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

[Bill Marsh]

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.

Thanks for the game summary. Did you do all that from memory or did you take notes? Awesome! You are a great writer.

[SJHooper]

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.

As bad as my Johnnies have been, Iona wouldn't move the needle at all. The MAAC has no presence in the NYC area. They have some good academic schools like Marist, Manhattan, Quinnipiac, Fairfield, etc. but athletics are not even on the radar. I do agree that SJ has to get it going though, many of our fans come from the '85 era when we were legitimate. They aren't getting any younger and I fear that after they all go, SJ fans will go extinct unless they get it together fast. SJ reminds me of the Jets. To be so bad to mediocre for so long...it's actually hard to do. The law of averages comes around and gives teams a boost every so often that they are due, but having bad coaching and bad athletic directors will ensure that the law of averages never grants us success. I keep hearing "oh we just need better players, it's not Mullin". Really? Pretty sure we've had nothing but 4 and 5 star players the last 5-6 years and we have nothing to show for it. How much better can you get? 6 star? It's obviously the coaching that is at fault. Mullin's body language says it all. I guarantee you he gets into bed after these awful losses to bums, sighs, and contemplates whether coaching is even worth it. I will never fault SJ for taking a chance on him. He deserved one. But we need to realize that we are worse than we were last year with much better talent. That alone proves it's coaching. As talent improves, so does your record if you have an average to above average coach. If you don't have a coach, you can lose any game. My fear is not pulling the trigger on Mullin fast enough, giving him 6 years and just elongating the suffering and losing culture. Watching SJ is like ripping off a bandage excruciatingly slowly on a hairy arm. Just rip it off and be done with it. You can recover quicker...just rip it off and move on. No reason to make the suffering last.

[Doge McDermott]

The University of Chicago was once in the Big Ten.

Just saying

They are also undefeated against Notre Dame in football.

[FDS]

Didn't see Chris Harrison-Docks in the box score... has he transferred already?

[milksteak]

Didn't see Chris Harrison-Docks in the box score... has he transferred already?

He's such a joke.

[kayako]

We can absorb 2 subpar programs without too much damage, but man wouldn't decent programs in Chicago and NYC do wonders for our league. The presence in those 2 markets with consistent tournament caliber teams would be huge just for recruiting purpose. I think those 2 athletic departments are lacking energy atm. Maybe that was the aim with Mullin hire, but it remains to be seen if it'll work out.

[billyjack]

Hey, thanks for the nice words Bill Marsh, but don't encourage me cuz then I may not ever shut up! It's all from memory, so I might have some details screwy. Though I did have to re-check the halftime score.

Harrison-Docks was injured and couldn't play. I think that's why Curington and Gage got so much run.

Forgot to mention UIC's cool uniforms. They actually stole the old DePaul design of the red-and-white alternating stripes at the collars and down the sides.

Also Dickie Simpkins gets some criticism, and yeah I'm biased for him, but I like the job he does behind the mike. He at least has fun and seems to enjoy himself, and keeps things light.

The play by play guy at times was confusing Garrett and Cain.

As far as DePaul and their future... at some point they will click. I think Leitao could be the guy to do it, because I keep coming back to knowing he was a Calhoun assistant, plus he had success in the past, and guys don't just forget how to coach.

I'm almost 50, so in the 40+ years that I've been watching sports, I've seen the pendulum swing back and forth several times in every sport with almost every team. So I can't help but think that St John's and DePaul are so close to turning the corner. Sometimes improvement is a slow process, and sometimes it arrives immediately. At some point maybe I'll compile a list and get more detailed on a bunch of unimaginably terrible teams turning into unimaginable success stories, but the list would include in the pro ranks the 49ers, Patriots, Braves, Red Sox, Indians, Devils and others... in college UConn of course, the Friars at times, Seton Hall at times, Miami of Fla in football...

[stever20]

We can absorb 2 subpar programs without too much damage, but man wouldn't decent programs in Chicago and NYC do wonders for our league. The presence in those 2 markets with consistent tournament caliber teams would be huge just for recruiting purpose. I think those 2 athletic departments are lacking energy atm. Maybe that was the aim with Mullin hire, but it remains to be seen if it'll work out.

yeah. Add to that right now our 3rd lowest team is Georgetown in both KP and RPI. So 3 huge areas with the 3 worst teams.

[Hall2012]

We can absorb 2 subpar programs without too much damage, but man wouldn't decent programs in Chicago and NYC do wonders for our league. The presence in those 2 markets with consistent tournament caliber teams would be huge just for recruiting purpose. I think those 2 athletic departments are lacking energy atm. Maybe that was the aim with Mullin hire, but it remains to be seen if it'll work out.

I don't have an alternate solution for Chicago, but I could troll the St. John's fans on here and suggest it's time for the Big East to market Seton Hall as it's New York team . MSG would probably actually be easier for a lot of SHU fans to get to than the Rock, so maybe move some of their big games there haha.

In all seriousness though, I want St. John's to get good (though obviously not at Seton Hall's expense). These two programs have basically never been good at the same time which is disappointing because it prevents this local rivalry from reaching it's true potential, which I think can be very high.

[GoldenWarrior11]

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.

How about DePaul stops embarrassing this conference and actually makes a tournament once in the next decade...