The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 74 is DePaul basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of DePaul basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 2
- Elite Eights: 3
- Sweet 16s: 10
- NCAA wins: 21
- Bids: 22
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.0
- Bids per season: 0.21
- AP Polls: 156
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 7
- NBA players drafted & played: 26
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 2
- Conference tournament titles: 0
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on DePaul basketball
We all know the jokes about current-day DePaul basketball. The Blue Demons haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2004 and have been the laughing stock of the Big East since joining in 2005. In that time frame, they’ve gone above .500 just twice and have never finished with more than nine wins in conference play. If anything, they have brought the conference down.
But I’m here to tell you it wasn’t always that way in Chicago. DePaul was once a national powerhouse.
You have to first bring up coaching legend Ray Meyer. From 1942-84, he led the Blue Demons and won 724 career games. 13 of DePaul’s 22 NCAA Tournaments came under Meyer. And that included the first one, in 1943, as someone named George Mikan helped guide the Blue Demons to the Final Four. Mikan was just a freshman that year and would go on to play there until 1946, getting named a Consensus All-American as a sophomore, junior, and senior. After that, he’d have one of the best NBA careers of all-time, and of course, is in the Hall of Fame.
Mikan wasn’t the only star to come from DePaul. Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings are two other notable names, both playing in the 1980s in Meyer’s final seasons as the head coach. In fact, that era of the late 70s and early 80s might be Meyer’s best. While he had led DePaul on some tournament runs before that, they had turned into one of the best programs in the nation. Just look at this stretch:
- 1977-78: 27-3 overall, lost in Elite 8
- 1978-79: 26-6 overall, 2-seed, lost in Final Four
- 1979-80: 26-2 overall, 1-seed, lost in second round
- 1980-81: 27-2 overall, 1-seed, lost in second round
- 1981-82: 26-2 overall, 1-seed, lost in second round
- 1983-84: 27-3 overall, 1-seed, lost in Sweet 16
Now, that’s an amazing run, but it’s also kind of sad. Each time DePaul got a 1-seed, they got a bye to the second round, which means that, with a top overall seed in four of five tournaments, the Blue Demons only won one game. Cummings and Aguirre even starred as teammates together for the first two of those.
Obviously, Meyer was a legend, and his teams were great, so when he called it quits, his son, Joey, took the reins. He didn’t live up to his father, but he did continue a tradition of winning, with seven NCAA Tournaments in his first eight seasons. That also included a pair of Sweet 16s. However, as time went on, Meyer’s teams started to fade off. He was done after a 3-23 season in 1996-97.
Pat Kennedy and then Dave Leitao somewhat brought DePaul back with tournaments made in 2000 and in 2004. DePaul had started to adjust to Conference USA; however, as mentioned previously, life in the Big East didn’t treat them well, and they’ve never been able to recover.
I’m also here to tell you that there have been countless of other solid NBA products from DePaul. Rod Strickland, Wilson Chandler, Tyrone Corbin, and Quentin Richardson are just some of the other names to come out of what used to be a bit of an NBA factory.
Essentially, DePaul rose into prominence under Meyer in the 1940s and became a true powerhouse for about a decade in the 70s and 80s. Even though the success would last into the 90s, it wasn’t enough to have a lasting effect, creating the DePaul program we all know today. However, the bad play they’ve had for the last two decades still hasn’t been bad enough to take away some of the greatness they once experienced. And if they can still recruit guys like Max Strus, there might be enough of a flame to be lit and bring DePaul back!