Tony Stubblefield begins his 3rd year at the helm for the Blue Demons off a year that saw DePaul finish 10-23 (3-17). The only reason DePaul didn’t finish last in the Big East the last two seasons was that Georgetown went 0-19 and 2-18 over those years. Now Patrick Ewing is gone for the Hoyas and Ed Cooley is in. Not to mention Rick Pitino takes over at St. John’s. Staying out of the Big East cellar will be as challenging as ever for DePaul this season.
Below we see where DePaul finished each season in KenPom ranking since joining the Big East.
DePaul did take a fairly sizable jump in 2017-18 (Dave Leitao’s 3rd season back) when Max Strus arrived at DePaul. The Blue Demon reached up to 94 in 2019-20 (Leitao’s final season) when DePaul began the season 9-0 before finishing 16-16.
Last year’s team immediately struggled out of the gate when both Nick Ongenda and Yor Anei went down with injuries. This led to a year that saw DePaul finish 351st in the country in defensive rebound percentage.
Below we see the Big East last season by offensive and defensive effinciency.
No surprise DePaul is near the top left (but not as bad as Georgetown) and the national champion UConn Huskies lead the way in the bottom right.
Stubblefield has aimed to create rosters with length, athleticism and versatility that can play up-tempo. Similar to the rosters when he was an assistant at Oregon, he likes to have multiple bigger forwards that can do take advantage of mismatches.
Newcomers
As mentioned before, Stubblefield loves big wings and you’ll see that in the portal acquisitions with four such players:
• 6’6 wing Elijah Fisher from Texas Tech.
• 6’2 Chico Carter Jr transfers in from South Carolina
• 6’10 center Mac Etienne from UCLA.
• 6’7 guard/wing Jaden Henley from Minnesota
• 6’8 wing Jeremiah Oden from Wyoming
• 6’8 guard/wing Keyondre Young (JUCO, previously Valparaiso)
Chico Carter Jr will help out in the backcourt and Mac Etienne will likely start at center. The UCLA transfer just couldn’t crack the rotation for the Bruins. Elijah Fisher is the first of the big wing transfers and was former five-star recruit. He’s a young sophomore who struggled to find a role at Texas Tech after Mark Adams was fired. Jaden Henley started 18 games at Minnesota last year and can shoot the three. Jeremiah Oden is another big wing who can shoot the three.
The freshmen class is fairly small with Dramane Camara and Chruchill Abass. Camara is a 6’5 guard but has a 6’11 wingspan. Abass is a big and bulky 6’9 center.
Returners
Da’Sean Nelson is guy that came into last year a JUCO guy who looked a bit lost at the beginning of the season but made massive strides and average double figures in Big East play. He was always a great athlete (he’ll throw down some thunderous dunks), but the experience has really helped him become a guy who will have to be a leader on this year’s team.
Caleb Murphy will look to stabilize the backcourt after the departure of Umoja Gibson. Murphy got thrown into the middle of Big East play last year after missing fall workouts and non-conference play with injuries.
Jalen Terry returns for a third season at DePaul in the backcourt. He’s the smallest on the team at 6’0 but has a lot of experience playing over the past two seasons. KT Raimey also returns. He can shoot it but has struggled to gain any consistent minutes so far.
Depth Chart
Schedule Highlights
DePaul opens up Tuesday November 7th against Purdue Fort Wayne at home. They’ll play in the Arizona Tip-Off in Glendale on November 17th against South Carolina and November 19th against Grand Canyon or San Francisco. The Blue Demons host Iowa State on Friday December 1st. Visit Texas A&M on December 6th and host Louisville on December 9th. They host Northwestern on December 16th.
Big East play opens up on December 23rd against Villanova at Wintrust Arena. They play at UConn January 2nd and host the Huskies on February 14. They host Creighton on January 9th, at Creighton on January 27th. Host Marquette on January 24th, visit Marquette on February 21st. At St. John’s on February 6th and host the Red Storm on March 5th.
Summary
There’s no doubt DePaul will be up against it in Big East play again this year. The center position appears weak, but there are a lot of transfers that provide good size. Most preseason rankings have DePaul picked last in the Big East so it looks like many have the Blue Demons in a fight to stay out of last place this year. The four transfer wings along with Da’Sean Nelson molding into Stubblefield’s style is where this group has upside.