DePaul Blue Demons

2023-24 Result: 3-29 (0-20 Big East)

Key Additions

Jacob Meyer (Coastal Carolina)

Isaiah Rivera (Illinois-Chicago)

David Skogman (Davidson)

David Thomas (Mercer)

JJ Traynor (Louisville)

Conor Enright (Drake)

Layden Blocker (Arkansas)

NJ Benson (Missouri State)

It would be awfully difficult for DePaul to have a worse season than it did last season. They went 0-20 in the Big East, which led to an overhaul of their roster and a new head coach for the 2024 campaign. They brought in former Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann, hoping that he can attract some recruits to get DePaul playing competitive basketball, which they have not done for a long time. The last time they made the Big Dance was 2004, so they are now over 20 years since their last appearance. DePaul’s top three scorers from last season are no longer on the team, but Holtmann did a solid job bringing in some guys that can help them now. The entire projected starting lineup is made up of transfers.

DePaul was in the bottom five in the country in points allowed per game last season. While they returned zero players from last year’s team and brought in a new coach, one would hope that a team in the Big East won’t repeat that statistic, but again, they have not played in the NCAA Tournament since 2004. One of the glaring holes on this team is its rim protection. David Skogman, a Davidson transfer, is expected to start at the five, but he is more known for his offensive game than his defense. One would expect the backcourt to be better defensively to hopefully limit the amount of rim protection that Skogman will need to do, but with so much turnover, it is unclear how quickly this team can become connected on the defensive end. Expect a better defense, but still one with some significant holes. The only thing the Blue Demons can hope for is Chris Holtmann to instill a culture that gets them back to the team they were in the 1980s.

Offensively, Holtmann made an effort to bring in mid and high major guys. The projected starting lineup appears to be a lineup that can really shoot the three. From last season, four of the guys shot over 40% from beyond the arc, including Skogman, who shot 47% on 4 attempts per game. He should really help to space out the floor for the Blue Demons. With an entirely new roster and a new coach, it is another question of how quickly they will pick up his system and gel together. The three guard lineup of Enright, Meyer and Rivera will spearhead the offense, but much more will be asked of Enright than what he was asked to do at Drake as a sophomore. They are missing a wing scoring punch, as their bench scorer will be David Thomas, another transfer guard from Mercer. The one thing these guys should do is make the three ball, which should keep them in some games against some of the low end Big East teams.

Chris Holtmann’s first season at DePaul should produce better results than the Blue Demons had last season. Expect DePaul to win more games in their non-conference schedule at least. The biggest challenge with a complete roster overhaul and new coach at a lower end school in a big conference is how quickly a culture can not only be created, but bought into. Holtmann will have this program going in the right direction, but the Blue Demons will have to wait until at least March of 2026 to get back to the NCAA tournament.