I don't know if it's because of bad announcers, bad basketball or that the games take up quality sports talk time, but DePaul is an afterthought for me. I get that Ray Meyer was a great coach and had some NBA talent, but DePaul is about as good as UIC or Loyola. Neither of which belong on the radio or even on the sports segment of the local evening news. Is anyone with me?

_________________
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

_________________

If kids who attend the school don't attend games, why should anybody give a damn?

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

One of the great clusterfucks in all of college sports. Used the program as a cash cow to supplememt everything else for the school, put no money into the program and just let it die.

Turribull.

Drive down Belden ave and see that nice womens softball field! Now thats some good money spent! 2nd most expensive area of the city and they built a softball field????

The School showed ZERO out of the Box thinking in the usage of the land they owned and the land they bought in terms of dong anything for the basketball team, which actually made them a ton of money!

They quit the basketball business.

Plus, the ALLSTATE DEAL is Free! Yes! FREE! DePaul makes money on Tickets sold and some on court ads. Rosemont has parking, concessions and upper ads.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Maybe more kids would attend if they didn't play the games in a different state.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

They have and continue to get better under Parnell.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

When I was a "yout"....Mark Aguirre came to DePaul and wow, what a program they had for several years after that. Then BAM...Nothing. Squat. They are dead to me. I used to go to games...but they aren't worth my gas money now. Pretty sad.

_________________
Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

It wasn't BAM...they were bad. It was really a rather slow decline with spikes of highly competitive teams during years like Kenny Patterson's.

I wonder how things would have been different if they never fired Joey Meyer. Part of De Paul's success was based in the tradition of the Meyers and they may have been able to continue to sell that to recruits. Also, I don't think Joey was remarkably bad coach...certainly no worse than his successors. Hiring Kennedy was a Faustian exchange. They have had no soul since his years.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yeah, and they were good before Aguirre got there. The team the previous year finished the season ranked #3 in the country and made the final eight in the tournament before being bounced by Notre Dame.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

They became famous the same way to Cubs did...WGN TV! Every game was on TV and back in the day, that was a HUGE deal! That was all they offered then....and Ironically, now they can't even offer that! lol

As a DePaul Aloomni and a huge fan before I attended, it does piss me off.

I really dont think the school understood the power of having a really good team...ON CAMPUS. It supports an alumni organization and in most cases, such a program would actually be a profit center for the school in terms of donations!

Just watching the backslapping at the Northwestern game of alumni walking the halls, saying hello to each other, ex player,s etc etc and this for a crappy program, still packed Welsh Ryan arena. No reason they could not have maintained an above average level.

Oliver will make them a .500 team AT BEST! and then he will be done, because he will be exhausted...and the next guy will come in and have his fall off.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

And Al McGuire had just retired after his championship and he loved Meyer and DePaul and really promoted them when they were on the NBC game. I remember they first hit the radar nationally when NBC cut away from a blowout game to DePaul-Notre Dame and Gary Garland (Whitney Houston's brother) hit a shot to beat the Irish. That was the game where Ponsetto kicked the radio-controlled car.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

First of all, moment of silence for Al McGuire please...Thank you.

It was pretty cool once upon a time that DePaul basketball was actually a bigger deal than the Bulls. I'm old enough to remember when the Blue Demons' program was actually relevant, with the games on WGN Radio & TV, as well as nationally televised games on NBC with the late former Marquette basketball coach, a young Billy Packer & Dick Enberg calling the games with the late, great Ray Meyer on the sidelines.

I think once DePaul left WGN, I think in part when Ray's son Joey Meyer was unceremoniously dumped as head coach, the program seemed to go down with it. In fact, I think the last time the Blue Demons went dancin' in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, Dave Leitao was head coach and they got schooled by Connecticut if memory serves in Buffalo. Leitao's name came up on "SCORE Overnight" with Les Grobstein, and according to the Grobber, the onetime former UCONN Assistant used DePaul as leverage to bolt to the University of Virginia. Leitao lasted 4 years before he got fired, if memory serves in Charlottesville.

As for the current state of DePaul hoops, they have been competitive in a handful of games, but haven't been able to finish teams off such as St. John's in both meetings this season, nationally-ranked Louisville this past Saturday in OT, as well as at Notre Dame 2 weeks ago. These are baby steps right now for head coach Oliver Purnell's program. They still don't belong in the Big East.

SHARK

Billy Packer was never young. Just a little less curmedgonly.

Carry on.

_________________

Well, he wasn't nearly the crab-ass that he eventually became before he left CBS Sports a couple years ago, SJ. Billy Packer had such a holier than thou attitude if I remember correctly before Clark Kellogg replaced him as CBS' lead NCAA Basketball analyst.

Speaking of broadcasters, with Laurence Holmes now doing more NBC5 stuff these days, what's the deal with ex-ABC7 weekend sports anchor Jeff Blanzy now "analyzing" the games with Zach Zaidman on 670 The SCORE? Couldn't WSCR & DePaul hire someone with DePaul ties, such as Dave Corzine instead?

No

Blanzy is probably doing it for head.

Cheaper than actually paying him.

_________________

Those that say DePaul is "dead" do not understand the city or college basketball. On the city level--look at the Blackhawks. Five years ago, the Hawks were on life support and were a rumor in this city. Then two things happened--they finally listened to logic and put their games on TV and they got good. The Hawks are not just as relevant (maybe a little more) than they were years ago. There are two qualities that will help DePaul--the city as a whole is very nostalgic and they also will support almost any team that wins. If DePaul got good--by good I mean a 3 or 4 year run in the top 20 with several wins in the tournament--they would be relevant. Yes, an on-campus arena would help, but that does not appear to be coming anytime soon. But, if they were good, people would show up and the fringe fans would come out of the wood works. Look at how big the Illini were during the Head/Brown/Williams run.

The question is how do you get good? If schools like Marquette and Villanova can be consistent winners, so can DePaul. All it takes is the right coach. The school is in the 3rd biggest market, the nation's premier basketball conference, and is in a great area. The city is ripe with talent--even if they picked up 2nd tier Public League and Suburban D1 talent, they should be able to compete.

_________________
"YOU GOTTA BE BLEEPING ME"

Pay your players more than the other schools.

_________________
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Get in a league that is more your size like the A-10.

Well, there is an opening in that league with news that Temple is Big East-bound for all sports. Another school DePaul can't beat in basketball.

What like UIC, NIU or Loyola?

_________________
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

DePaul doesn't belong in the Big East Conference. They've been awful since they were in the defunct Great Midwest Conference and the early stages of Conference USA. I think the reason why they're in the Big East is money-driven, plus a classic rival of theirs in Notre Dame is in that league. I also think that the Big East is a league where future NBA players have shined over the years.

They are "too-small" for the Big East? Really...? I think they are still the biggest Catholic university in the country. They are bigger than Notre Dame, Georgetown, Marquette, and Villanova. They can compete in the Big East. If Villanova and Marquette can compete, so can DePaul. It comes down to recruiting and coaching.

_________________
"YOU GOTTA BE BLEEPING ME"

It comes down to the money you want to allocate to the program and how shady you want to get with recruiting. Pat Kennedy showed you not that long ago that DePaul can grab all the top guys from the city if it wants to. Of course, he didn't know what to do with them once they were there, but that's a different story. I'm pretty sure DePaul's budget for men's basketball is a fraction of Marquette's. That's smaller regardless of the respective enrollments of the schools.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don