DePaul has a new man at the helm, but he has more than a little work to do.
It’s rare (it’s never happened) that I’m interested to see what DePaul will look like this coming season. The reason for my is quite simple: they have a fantastic coach at the helm now. Chris Holtmann is not stranger to the Big East, or to winning. DePaul is also no stranger to the Big East, but they have struggled with the latter for as long as I can remember. (ed. note: Braydan was three the last time the Blue Demons made the NCAA tournament. That season they won Conference USA and won an NCAA game. They’ve had three winning seasons since.)
Key returning players
There are no returners from the Blue Demons squad that were genuinely awful last season. For DePaul fans, that’s probably great news. In case you aren’t one of the ones scarred bu that season, remember that they were 3-29 and went 0-20 in the conference. They finished 304th in the KenPom, just below Bethune Cookman.
Key incoming players
Since Holtmann has built a completely new team, we’ll try to keep things brief and check the headliners.
Jacob Meyer is one such headliner, as he led Coastal Carolina in scoring last season while shooting 40.2% from three. Joining Meyer to help with the deep shooting is UIC transfer Isaiah Rivera. Rivera put up 15.4 ppg on 46/41/77 shooting splits last season. Rounding out the “big” names is David Skogman, who is coming off an injury-shortened season with Davidson. While Meyer and Rivera will likely be the main guard duo that is leaned on, Skogman is expected to be the main threat in the post and can keep defenses honest with shooting ability from deep.
Obviously, DePaul will have more than three players and they transferred another handful of solid, if not eye-catching, contributors to go along with a few freshmen.
Outlook
What’s the outlook for DePaul going forward? They probably aren’t going to be punching at the top of the conference overnight, but Holtmann is more than a competent coach. Literally a single conference win is a step in the right direction, and I believe this team can get that done. It’s still gonna be a big ask for DePaul to not be basement dwellers for most of the season. My expectation for the Blue Demons is for them to still be bad, but for Holtmann to pull the pin on the metaphorical fire extinguisher in his attempt to douse the literal dumpster fire he took over.