DePaul...... meh.

[hairy worthen]

A head coach that has been there for 16 years. That continuity is the difference

Right, but I said I believe MU can eventually have Nova success not that it can have it now.

[MU82]

Well said 82.  Road trip to MKE sometime.  You'll enjoy yourself.

My son lives in Chicago and my little brother lives in Milwaukee, so I do get to the area occasionally. The schedule just didn't work out for me to do it during this basketball season. I'll hopefully get to at least one game in the new arena next year.

Mostly, though, I'd like to be sitting in the Charlotte arena watching us win two NCAA tourney games this March!

[muwarrior69]

I listened to the Big East Coast Pod this morning and they had a guy on from the DePaul student radio station. He said that it feels like DePaul just keeps hiring the same guy. Wainright, Purnell, even Leitao were all retreads that had some success elsewhere, but never really broke through. Also pointed out that all three of their last hires were guys in their 50s when they got there, so there's none of the young and hungry type fire.

He mentioned how he thought Tyger Campbell was a bit of a make-or-break recruit for Leitao, that if they can reaffirm that commitment, Leitao will get at least 2-3 years with Campbell to turn it around, but if not, they may make a move sooner rather than later. Not sure I believe that simply because it's DePaul, but he also pointed out how they missed on Bryce Drew and Bobby Hurley, both of whom are making big impacts at their new schools. Said he'd even be happy with an assistant type after watching Chris Collins (Jon Scheyer was mentioned as an Illinois native).

I have to say, I don't mind DePaul continuing to suck because in any league, someone has to lose and I'm glad it's not us, but it has to be really hard to cheer for that team. This will likely be their 11th straight season with 12+ conference losses, and the 14th straight without a NCAA bid. I have to imagine if that happened here, Scoop would be a ghost town by then.

Hey watch it, I'm not quite ready for Ghost Town Scoop!

[Floorslapper]

If anything this game actually made me more optimistic in a sense. Sam is emerging as truly the best player on the team.  I can see why Wojo said he's the smartest player he's ever coached. If Joey has similar basketball IQ....imagine them on the court together next year. Look out.

To see continued progression from our young guys is promising. If Markus was sick + Rowsey had an off shooting night and we still destroyed Depaul it's a good sign. Yeah it's Depaul, but games like this help guys like Harry, Theo, Jamal, Matt, Sacar and Greg build confidence. We rely on our scoring back court a lot. Thought Rowsey distributed well and he did match 5 turnovers with 5 steals at least.

Nice to get some fast break points (Sacar's steal and dunk, Jamal in transition, Sam pulling up for three, etc).  It's refreshing to watch us pass into the post. All three of our biggest guys have some go-to moves and a variety of skills. Harry is going to get more and more comfortable. Theo is no longer picking up fouls when screening while maintaining his aggressiveness around the hoop. I love watching this team.

Well said.  To be able to win convincingly when two of your three best players are way off their games is a positive.  Defense was MUCH better last night than Butler.  Less high hedging on pick and roll.  Protected the paint.  DePaul is better this year than they have been. 

Great contributions from everyone other than Rowsey and Howard.  Bodes well moving forward.

[THRILLHO]

Lenny:

We absolutely should aspire to at least Xavier-level success, and it is reasonable to believe that we could get to the level of Villanova and Gonzaga. We were pretty much there under Buzz, so it's obviously reasonable to think it could happen again.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out Xavier's trajectory under Chris Mack. Remember, they were very good under Sean Miller (15 and 20 in kpom his last 2 years). He left Mack a pretty good team, but nonetheless regressed as Mack made the team his own:

Year  Final KPom
2010     18
2011     38
2012     53
2013     78
2014     52
2015     21

Now it seems pretty consistent year to year, but things must have looked pretty dicey around 2013! I'm not trying to argue with anyone, just thought this was different than I remember and interesting. Wojo certainly had a much tougher task. Buzz had a similar situation as Mack and never missed the tournament during his transition, possibly due to his ability to pull in Jucos and stay "old." I'm happy with Wojo but let's acknowledge that Buzz is a hell of a coach.

[Lennys Tap]

Explain why Marquette cant have Villanova type success? What does Villanova have that MU doesn't?  I believe MU will eventually be what Nova is. (Gonzaga is not a fair comparison) That doesn't make me a whack job.

Like you, I'm one of the whack jobs.

[jesmu84]

Right, but I said I believe MU can eventually have Nova success not that it can have it now.

Sure. Requires long-term consistent coaching/recruiting. And success to go with that. Can happen Villanova way (one coach) or Butler (coaching tree)

[Ellenson Guerrero]

Yes, most people's expectations here are that our program be better than DePaul's. Some (horrors and zounds!!!) dare to have expectations similar to Xavier's. A few total whack jobs see no reason that we can't be what Gonzaga or Villanova is. And many think that being entertaining and making the tournament some of the time is swell. Different strokes. All legit, I guess.

It seems you missed how my point was about how ridiculous it is that DePaul's AD has been allowed to survive for 13 years without a tourney appearance. 

[THRILLHO]

It seems you missed how my point was about how ridiculous it is that DePaul's AD has been allowed to survive for 13 years without a tourney appearance.

I mean, I guess her boss doesn't care? Interesting that I see her name here a lot when people complain about their program but I have no idea who her boss is.

[JWags85]

It seems you missed how my point was about how ridiculous it is that DePaul's AD has been allowed to survive for 13 years without a tourney appearance.

But they have a great women's softball team!  Seriously.  I have a graduate degree from Depaul and they push the hell out of their non-revenue generating sports success.  If Depaul basketball was 5-25 with 500 fans a game, but they had great performance from Womens BB, Softball, and Soccer, JLP would view the year as a resounding success.  And I imagine she's gotten her bosses to agree as well.

[1318WWells]

Just out of curiosity, I checked out Xavier's trajectory under Chris Mack. Remember, they were very good under Sean Miller (15 and 20 in kpom his last 2 years). He left Mack a pretty good team, but nonetheless regressed as Mack made the team his own:



Year  Final KPom
2010     18
2011     38
2012     53
2013     78
2014     52
2015     21

Now it seems pretty consistent year to year, but things must have looked pretty dicey around 2013! I'm not trying to argue with anyone, just thought this was different than I remember and interesting. Wojo certainly had a much tougher task. Buzz had a similar situation as Mack and never missed the tournament during his transition, possibly due to his ability to pull in Jucos and stay "old." I'm happy with Wojo but let's acknowledge that Buzz is a hell of a coach.

They did step up from the A10 to the Big East in that time span. Needed to recalibrate the talent level to be more competitive in the new league.

[Galway Eagle]

But they have a great women's softball team!  Seriously.  I have a graduate degree from Depaul and they push the hell out of their non-revenue generating sports success.  If Depaul basketball was 5-25 with 500 fans a game, but they had great performance from Womens BB, Softball, and Soccer, JLP would view the year as a resounding success.  And I imagine she's gotten her bosses to agree as well.

That's really frustrating to hear. They have no business getting that new stadium and being in the BE for any reason other than us to say "even our worst team has legit b-ball history"

[Ellenson Guerrero]

But they have a great women's softball team!  Seriously.  I have a graduate degree from Depaul and they push the hell out of their non-revenue generating sports success.  If Depaul basketball was 5-25 with 500 fans a game, but they had great performance from Womens BB, Softball, and Soccer, JLP would view the year as a resounding success.  And I imagine she's gotten her bosses to agree as well.

She should have gone into sales I suppose. 

[Lennys Tap]

But they have a great women's softball team!  Seriously.  I have a graduate degree from Depaul and they push the hell out of their non-revenue generating sports success.  If Depaul basketball was 5-25 with 500 fans a game, but they had great performance from Womens BB, Softball, and Soccer, JLP would view the year as a resounding success.  And I imagine she's gotten her bosses to agree as well.

I can't believe her bosses are that stupid. Only thing I can figure out is she has pictures or other evidence of wrongdoing by someone at the top. Nothing else makes sense.

[Herman Cain]

I was actually at the DePaul vs. Providence game last Friday. My dad got free tickets from work and they were nice seats, so we went. The arena is actually really nice. 

Anyway, during the game with like a minute left, DePaul pulls within 3 and the arena is going crazy (it wasn't even half filled).Moments later Providence starts to pull away and Strus jacks up a terrible contested shot that barely hit the rim. That was it for DePaul and It just immediately deflated that entire arena. (Except for the large section of Providence fans). Their one moment of happiness was gone so quickly, with just a small moment to savor it.

The guy in front of me turns to his friend and says "we were THIS close.." and his friend replies back, "we've been THIS close for years... I'm sick of being close"  After I heard that it just made me sad. We complain about so many things but we have no idea what a terrible program really looks like.

That last DePaul play was where we saw the difference between coaches.  All game long Cooley was making the right tactical moves( in between cursing vampires). When it came time for the critical shot, Leitao did nothing to organize the team and of course the result was horrible. Leitao is not a bad coach per se ,and  I realize DePaul is hampered with a weak AD,  so a coaching change is not in the cards. However, with that impressive facility , and having an urban  school in a desirable place like Lincoln Park ,the program could be turned around quickly.

[IrwinFletcher]

And even Villanova has had rough stretches.  Wright wasn't all that great when he started in 01-02 and he had this KenPom stretch :

10 - #17
11 - #28
12 - #85
13 - #53

It is really hard to be top level every single year.

[dgies9156]

She should have gone into sales I suppose.

Selling Ford Pintos with exploding gas tanks.

You have to have something to sell and the abomination that is DePaul basketball is the Pinto of the Big East. And, sorry Jean, if you ever want to produce any revenue, you will have to make it in Men's Basketball. You didn't sign on to the Winny on the South Side for Women's Lacrosse.

I guess I want DePaul to be good. The rivalry between them and us in the 1980s was a lot of fun.

[#UnleashSean]

Explain why Marquette cant have Villanova type success? What does Villanova have that MU doesn't?  I believe MU will eventually be what Nova is. (Gonzaga is not a fair comparison) That doesn't make me a whack job.

welllllllll. GOT HEM?

[THRILLHO]

I can't believe her bosses are that stupid. Only thing I can figure out is she has pictures or other evidence of wrongdoing by someone at the top. Nothing else makes sense.

Maybe Depaul has decided as an institution that they don't place a high priority on men's basketball success anymore? They just have to do enough to not get kicked out of the Big East to keep the cash flowing. Investing additional resources to get better would be a risk because there's no guarantee it would work or be more profitable? Not saying this is true, just saying there are possible explanations that don't involve the AD being malevolent or stupid.

[Lennys Tap]

Maybe Depaul has decided as an institution that they don't place a high priority on men's basketball success anymore? They just have to do enough to not get kicked out of the Big East to keep the cash flowing. Investing additional resources to get better would be a risk because there's no guarantee it would work or be more profitable? Not saying this is true, just saying there are possible explanations that don't involve the AD being malevolent or stupid.

Maybe. But if they don't care about basketball success and just want to keep cashing checks why are they spending millions on a new arena?

[warriorchick]

Maybe. But if they don't care about basketball success and just want to keep cashing checks why are they spending millions on a new arena?

That deal was so bad for DePaul, I am convinced that Rahm Emanuel has dirt on someone....

[mu03eng]

Maybe. But if they don't care about basketball success and just want to keep cashing checks why are they spending millions on a new arena?

Because the Big East won't let them keep hammering checks and play in a $hithole

[LAZER]

That deal was so bad for DePaul, I am convinced that Rahm Emanuel has dirt on someone....

Care to elaborate?

[warriorchick]

Care to elaborate?

I don't know what the dirt is.  The crappy deal has been discussed in length on this board.

They paid for half of the $164 million construction cost and still have to pay rent to use it.  They turned down an offer to play in the United Center for free.

[MU82]

Because the Big East won't let them keep hammering checks and play in a $hithole

Shoulda just played in the opposite of a $hithole: Norway!