The Holy Land of Hoops

After a big day of big east madness, finish this off with a DePaul game. Put my depaul blue shirt on and get ready to root for Tommy Hamilton et al. I know UALR has a good record, but this is a cupcake game, DePaul favored, playing at home, and should cap off a great day. Thanking fox sports for bringing these low level games into my living room so I can support the team.

DePaul is more talented at every position. Game is at their on campus arena. Should be an easy win.

So wtf is happening? DePaul is dribbling off their feet, turning the ball over left and right, struggling to out rebound a much smaller team. LOSING BY OVER 20 pts!!!!

Can't blame the kids for this one, like some apologists like to do. At some point are we allowed to recognize that our chicago franchise really screwed up this past spring/summer? Or will we all be accused of hating DePaul?

Good players.

He doesn't have enough (any???) of them to judge.

Don't blame the kids. They are good enough to beat UALR.

This is on the coach.

Tonight was an awful night for them. But give Little Rock some credit, they forced 20 turnovers and converted them into 27 points. They do have one of the nations best defenses. Also, Nova, I've said this before and I'll say it again, firing DL so quickly after 1 year or 2 would be the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on the program. It would destroy the stability and other hot name coaches on the rise (that would be presumed candidates) would be immediately turned off and nobody would want to coach at DePaul because they would see that if they struggle early (which in most cases it's just about inevitable when you have a new coach) their job would be in danger real quick. Nobody wants that kind of job security.

Now I know this is a BigEast board and not an SEC board but I still just want to ask this, Ben Howlands Mississippi State squad has lost to Southern U and just lost to UMKC. Should they fire Howland already??

Like, seriously, firing DL so quick like Nova wants so freaking badly would destroy ANY chance for the DePaul program to get better.

Dave Leitao is the nuclear bomb that has been dropped on depaul. Or maybe it is the AD?

Get over the perception issue. Sometimes you have to admit your mistake and move on.

Been Howland has a little more leeway as he has shown he can win, and he didn't take over a team that had as much talent as depaul.


Look, sometimes schools make bad hires. Actually happens a lot. But I have never seen a coaching hire that was as negativity viewed as this one, and it is proving to be a bad hire. This guy is already acting under the stigma of a failed coach and he's two months in. He won't ever be able to recruit, the fans are never going to be optimistic about him. Usually coaching hiresm even the ones that turn out bad, at least start with some optimism. Is anybody out there even a little optimistic in this hire?

Might as well have just hired mike rice or Dave bliss. At least there would be some buzz surrounding those hires.

Well, I'll remain confident in him unless there's little to no improvement by the end of year 2. Is DePaul talented? Yes. But they aren't talented as teams like Nova, Georgetown, Providence, Butler, or Xavier. They've been the ugly duckling of the league for about a decade now and to expect an immediate jump to relevance is absolutely insane. Who knows? Maybe they'll improve and grow from the Little Rock game. I saw a great tweet from the assistant coach Rick Carter after the game and he tweeted, "Never forget that constant sunshine makes a desert. You need rain to make things grow". This DL led group responded to their first dose of adversity with a 4 game win streak. Competition was suspect but I highly doubt under Purnell that they would've done that. Let's see what they can do in a TOUGH stretch that opens up with a game at Stanford and then home vs Northwestern and George Washington.

I'll guarantee you Oliver Purnell would've lost by 40 tonight and he also would've lost (and probably get smashed) by Drake on the road. Drake isn't nearly as good as Little Rock.

Biggest takeaway from the game? DePaul played the game at the Sullivan Athletic Center on a Saturday night, when school is still in session. While the venue seats just 3,000 fans - it's still a loud venue when you get fans and students there (as shown when they played Western Michigan there earlier this year). Unfortunately, DePaul mustered just over 1,500 paid attendees for last night's game (it was surely lower than that on TV - as announcers alluded to during last night's broadcast).

DePaul is averaging 3,652 fans per game this year. For comparison's sake, UCF and ECU have higher attendance figures in the American, and they have a combined six NCAA tournament appearances in their respective program's history.

Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, the facts are clearly in support of DePaul bringing zero assets/advantages to Big East men's basketball. They don't win, they don't go to NCAA Tournaments (or NITs, CBIs), they don't get fans to games - and it's clear they don't bring the Chicago market - as Illinois/UIC had more fans at the United Center earlier yesterday. If they can't get fans to an on-campus small stadium, why will they get fans 45 minutes away to a spacious 10,000 seat arena?

For the record, I don't think it's a Dave Leitao issue. It's an athletic director issue and the ability (after three tries) to right the program and just get it competitive. It is clear, and has been for quite some time, that the administration doesn't know how to do that and can't figure it out. The conference, and its members, should not be tolerating and complacent of them bringing down what is becoming of the top basketball conferences in the country.

Students are on their winter break so that is probably a reason for the low turnout

Hey Mr. GoldenWarrior,

School is NOT in session as DePaul is on a trimester system. DePaul attendance will NOT change until this program wins! Period. They have been losing for a long time. Do you think everyone is going to start buying tickets all of sudden?

Stop comparing East Carolina and Central Florida. Do you really want those schools in this conference? Use your head!

Yes, that is the worst game they played this season. But please do NOT tell me DePaul has a lot of talented players.....because they do not. The biggest problem right now is upgrading their talent....outside of a new AD. DePaul has no inside scoring threats, 3-point shooting is terrible, BBall IQ is bad, etc.

Little Rock is close to being a Top 25 team and receiving votes. Half of the Big East would probably lose to this team.

Every conference has doormats and right now DePaul is that. It allows others to get more "Ws" and better their record. DePaul's RPI is not bad.

I know everything about this program. Just ask.