(1) Wednesday BE Game - uic at DePaul...

[whiteandblue77]

DePaul RPI drops from 147 to 209, unbelievably the Big East still holds onto #1 Conference RPI, just baaarrreeelyyy over the ACC: 0.5995 to 0.5945

[HoosierPal]

I think it is time to talk Relegation. Valpo is close enough to the Chicago market to keep the few Big East fans engaged. So let's swap DePaul for Valpo. Maybe they can hang with the rest of the Horizon. And I'm looking at Iona from the MAAC for St. Johns. Seriously.

[ecasadoSBU]

F'CKING SHIT!!! This is killing me. SJU/DePAUL are killing me

[Jet915]

Depaul has been barely beating teams on UIC's level all season so this shouldn't shock anyone. People will say fire Leitao but the person that really needs to be let go is the AD if Depaul hopes to turn things around.

Been saying it for years, Depaul's AD has NO CLUE.....

[FenwayFriar]

Depaul has been barely beating teams on UIC's level all season so this shouldn't shock anyone. People will say fire Leitao but the person that really needs to be let go is the AD if Depaul hopes to turn things around.

Been saying it for years, Depaul's AD has NO CLUE.....

They crazy thing is that they only have FIVE men's sports (counting xc and track as one). There is no reason they should be inept for this long in MBB. Truly unacceptable. And they've pushed their true fans all away so now there's no one to demand a change from administration.

[billyjack]

So, i watched most of the game.

UIC didn't have a lot of height, so in the beginning of the first half, DePaul was driving to the hoop with Garrett and Cain, hitting layups and getting fouled. Good strategy that they were being disciplined with. Also very active on defense.

So DePaul had maybe an early 10-5 lead, and looked solid.

Momentum swung when some immobile long range shooter named Guice drained 1 or 2 threes. DePaul lost some composure, and UIC went opened up a lead of about 23-16, so an 18-6 run. Really just outhustling the Demons.

Around that time, UIC's best playmaker Dixson drove the baseline for 2, but in the process he blew out his knee, poor kid. It was pretty gnarly the was his knee buckled. Anyway, with Dixson out for the game (probably longer), DePaul had a resurgence, and went on a little run of their own.. . I think Cain may have hit 2 or 3 threes. At the half DePaul was up 43-35. They looked to be in solid shape and were making good decisions.

Second half, DePaul had a couple of squandered opportunities to get the lead in double digits, and UIC made some timely baskets to peck away and tie the game maybe around the 12 minute mark. It wasn't like any kind of meltdown, but more like DePaul would miss a layup, then UIC would come down and toss up a shot that would bounce a couple of times off the rim and drop in. Or then Hanel would get fouled on a layup attempt and miss 2 free throws, then UIC would throw up a poor shot, get an offensive rebound and tip it in.

From like the 12 minute mark til the last minute, the game had like 10 lead changes. During this time, several specific glaring holes were shown in DePaul's game:

- Hamel, while active, is not a Big East caliber center. Great effort always, but a bad shooter, and a worse free throw shooter. Twice he was fouled under the hoop, and missed both free throws... i guess a smart strategy fouling Hanel regularly.

- the main minutes eater at center for DePaul needs to be Levi Cook. Not a lot of lift, but good fundamentals and positioning, and capable of hitting a layup without the agita-inducing adventure that Hanel puts us through. Cook had a couple of excellent blocks and played solid defense. So to me, there is a huge dropoff between Cook the wide body, and Hanel the narrower big.

- Cook's problem was he got into foul trouble for tick tack fouls and had to sit. Also, he's returning from a leg injury and isn't yet in game shape. He's also a freshman and is learning on the fly.

- Garrett Jr played hard, but his medical condition is really affecting his game. Poor guy seems to be sucking wind after a couple of minutes on the floor. One time on D he could barely move and the Guice kid drained a three easily cuz Garrett couldn't move.

- also, many times, especially in the first half, DePaul did not get back on D and UIC picked up some easy points. No excuse for that except Garrett's stamina issues.

- under 10 minutes, both Devin Gage and RJ Curington got burned several times on defense, just blown by, and also screwed up on offense... a bad travel, too much dribbling, just a terrible job running the offense. Garrett was so winded that Leitao eventually had Cain just run things. Anyway, Curington and Gage, and Hanel at the free throw line just were awful for DePaul. Really hate to dump on them, but all 3 should not see the floor. Like the travel violation by Curington or Gage was crushing... no one within 10 feet of the guy... McCallum wigh another wasted possession when he dribbled off his knee or shin, completely unforced.

- Basically, UIC stayed in the game via Gage or Curington being horribly out of position, or not quick enough. Leitao is going to have to shorten the bench, with Garrett, Cain, Cyrus, maybe McCallum, and Cook. Just ride these guys.

- not sure of an obvious solution except to stop wasting possessions with stupid decisions and get minutes to jmprove thd defense.

- Bright spots included Cain, who scored over 25 points, and Garrett when energized who had arohnd 25 points too, plus Cook's potential and Cyrus's energy.

[Edrick]

The University of Chicago was once in the Big Ten.

Just saying

[Irishdawg]

I think it is time to talk Relegation. Valpo is close enough to the Chicago market to keep the few Big East fans engaged. So let's swap DePaul for Valpo. Maybe they can hang with the rest of the Horizon. And I'm looking at Iona from the MAAC for St. Johns. Seriously.

St. John's to me is still in a different boat than DePaul. The Johnnies issues don't seem to have permeated the entire athletic department like DePaul's. It's a good thing for the school that the city went ahead and paid for the arena to get constructed, but it's going to be disappointing when people aren't going to show up to watch games in it once the novelty wears off. As for bringing Valpo in (I'm sure what you were saying was somewhat tongue in cheek), they are by far a better team, but Chicago's not going to embrace them. Heck they played their first ranked non-conference opponent in 7 years and they still barely had 4,000 people show up (and I didn't even think it looked like that many on ESPN3) and they've got a good team this year.

[Demon22]

It's a shame that the university does not value the men's basketball program, and instead allows an incompetent athletic director to focus all of the school's resources into women's sports.

If only DePaul valued their Men's Basketball program as much as Marquette.

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwau ... 65781.html

Also, I have no idea where people get the idea that DePaul Athletics spends all of their money on women's sports. It's not based in reality.

Unfortunately, it will take the empty seats of the brand new Wintrust Arena for anyone of importance at the school to notice. It's even more unfortunate that over half of the new stadium's construction costs are being paid for by taxpayers and not the school. Typical Chicago politics...

No, no, no.

I refuse to be lectured to by a freakin' Marquette fan about how DePaul is only paying for half the construction costs of an arena that they won't own and will still have to pay rent for. Marquette is paying zero construction costs for a new publicly-financed arena that's twice as expensive as Wintrust Arena.

[Bill Marsh]

The University of Chicago was once in the Big Ten.

Just saying

Different school.