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Chris Holtmann talks DePaul's 98-52 win over Northern Illinois
At 6-0, DePaul has doubled its season win total from last year. Blue Demons head coach Chris Holtmann talked the win after the game.
CHICAGO - Can it be? Maybe finally, after being dormant for so long, DePaul basketball has done enough to earn some attention for the right reasons?
It's not just the fact DePaul has hired a coach with a litany of success in the Big East, or how the Blue Demons went 7-0 in November, now sitting at 8-2.
Take those two facts and add a 91-72 win over Wichita State on Saturday, and you have a DePaul program that's finally earn the right to garner attention in Chicago.
Holtmann knows the score in Lincoln Park; all he's done is the right things at Wintrust Arena. That's resonating from the team to around the college basketball community.
"We all just really want to win," DePaul forward NJ Benson said. "I feel like where people see us in our league kind of puts a chip on all of our shoulders also. So we want to do the best we can finish at the top."
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results, which is something DePaul had done for years.
The Blue Demons cycled through Jerry Wainwright, Dave Leiato's second stint, Oliver Purnell and Tony Stubblefield in an attempt to create a basketball program that even somewhat resembled what Ray and Joey Meyer had back in the 1980s and 1990s.
It's here that I remind you DePaul has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
In December 2024, Chris Holtmann might have put together a team that actually has a chance.
DePaul's Blue Demons program is built on amnesia and uses the rules of engagement in modern-day college basketball to its advantage.
Amnesia, as there are no players remaining from previous DePaul rosters to recall how other years went. Rules of engagement, as in the way Holtmann constructed his roster and staff with transfer portal additions and former head coaches, respectively.
While Holtmann didn't go out and land the top transfers available, he added plenty of players who played plenty of college basketball games. He added coaches who have coached plenty of basketball games.
That experience shined through Saturday when DePaul trailed Wichita State 47-42 at halftime. After falling to Texas Tech last weekend and Providence in overtime on Tuesday, DePaul rallied itself and beat a KenPom top-100 team in Wichita State.
No, the Demons didn't just beat the Shockers. They beat them by 19.
They also have been beating teams in different ways and with different players. The best example is how David Skogman scored 22 against Providence on Tuesday. He didn't score a point on Saturday, instead giving way to Jacob Meyer's 23 points against the Shockers.
"I've learned that it doesn't really matter who's playing," Benson said. "Coach always says that anybody can play."
A good example is Indiana transfer CJ Gunn, who scored 22 against Wichita State.
Gunn came to DePaul from a Power 4 program, bought into what Holtmann was selling and shook off a reputation of being a player who only plays one way. With Holtmann, Gunn has shaken that reputation.
"That’s kind of what was said about him," Holtmann said. "He’s a talented kid and he’s grown as a player. He’s embraced playing a certain way, and a byproduct is he’s really been able to help our team."
Gunn isn't the only one that's begun to shake reputations.
DePaul has been trying to shake its reputation as the afterthought of Chicago college basketball for decades.
There were flashes, like the Blue Demon's upset of No. 8 Xavier during the 2022-2023 season, the 19-17 finish in the 2018–2019 season or the quarterfinals appearance in the 2007 NIT.
Those flashes never shined bright enough or were sustained enough. Especially when DePaul has a history of sustained success.
Especially when programs like Northwestern, Loyola and Illinois have had multiple NCAA Tournament berths and sustained success, earning Chicago's interest and curiosity.
DePaul isn't there yet. But for the first time in years, it feels like an NCAA Tournament is in the realm of possibility.
Turnarounds in this era of college basketball aren't unheard of. Iowa State won two games at the end of the 2021 season, and won 22 at the end of the 2022 season. In the same two-season span, Wake Forest went from six wins to 25.
Chicago native and Missouri head coach Dennis Gates took the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in his first year, one year removed from Cuonzo Martin's firing. Lamont Paris won 11 games in Year 1 in South Carolina; He took the Gamecocks to the tournament in Year 2 with 26 wins.
Take heed: These success stories are with Power 4 teams. DePaul needs to show so much more in Big East play to even make a blip on the selection committee's radar. But, you don't have this kind of talk without an 8-2 start.
A couple of marquee wins in Big East and DePaul shouldn't just have your attention. The Blue Demons will demand your curiosity.