BDemon22 wrote:No Brandon Young, no chance.
Too bad. DePaul had actually beaten Arizona State in each of the past two seasons. Young plays, it's at least interesting.Lavinwood wrote:Sorry but DePaul is not a major conference team. They should be in the MAAC. The only reason they are here is to be the bad team that everyone beats up on.
OK, I'll bite.
Why should DePaul be in the MAAC? Because they're not good? Did the SEC ever consider kicking Vanderbilt out because their football team was awful?
The fact is that DePaul is the largest school in the conference, and they're located in the 2nd-largest media market in the conference. They were on the road to respectability when Dave Leitao left for Virginia, and they happened to follow his departure up with two abysmal coaching hires... at least one of whom SHOULD have worked out. They've also suffered an unbelievable amount of bad luck. Admittedly, some of it they had some control over, but if Ronnie Fields doesn't get in a car accident in the spring of 1997, or if Pat Kennedy doesn't tell Dwayne Wade that he's not good enough, or if Dorrell Wright doesn't shock just about everyone and declare for the draft after signing his LOI in 2004, or if Dave Leitao hadn't weaseled his way out of his contract to go to Virginia, or if they returned Mark Gottfried's (numerous) phone calls after Jerry Wainwright was fired, or if Shane Larkin doesn't head back to South Florida three weeks after stepping on campus, or they don't finish 2nd to Kentucky for Anthony Davis...
Any of those things happen, and DePaul could be in a very different place today. That's our story the past 15 years. Granted, there's been a lot of ineptitude, but there's been more than our share of bad breaks.
But you know what? Step on us while we're down. Because after Purnell gets fired at the end of this season, someone is going to look at that job with a possible $2 million salary, a decent TV deal, a new arena, and the best recruiting pool in the entire country and say to himself, "Yup, I can win there."
billyjack wrote:DePaul really is a sleeping giant, for reasons Demon22 and Gumby gave... recruiting grounds, market size, location in Chicago, student body size, fanbase, history... and it's tough to match Chicago's enthusiasm when one of their teams does well.
Thinking out loud... back in the 80s, Bill Walsh left the 49ers to coach at Stanford... I guess he had won so much that he wanted a new project... somewhere in the back of my nutty mind I would love to see Phil Jackson return to Chicago to take over DePaul...
TheHall wrote:What about Jerrance Howard? He was why Ill was beating DePaul on the trail the last few years and now he got CA to leave the state & go to Kansas. He owns the midwest.
One thing about Purnell though, next season he will have a really good squad that will have a good deal of high caliber local talent. Can't see how he doesn't get a chance with that team. If they do well next year then you have the new stadium, which will be a game changer for whoever is coaching Depaul then, right around the corner.
GumbyDamnit! wrote:TheHall wrote:What about Jerrance Howard? He was why Ill was beating DePaul on the trail the last few years and now he got CA to leave the state & go to Kansas. He owns the midwest.
One thing about Purnell though, next season he will have a really good squad that will have a good deal of high caliber local talent. Can't see how he doesn't get a chance with that team. If they do well next year then you have the new stadium, which will be a game changer for whoever is coaching Depaul then, right around the corner.
He's got 2 seniors that pro scouts have rated as the top 7 talent in the league (recall seeing an article Iink on here), and an above average Frosh PG. if he isn't winning this year I have little faith things will improve next even if he had a Top 20 class coming in. Melvin and Young can play but their talents are not being maximized in the least.
Demon22 wrote:Lavinwood wrote:Sorry but DePaul is not a major conference team. They should be in the MAAC. The only reason they are here is to be the bad team that everyone beats up on.
OK, I'll bite.
Why should DePaul be in the MAAC? Because they're not good? Did the SEC ever consider kicking Vanderbilt out because their football team was awful?
The fact is that DePaul is the largest school in the conference, and they're located in the 2nd-largest media market in the conference. They were on the road to respectability when Dave Leitao left for Virginia, and they happened to follow his departure up with two abysmal coaching hires... at least one of whom SHOULD have worked out. They've also suffered an unbelievable amount of bad luck. Admittedly, some of it they had some control over, but if Ronnie Fields doesn't get in a car accident in the spring of 1997, or if Pat Kennedy doesn't tell Dwayne Wade that he's not good enough, or if Dorrell Wright doesn't shock just about everyone and declare for the draft after signing his LOI in 2004, or if Dave Leitao hadn't weaseled his way out of his contract to go to Virginia, or if they returned Mark Gottfried's (numerous) phone calls after Jerry Wainwright was fired, or if Shane Larkin doesn't head back to South Florida three weeks after stepping on campus, or they don't finish 2nd to Kentucky for Anthony Davis...
Any of those things happen, and DePaul could be in a very different place today. That's our story the past 15 years. Granted, there's been a lot of ineptitude, but there's been more than our share of bad breaks.
But you know what? Step on us while we're down. Because after Purnell gets fired at the end of this season, someone is going to look at that job with a possible $2 million salary, a decent TV deal, a new arena, and the best recruiting pool in the entire country and say to himself, "Yup, I can win there."
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