DePaul’s quest for Big East success carries on with new coach, roster
DePaul men’s basketball has two histories.
There was a fabulously successful era, when the program was as high-profile as any in the nation. Then there's the current era in the Big East, which has been wildly unsuccessful.
The Blue Demons are about to start their 20th season in the Big East, with a home opener against Providence on Tuesday at Wintrust Arena.
So this is a day to dream, of the possibility new coach Chris Holtmann and a new roster can actually be competitive. A harsh reality might arrive soon. But maybe it won't.
Even with a 7-1 record so far this season, the outlook is harsh. DePaul is riding a 32-game conference losing streak in the regular season, though there was a win over Seton Hall in the first round of the 2023 Big East tournament.
There's been a single winning season in the Big East, and that was way back in 2006-07, the second year with Jerry Wainwright at the helm. Since then, respectability has been elusive. DePaul's high point was a 7-11 conference record under Dave Leitao, part two.
The Big East landscape was vastly different during the Wainwright era. That's when schools like Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Rutgers were still in the mix. The Catholic schools broke off in 2013-14 and that probably made the task even more difficult.
During his first stint as head coach, Leitao took the Blue Demons to their last NCA Tournament in 2004. They haven't been ranked since early in the 2000-01 campaign, which was after Quentin Richardson left but Bobby Simmons was still there.
There's so much great history in Lincoln Park, but it's getting to be a long time ago.
“It's been a challenging run since we've been in the Big East, there's no denying that,” Holtmann said Monday. “I think we all kind of have our thoughts on it. You really spend most of your time focusing on how we can be good in this version of DePaul basketball and how we can be competitive and be our best starting this season.”
Maybe it helps that Holtmann has Big East success on his resume. He went 34-20 in three seasons at Butler, before jumping to Ohio State, where he went to the NCAA Tournament four times in seven years.
Holtmann decided to start the Blue Demons off with seven winnable home games and they took care of business. The first tough test was last week at Texas Tech. DePaul fell behind 14-0 and 19-4 in that one, then recovered to trail by 1 at halftime.
Was that a sign the Blue Demons can compete, minus a few big-game jitters? Tough to tell. They didn't keep it close in the second half. Tech's lead was in double digits for the final 13 minutes.
When things are going well for DePaul, 3-point shots are falling. The top three scorers — Jacob Meyer, Isaiah Rivera and David Skogman — are all well above 40% from long range.
Against Texas Tech, the Demons didn't shoot well, going 11 of 35 from 3-point land, and just 3 of 6 at the foul line. They averaged 88 points in the seven wins, then scored 62 in Lubbock.
Again, every player on the roster is either a transfer or freshman. No one returned from last year's 3-29 squad. Mundelein native Conor Enright is playing heavy minutes in the Alex Caruso role, a charge-taking defensive pest.
Providence is just 6-4, but its best player Bryce Hopkins has appeared in only two games due to injury. He's back now.
“I love our guys' approach,” Holtmann said. “I love how unselfish they've been. I love how they've shared the ball and I love how they've been able to play in an offensive system that's really designed for them to create space and attack in space.”
From Holtmann's perspective, it's still just basketball and history is largely irrelevant. But this is a situation where a little success would go a long way.