Is Depaul that bad?

[GGGG]

I think the best option for them would be to go the young, high energy assistant, or mid-major HC route who will come in and completely remake the program. I think they thought they were hiring a fairly big name with track record of turnarounds, but it isn't happening.

So like an Isaac Chew type?

[Tommy Brice for Coach]

I'm pretty sure the North Dakota State loss at home in 06 was worse.

+1. Sometimes you lose on the road to an inferior opponent. You should never lose at home to a significantly worse team.

To be fair though, that ND State team beat Bucky the year before in Madison.

[4everwarriors]

Crappin' one's trousers vs Kansas followed by uncontrolled diarrhea against Western "F*ckin'" Michigan at home were unsurpassed boners orchestrated by the savior of IU basketball.

[Pakuni]

I'm pretty sure the North Dakota State loss at home in 06 was worse.

All things considered, the home loss to Western Michigan in the NIT was the worst. The DePaul and ND State games were aberrations ... essentially bad losses by pretty good teams. The Western Michigan loss, in which the team played embarrassingly bad and with zero enthusiasm or effort in front of a mostly empty BC, reflected the state of the program that entire miserable season.

[Coleman]

All things considered, the home loss to Western Michigan in the NIT was the worst. The DePaul and ND State games were aberrations ... essentially bad losses by pretty good teams. The Western Michigan loss, in which the team played embarrassingly bad and with zero enthusiasm or effort in front of a mostly empty BC, reflected the state of the program that entire miserable season after Diener went down.

Fixed.

People forget we were 9-0 and then 13-1 to start the year, including a win over #22 Bucky. I believe we cracked the top 25 for a week or two.

Full strength, we weren't that bad. But we had no answer for when Diener went down. Rob Hanley was essentially our backup point guard. The team just had no depth, and we got unlucky. My 2 cents.

[MDMU04]

All things considered, the home loss to Western Michigan in the NIT was the worst. The DePaul and ND State games were aberrations ... essentially bad losses by pretty good teams. The Western Michigan loss, in which the team played embarrassingly bad and with zero enthusiasm or effort in front of a mostly empty BC, reflected the state of the program that entire miserable season.

I think I cleansed that game from my memory. Am I right in recalling Marcus Jackson bringing the ball up the court on several occasions because Diener broke his wrist in practice and no one else could handle a full court press?

[dgies9156]

From today's Chicago Tribune...

Purnell is not yet "on the clock," according to Ponsetto, despite having his team finish last in the Big East in each of his first two seasons.

Perhaps Jean Lenti-Ponsetto ought to be "on the clock!"

DePaul is a skelton of its former self and there are no prospects for improvement. In Chicago, they're out-recruited by The BIG, Marquette, Notre Dame and most of the ACC. Probably out-recruited by some of the Horizon League and the Valley.

They have no real home and their following is slipping from once being "the" athletic event of the winter in Chicago to being a place that the opposition controls the arena.

As the White Sox song goes, "nanananananana, hey, hey, hey....... goodbye!"

[Pakuni]

Fixed.

People forget we were 9-0 and then 13-1 to start the year, including a win over #22 Bucky. I believe we cracked the top 25 for a week or two.

Full strength, we weren't that bad. But we had no answer for when Diener went down. Rob Hanley was essentially our backup point guard. The team just had no depth, and we got unlucky. My 2 cents.

Even with Diener, that team was mediocre down the stretch. In the last 10 games in which he did play, MU went 5-5, with losses to Charlotte, DePaul and TCU. And two of those wins were by two points over ECU and South Florida.
MU was 13-1 to start in large part thanks to an awfully friendly OOC schedule.

[mu03eng]

MU was 13-1 to start in large part thanks to an awfully friendly OOC schedule.

Crean's specialty

[mu03eng]

Perhaps Jean Lenti-Ponsetto ought to be "on the clock!"

DePaul is a skelton of its former self and there are no prospects for improvement. In Chicago, they're out-recruited by The BIG, Marquette, Notre Dame and most of the ACC. Probably out-recruited by some of the Horizon League and the Valley.

They have no real home and their following is slipping from once being "the" athletic event of the winter in Chicago to being a place that the opposition controls the arena.

As the White Sox song goes, "nanananananana, hey, hey, hey....... goodbye!"

The coaching and recruit is a must for a successful program, but you gotta give the coach the tools.  They play in a dump of an arena, actually it was a dump 10 years ago, it's a cesspool now.  They play a million miles from campus in one of the top 3 traffic heavy cities in the country.  The fan base is mediocre at best because there is no active campaigns to make it better.  The athletic department has to be at least 50% of the problem at DePaul.

[Coleman]

Even with Diener, that team was mediocre down the stretch. In the last 10 games in which he did play, MU went 5-5, with losses to Charlotte, DePaul and TCU. And two of those wins were by two points over ECU and South Florida.
MU was 13-1 to start in large part thanks to an awfully friendly OOC schedule.

Fair enough. But I still think we had a realistic shot to make the tourney with a full-strength (i.e. Diener) roster that year. Diener literally carried that team, Novak hadn't broken out yet.

[Golden Avalanche]

+1. Sometimes you lose on the road to an inferior opponent. You should never lose at home to a significantly worse team.

To be fair though, that ND State team beat Bucky the year before in Madison.

That North Dakota State team was pretty good. Ineligible since they were independent I believe but they had some good players and you can see that Tim Miles is a good coach. It was also a vastly inexperienced MU team that year still learning how to play consistently.

As for Western Michigan, that year's version of MU basketball just sucked donkey once Diener got injured. They weren't going to show up in the game regardless of opponent or Tournament.

[chr31ter]

Yeah, we're that bad.

IMO, the big problem right now is that the school makes noise about wanting to be "Chicago's Team", but they don't recruit Chicago kids.  Sure, they'll go after Parker, Tate, Blackshear, Davis, Rose, etc.  But local coaches don't want to only hear from the school when they've got a top recruit.  They want to hear from DePaul when they've got marginal D1 players, too.

In other words, DePaul's going to have to start recruiting Chicago kids away from SMU and Minnesota and Dayton before they can start taking kids away from Duke and Ohio State and Marquette.

Because right now... other than Billy Garrett, Jr. they winning recruiting battles for Texas kids over schools like Mississippi State and a kid from Guadeloupe who was going to go to Washington State.  Not.  Good.  Enough.

[Avenue Commons]

I think the best option for them would be to go the young, high energy assistant, or mid-major HC route who will come in and completely remake the program. I think they thought they were hiring a fairly big name with track record of turnarounds, but it isn't happening.

Chris Collins has always made a lot of sense to me. 

[RJax55]

Chris Collins has always made a lot of sense to me. 

I don't see Collins leaving Duke. He could have left there anytime in the past 10 years for a good head coaching job, yet he continues to stay. I think there's a good chance Collins gets the job when Coach K retires, which maybe in a few years.