Brand new head coach, completely new roster…… same old DePaul?
Team: DePaul Blue Demons
2023-24 Record: 3-29, 0-20 Big East
2023-24 Big East Finish: Uh, 11th and last place. By just two games behind Georgetown, but definitely very last.
Final 2023-24 KenPom.com Ranking: #304 out of 362 teams, down from their preseason rank of #113.
Final 2023-24 BartTorvik.com Ranking: #287 out of 362 teams, down from their preseason rank of #127.
Postseason: We’re not going to talk about it that much when we get to the other team, but I want to talk about it somewhere, and the next two sections are going to be short. In the 6/11 game in the first round of the Big East tournament, DePaul had a 40-32 lead on Villanova with 13 minutes to play. DePaul had a 57-55 lead on Villanova with 50 seconds left and the ball. DePaul got an offensive rebound twice.
They also turned it over twice in the final 20 seconds and gave up a game winning three-pointer to Justin Moore, who shot 31% for the year, and yes, the triple came in between the two turnovers, so DePaul absolutely could have beaten Villanova at the horn instead of losing 58-57, and honestly, should have won this game in general.
I think Kyle Neptune would have been fired on the spot if that had happened.
Key Departures: Everyone.
No, not “DePaul loses everyone who played a notable role on last year’s roster.” Everyone.
They’re all gone. From leading scorer Chico Carter to all five minutes across two seasons of Mo Sall, every single player from last year’s roster is not on next year’s roster.
Key Returners: See above.
Key Additions: BartTorvik.com has their preseason projections up already, they’ve been up for a minute. Now that rosters are settling in, there’s an “Expected Production From Transfers” column on the page. DePaul is #3 in the country behind Vanderbilt and Louisville in how much they’re expecting from transfers this coming season. Given that DePaul’s roster is three freshmen — two who are sub-240 in the 247 Sports Composite rankings and one that’s not even listed on 247’s DePaul page — and 10 transfers, that’s probably undershooting it, but I’m also not doing a roster breakdown for the Commodores or the Cardinals to prove that the Blue Demons deserve to be first.
I’m going to declare myself pleasantly surprised if any of the three freshmen are notable contributors right out of the gate, so let’s just move on to the transfers. I’m not going to spend time trying to break down how anyone fits into the roster because there’s not actually a roster for them to fit into, so instead, I’m just going to list all of them in order of “Division 1 games played” as a passable sorting tool for “most experienced to least experienced.”
Isaiah Rivera, 125 games: Three seasons at Colorado State and then one at Illinois Chicago, and Rivera gave up a starting spot for the Rams to start for the Flames closer to home….. although home is nearly in Iowa. The 6’5” guard put up big scoring numbers for UIC last season at 15.4 per game, and he’s a career 40.7% three-point shooter.
David Skogman, 94 games: Split between two seasons at Buffalo and two seasons at Davidson, Skogman had a breakout year as a senior, averaging 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Wildcats. He’s a career 40.7% three point shooter, which is pretty notable because he’s a 6’10”, 240 pound forward.
Troy D’Amico, 94 games: After two years as a rotation but not big production guy for Southern Illinois, D’Amico started in all 32 appearances last year for the Salukis. The 6’7” forward averaged career highs of 9.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 2023-24, and he’s a career 36.8% three-point shooter.
JJ Traynor, 70 games: The 6’9” forward was recruited to Louisville by Chris Mack…. and then stayed through the coaching change…. and then stayed after Kenny Payne’s 4-28 first season. Then again, he played more for Payne than he did for Mack. In any case, the former top 100 prospect had a season ending shoulder injury last season after playing in each of UL’s first eight games. He was averaging 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds a game at the time, and depending on how the NCAA deals with injury waivers, this may or may not be Traynor’s bonus season of eligibility.
Conor Enright, 68 games: This will be Enright’s fourth year of college basketball, but that’s because he redshirted the 2021-22 season at Drake before playing at least a rotation role for the last two campaigns. The 6’2” guard averaged 6.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists last season and you can bet DePaul hopes he can shoot nearly 44% from beyond the arc for a second straight year.
NJ Benson, 59 games: The 6’8” forward made a good freshman-to-sophomore year jump for Missouri State last season. Thanks to playing his way into a starting spot for most of the rest of the year, Benson averaged 8.6 points and a whopping 7.9 rebounds per game. KenPom.com has him as a top 75 rebounder on both ends of the court in 2023-24, including #13 in offensive rebounding rate.
CJ Gunn, 49 games: The Indianapolis native took on the mantle of playing for the biggest program in his home state, but his career never quite took off for Indiana and Mike Woodson. The 6’7” guard averaged 3.9 points and 1.0 rebounds in just under 13 minutes a game last season.
Jacob Meyer, 31 games: The 6’2” guard from Kentucky started in all 31 appearances as a freshman last season for Coastal Carolina. To the surprise of no one, he decided to transfer after Cliff Ellis announced his retirement mid-way through last season. Meyer was the Chanticleers’ leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, and he added 5.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists to go with his 40% three-point shooting.
David Thomas, 31 games: A coaching change at Mercer after a fourth straight SoCon losing record led Thomas to bounce from his home state of Georgia after one season. He had a nice first year of college hoops, as the 6’1” guard added 11.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists mostly off the bench for the Bears.
Layden Blocker, 27 games: The former top 40 prospect moved on from the flagship program in his home state after Eric Musselman left Arkansas for USC. He started five times for the Razorbacks and overall averaged more than 13 minutes per game, but the 6’2” guard saw his minutes dwindle late in the year and didn’t play at all in their final five games of the year.
Coach: Chris Holtmann, entering his first season with DePaul. He is 251-171 in three previous stops as a Division 1 head coach, including a three year tenure at Butler in the Big East. Holtmann went 70-31 with somewhat unexpected and undesirable circumstances to start his time as head coach, including a 34-20 mark in league play. The Bulldogs made it to at least the second round of the NCAA tournament in all three of his years, including a Sweet 16 in his final campaign.
Outlook: I want to make my opinion on what DePaul is doing with Chris Holtmann very clear.
DePaul relieved Tony Stubblefield of his duties as head coach in late January. Ohio State did the same with Holtmann in mid-February. My gut instinct upon learning the Holtmann news was “DePaul should have him hired by the end of the day, end of the week at the latest.” That was on a Wednesday.
So yes, I think DePaul made the right decision with Holtmann, even if they took a month to actually get around to announcing his hiring.
I also think that 1) he has a task that he is not fully mentally prepared for ahead of him as well as 2) the bar for calling his first season a success is so low, I will be shocked if he does not hit it.
Facts about DePaul:
- At #304 in the KenPom rankings last season, they were the worst team in a high major conference….. and it wasn’t close. Georgetown was the next worst high major team, and they were truly awful….. and they finished at #192.
- They haven’t won a regular season Big East game since January 18th, 2023. I have to clarify that because they very hilariously beat Seton Hall in the Big East tournament in 2023.
- They haven’t had a winning record overall since 2019.
- They haven’t had a winning record in league play since 2007, which is also the last time they won at least eight league games.
- They haven’t won 20 games in a season since 2005.
- They haven’t been to an NCAA tournament since 2004.
I’m not saying that Holtmann is going to figure out a way to put the Blue Demons into the NCAA tournament in Year One. I don’t think that you can expect that from a team that might still need to wear nametags as they get to know each other during games deep into January. I am saying that I will be shocked if DePaul is a sub-200 team, no matter what ranking or rating system you’re using. I am saying that if Holtmann figures out how to finish the year with a winning record, it’s a notable accomplishment for this program. If he figures out how to get this team to 10-10 in the Big East, it’s probably an even bigger accomplishment, at least historically it is.
Chris Holtmann’s #1 goal is, even if he doesn’t realize it or put it on a dry erase board in his office is simple: Stop DePaul from being a national joke. Move DePaul back to the point where merely finishing last qualifies as “well, someone had to” and not “I’m shocked they ever scored a point.” He has to get DePaul back to a point where I write more than 250 words previewing a game against Marquette because I have to actually respect DePaul’s ability to be a real opponent, and not the equivalent (or worse!) of a buy game level opponent.
This is something that Holtmann can do this year, in 2024-25. He has shown that he knows how to coach and win in this league in the past. It’s not going to be easy, but he can take that first step, reach that #1 goal right away.