2008 Depaul Blue Demons Basketball Preview

It’s been awhile since the Blue Demons of DePaul (11-19 overall, 6-12 Big East) have been to the NCAA Tournament. After the 2003-2004 regular season, the 12-4 Blue Demons went to the Big Dance where they won one and lost one. Since that time, they’ve been to the NIT twice. Last year, they simply sat at home during tournament time.

Power forward Mac Koshwal (31.3 MPG, 10.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.0 APG, 49.6 FG%, 55.4 FT%), who is now a sophomore, played well in his frosh season. Although he was asked to play out of position much of the time, Koshwal managed to make his presence known. Senior center Matija Poscic (10.7 MPG, 2.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.2 APG, 43.1 FG%, 62.5 FT%), who worked had to bulk up in the off-season, should be more effective in the post. Freshman Krystopher Faber, who signed late with DePaul, will put in important minutes at center. Seven-foot-two freshman Kenechukwu Obi will come off the bench to help out in the middle. Obi needs a lot of work, but he could become a dominant rebounder and defender.

In the backcourt, swingman Dar Tucker (23.6 MPG, 13.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.0 APG, 43.5 FG%, 63.0 FT%), who came off the bench last year and managed to impress, looks to start. Tucker was the team’s second top scorer last season, which was his freshman year. Considered to be a fine team player and passer, the versatile guard needs to hone his defensive skills. Jubari Currie (15.0 MPG, 4.4 PPG, 0.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 47.1 FG%, 42.2 FT%), who has a 47.1% 3-PT success rate, will play at shooting guard and junior Will Walker (20.6 MPG, 9.6 RPG, 2.2 RPG, 1.1 APG, 46.3 FG%, 66.7 FT%) will be asked to man the point.

This DePaul club is a little better than last year’s team, which ended up 13th in the conference. An 11th or 12th-place finish looks likely. Coach Jerry Wainwright’s teams have traditionally had slow starts. It would help if these guys could kick it into gear at the start of the season. This is a young team and that fact makes a NCAA berth seem unlikely. The NIT looks almost certain in 2008-2009.