 5, DePaul’s offense stalled at 52-48, and did not score for over 5 minutes (9 possessions), allowing Xavier to get up by 14. From that juncture on, the game was out of reach.
The Setup
DePaul takes on Butler Saturday, February 29th at 5:30 Central at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The game will be on FS1, Channel 237 on Comcast, and on Radio 670AM.
Coming off a long awaited win against Georgetown, DePaul travels to Cincinnati to seek revenge against the Xavier Musketeers. On February 4th, the Musketeers lost their minds and made eight first half 3 pointers, including 7 of their first 10 shots, roaring to a 19 point lead. Funny enough, the X-Men then went 1-15 from 3 the rest of the game. The Blue Demons put up a pathetic 16 points in the first half for their worst offensive showing of the year. The Demons went the final 8:22 of the first half without scoring a single, damn point.
A late rally, and I mean really, really late, made the final score a respectable 8 point loss. DePaul scored 23 points in the last 4:15 seconds of the 2nd half, totaling seven more than they scored in the entire first half.
The DePaul Blue Demons are back at the Wintrust to take on long time opponent, Georgetown. This is the 40th time that these clubs have played since 1950. The two squads have split in each of the past 3 seasons. In the last meeting, DePaul Lost to a short-handed Hoyas team that clinched victory when walk-on George Muresan hit two clutch free-throws to put the game out of reach. It was a familiar defeat in that the Blue Demons found a way to lose. Since that game, DePaul has been blown out of the gym by Creighton and Villanova.
Georgetown enters the game with a 5-8 record in conference. The depleted bunch upset Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse after the DePaul game and let a half-time lead slip away against Providence at home.
Also Looking to Snap 7 Game Losing Streak In Conference
Coming off of an abomination of a game at Creighton that embarrassed all alumni, made St. Vincent DePaul roll over in his grave and question all of the good he did in the world, and showed the ineptitude of the coaching staff, along with the lack of pride shown by the players, DePaul hosts Villanova.
This writer called the 1st meeting, the Pennsylvania Screw Job: DePaul Loses in Overtime at Villanova. In that game, DePaul came back from eleven down with 2:10 to go to tie the game and force overtime. In overtime, the referees gifted 8 free-throws to Villanova, the first 4 were on ‘fouls’ that should have been called on Colin Gillespie. The game was marred by a huge free-throw discrepancy, which has been the norm in Big East play for DePaul. In the end, DePaul lost by 4, because they had to foul at the very end and hope for a miss.
Where are we today? Unfortunately, the Blue Demons have been going streaking, not to the quad, not anywhere fun, but to the bottom of the Big East standings. This is the longest losing streak for DePaul since 2017, which really isn’t that long ago.
DePaul tries to end an eleven game losing streak to the Creighton Bluejays. When the Blue Demons last played the Bluejays, the team and fan base were coming off of the great Butler win. All were hoping that it would be the start of something new. But no, Creighton snuffed out all hope of a quick turnaround by shooting 40% from 3pt land, while DePaul shot 18%. In the end, it was the most lopsided defeat of the season.
In what has been a recurring theme of Big East Conference play, the DePaul Blue Demons lost a game in which they held a 2nd half lead. In seven of DePaul’s eleven Big East games, the Blue Demons have either held a lead or been tied at the half. For the sixth time, DePaul lost the lead and lost the game.
Before we get into this game, a little background on the Hoyas. During this season, two scholarship players have transferred and another scholarship player has not dressed for several games in a row. To say the Hoyas are short-handed is an understatement. Going into this game, Georgetown had seven scholarship players on the active roster.
This loss was inexplicable, in that Georgetown started the game without their go-to playmaker, Mac McClung. That left six scholarship players dressing for the game. During the second half of the game, their best all around player, Omer Yurtseven, was injured with an ankle injury. That left five scholarship players. With 1:49 left, another starter, Jamorko Pickett, fouled out. That left four scholarship players in the game with the Hoyas up 4. This meant that the Georgetown had to end the game playing a walk-on.
