Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

It’s that time of the year again! The end of it. Every time one season ends, I come here to review their season by giving my 2 cents (then the rest of you add yours!)

We’ll also check out what players (that got significant minutes) are leaving, staying and coming in. Without further ado, let’s review the DePaul Blue Demons!

OUT
*Chico Carter (out of eligibility)
*Jalen Terry (transferred to Eastern Michigan)
*Da’Sean Nelson (transferred to Eastern Michigan)
*KT Raimey (transferred to UTRGV)
*Elijah Fisher (transferred to Pacific)
*Jaden Henley (transferred to UNLV)
*Churchill Abass (transferred to Wake Forest)
*Caleb Murphy
*Jeremiah Oden (transferred to Charlotte)
*Mac Etienne

IN
*Chris Riddle
*Sekou Konneh
*Troy D’Amico (transfer from Southern Illinois)
*NJ Benson (transfer from Missouri State)
*CJ Gunn (transfer from Indiana)
*David Thomas (transfer from Mercer)
*Jacob Meyer (transfer from Coastal Carolina)
*Isaiah Rivera (transfer from UIC)
*Conor Enright (transfer from Drake)
*JJ Traynor (transfer from Louisville)
*David Skogman (transfer from Davidson)
*Patrick Suemnick (transfer from West Virginia)
*Layden Blocker (transfer from Arkansas)
*New HC Chris Holtmann

My 0.02:
Yikes…….oof…….ouch. DePaul Basketball has been in the dump for at least the past 2 decades and this might have been their worst team yet. Only 3 wins all season and they were all at home vs South Dakota, Louisville and Chicago State. Went winless in conference play and ended the year on a 20 game skid. Lost a couple of heartbreakers along the way such as the home game vs Georgetown and had their season ended by Villanova’s Justin Moore on a buzzer beating 3 in the Big East tournament. Your heart truly does break for the Blue Demons (unless you’re a Nova fan). Silver lining? It’s over, officially. It had been over for quite awhile but now the DePaul Administration can focus on finding a new coach and can begin preparing for what should be an……interesting offseason in Lincoln Park. Firing Stubblefield in January and getting a head start in the search process was the right move as it shows the school is serious about improving its basketball program and it became quite clear the players quit on him and a change was desperately needed. Nowhere to go but UP in Chicago. Let’s hope they hire someone good and inject some positive energy into a program that desperately needs it
UPDATE: Holtmann is the guy! Excellent hire! Has had success in this league at Butler and even had success at Ohio State, making 4 NCAA Tournaments out of 7 (should’ve been 5 if not for Covid) and won 3 games there. Only problem was he couldn’t get to the 2nd weekend and ultimately the pressure and expectations in Columbus did him in. Needs a fresh start somewhere else and he’ll get that at a place with no expectations

I like these every year.
Last night i confused your name with Omaha1, another great poster here

Jalen Terry is in the transfer portal.

If you told me that every single player from this year's team wanted to transfer, I wouldn't be shocked.

Da'Sean Nelson is in the portal.

KT Raimey is in the transfer portal.

DePaul hired former Southern Illinois Head Coach Bryan Mullins as one of Chris Holtmann's assistants.

In a related note, former Southern Illinois G/F Troy D'Amico committed to DePaul. He was SIU's 2nd-leading scorer last year, and their top returning scorer.

I’d like the look of the staff so far. Mullins gives him the Chicago connection I suppose. Although holtmann and Owens probably have their own connections as former Midwest head coaches too. Any speculation for his final assistant spot?

trephin wrote:I’d like the look of the staff so far. Mullins gives him the Chicago connection I suppose. Although holtmann and Owens probably have their own connections as former Midwest head coaches too. Any speculation for his final assistant spot?

I believe it's been reported that Holtmann is retaining Paris Parham from Tony Stubblefield's staff in some capacity. Not sure it'll be as an assistant, though.

Another name to keep an eye on is Ohio State assistant Brandon Bailey, who previously worked for Brad Stevens with the Celtics. He also graduated from DePaul, and worked as a student assistant for Oliver Purnell.

Bryan Mullins was on Porter Moser's staff during Loyola's historic Final Four run at the 2018 NCAA tournament.

Elijah Fisher is in the portal.

Not surprised.

I wouldn't have minded if he stuck around, though. He had a few decent games.