DePaul

[Da Coach]

It started to look like DePaul was a little better this year, after 6 last last-place Big East finishes in a row. But then they lost at home to Illinois State, and last night they played Oregon State.
Oregon State was picked to finish 12th and last in the Pac 12.-

http://pac-12.com/article/2014/10/22/arizona-wildcats-mens-basketball-picked-defend-pac-12-conference-crown

But Oregon State, who has not had a winning Pac 12 record since 1989-90, walloped DePaul 90-59!

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400588375

Even walkon David Molinari, from Peoria Christian HS (son of former BU coach Jim Molinari) got into the game. DePaul, which started the season 6-1, has now lost 3 in a row.

[Da Coach]

DePaul keeps on losing. After they started the season 6-1, they have now lost 5 in a row. They lost today to go to 0-2 in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Yesterday they were beaten 82-68 by Colorado, and today they never lead after a 2-0 start, and were humiliated by a weak Ohio University team 99-78.

After 1 more game in Hawaii, they start Big East play on 12/31. I have a feeling it will be Oliver Purnell's last one at DePaul. The Big East preseason poll picked them a distant dead last, again.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/22/the-big-east-releases-their-preseason-poll-all-league-teams/

Interesting to see Creighton picked 9th of the 10 Big East teams.

[Vent]

During the 70's and early 80's, DePaul was a top 10 team. Their program got that position by recruiting players from the Chicago area. Players such as Aquire, Dave Corzine, Joe Ponsetto, Curtis Watkins, Teddy Grubbs and others, all from the Chicago area, turned the Blue Demons into a national powerhouse. Shortly after Aquire graduated, DePaul tried to recruit nationally and it turned into a disaster. The Chicago Public League coaches were upset that DePaul started to look elsewhere for recruits and at that point, started sending their players to the University of Illinois. Jimmy Collins, the assistant at Illinois and originally from the Chicago Public League, before a stop at New Mexico State, could get anybody he wanted from Chicago to attend Illinois. When Illinois fired Henson and Collins did not get the job, he was given the job at UIC. He turned that into a very competitive program, beating Illinois a couple of times, before getting ill and leaving UIC. The program at UIC has not been the same since. When Collins left Illinois, the Public League players started going to Duke and Kentucky. Although I am not a big fan of Ford, I do believe Chin Coleman has shown he can get players from Chicago to attend BU, in the short time he has been here. That is something we haven't done consistently since Versace was here. I believe to win at the D-I level in Illinois, you must be able to recruit Chicago. If Ford is shown the door, I hope Coleman stays at BU on at least an interim basis, so we can keep the door to Chicago open.

[Chico]

IMO, Versace many times was able to get the Chicago players Illinois didn't want and helped turned Bradley's program around. Guys like JJ Anderson, Greg Jones, Jerry Thomas, Hersey Hawkins, etc. My advice for Geno, or any Bradley coach, don't go 32-3, go to the Big Dance, and give the eventual NCAA champs their closest game of the tournament.

[Da Coach]

IMO, Versace many times was able to get the Chicago players Illinois didn't want and helped turned Bradley's program around. Guys like JJ Anderson, Greg Jones, Jerry Thomas, Hersey Hawkins, etc. My advice for Geno, or any Bradley coach, don't go 32-3, go to the Big Dance, and give the eventual NCAA champs their closest game of the tournament.

DePaul is not the only school that has had trouble getting the better Chicago area players. It was part of Jerry Wainwright's downfall, and will be part of Oliver Purnell's as well.

Bradley has also had trouble getting top players from Chicago.

This year's recruiting class, the class of 2015, doesn't have an Anthony Davis, or a Jabari Parker, or a Cliff Alexander, or a Jahlil Okafor. In fact, many recruiting services do not include an Illinois kid in their Top 25 nationally. But overall, the class of 2015 may be the deepest class in potential Division I talent that Illinois has ever produced.

Over 25 kids in the Class of 2015 have already committed to Division I schools, and there are another 20 or more that will likely do so before the end of the spring 2015 recruiting cycle. That could mean record numbers of Division I caliber talents from a single class in Illinois.

Some of the mid-major schools that have already landed talented D1 recruits out of Illinois for 2015 include Tulane, UMass, Rice, Missouri State, UTEP, Colorado State, Ohio, Louisiana Tech, Eastern Illinois, Buffalo, Wofford, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Illinois State, and others.

But conspicuous by it's absence on that list is Bradley. It's looking like despite the record numbers of D1 prospects this year, that Bradley may not land a single recruit out of this rich 2015 recruiting class in Illinois!

Meanwhile, we keep landing recruits that come and leave quickly, or under-perform or can't play the position they were recruited for, and keep requiring using more scholarships to recruit over them. And still after 4 years of this recruiting turnstile, we find ourselves headed for another season at the bottom of the MVC.