Let that sink in for a minute.
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What a terrible team. They don't have the talent obviously but the guys just run and around and chuck the ball across the court like they were playing a pickup game at the gym. God awful, they need a real coach to come in and get some talent in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin. Its hard to believe they can't get 3 above average players peaking at the same time in Chicago.Comment -
No one wants to go there. It feels too preppy for the ghetto boys, and it just doesn't cut it for, as Jalen Rose refers to them, the Uncle Tom's. I grew up within 40 minutes of the campus, and let me tell you I never really figured out where it was until I was like 17 cause my friends uncle lived a block off campus.
I'm not sure anyone has woken up in the past 15 years and said "I am going to DePaul, no one is stopping me, that's my dream"Comment -
Up until the early 90's, DePaul was a fixture on the national scene. There's no reason for this shit to happen. Purnell is awful.
NCAA Tournament Final Four 1943, 1979 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight 1943, 1978, 1979 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen 1953, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1986*, 1987* NCAA Tournament appearances 1943, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986*, 1987*, 1988*, 1989*, 1991, 1992, 2000, 2004 Comment -
What were you 17 in 2010??? Youre telling me guys find Marquette, Creighton, Wichita State, Indiana State (outside of Larry Legend), St Marys, or any other of these middle of nowhere schools desirable.
Basketball is so popular in little towns because you can build a system without getting the best players every year.Comment -
Oh ya, they were stellar back then. But Purnell has only been there for a few years, I have no idea if he is good or bad, time will tell. There is a whole image issue that the coach has to find a way around/fix at DePaul. The question is who was responsible for driving it into the ground in the first place?Comment -
Bobby SImmons leaving early ruined the program foreverComment -
Yes, that's true if you have a great coach. And I would argue that the best coaches do get some of the best players for their system. Even if Steven's was the coach at Kentucky, he would have a very different looking class then Calipari even though the same talent pool was available.
I think all those schools have prestige locally. DePaul is the last resort for most people in the Chicagoland area. As I said, it doesn't have a true demographic fit, besides those people who are looking for a very mediocre academic school in a large city.
All of those programs have twice the respect that DePaul does right now for college athletes. Depaul caters to two groups of people, the stragglers from upper/upper middle class backgrounds, and the future successes who grew up less fortunate. It's become a unique situation, and if you're not from the Chicago area I'm not sure its really possible to explain it.
Marquette gets incredible athletes and is a dream school for many, so I don't think it should be clumped in there. Saint Mary's is in warm weather, so that's a huge draw.
To sum it up, DePaul has no stand-out unique selling proposition. It lacks the it factor to attract top talent, which is what a school needs to survive in the big east. Butler's b2b national championship teams were excellent, but to think that they would have thrived in the Big East or ACC would be a bit of a stretch.
And if you disagree, name the last major conference coach to "create" a program without multiple NBA talents.Comment -
Bud I've lived in the midwest for quite some time and lived in Lakeview for a few years as well, I don't need a lecture on the area and whatnot.
Kids don't care about the academics of a school as much as they care about making it to the next level (why else would SEC and big 12 schools get anyone?).
The culture of DePaul athletics is dead, but thats mainly because they play so damn far away from the school. I remember driving past their stadium heading up from lakeview and being shocked that it was so far away. They need to either build that new venue or lease out of the United Center.
DePaul will do better in the new Big East, as it can schedule a lot more out of conference games and get some name recognition in different markets. They've been a bubble team 2 or 3 times since 2000 only to fall off for multiple years the next few, they can do it if they put some talent together.
Getting out of the Big East is a great move, theyre not going to beat those programs in there until they get 2 good classes through. They need a few more NBA names like Wilson Chandler through as well.
If you can build Creighton, Butler, Gonzaga (albeit all in terrible conferences) DePaul can make some room in the new Big East to carve out a spot in Illinois sporting world.Comment -
Well DePaul was a force in the Metro and C-USA.......but times have been tough in the Big East.
Not everyone can compete with the big boys.
There were times when I watched this team, when I thought to myself there not too bad. Specifically, the first 15 minutes at Syracuse, were they built a 10 point lead on Syracuse's senior day. THen the walls completely caved in, as they run and gun, dont have shooters, and cant stop anyone defensively.Comment
