DePaul hasn’t played in an NCAA Tournament since 2004 and has posted just one winning record in its last 19 seasons.
That sounds dark, but the Blue Demons are coming off their best Big East showing (8-12) since 2006-07 and parlayed a bigger NIL budget to rebuild a roster that third-year coach Chris Holtmann hopes can be in the mix for an NCAA berth.
Given that DePaul sits at No. 56 in KenPom’s preseason rankings — 43 spots higher than it finished last season — Holtmann’s crew appears to be continuing to trend in the right direction entering Monday’s opener against West Georgia in Chicago.
“Our first two years here, the jump we have been able to take as a team has been a significant one,” Holtmann said. “Going from 314 in the NET (in 2023-24) to 101 last year is a good jump. We understand that, really, the hardest step is the next one. And that is from being in that top-100 grouping to now positioning yourself to be a real factor when it comes to talking about postseason play.”
DePaul’s top returners are starting point guard Layden Blocker (11.1 ppg, 3.5 apg), starting power forward Theo Pierre-Justin (4.0 ppg, 39.7% on 3-point attempts), backup guard Kruz McClure (5.0 ppg) and 7-foot-2 Fabian Flores (2.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg).
The Blue Demons landed six veteran transfers to make their squad bigger, deeper and more explosive offensively. Seven-footers Magoon Gwath (San Diego State) and Wilson Jacques (Fresno State) join Flores upfront while point guard Noah Meeusen (Arizona State) and wings Ade Popoola (Tulsa), Koree Cotton (UTRGV) and Kahmare Holmes (Wofford) all will play big roles.
During exhibition play, Popoola scored 25 points and shot 7 of 13 from 3-point range in a seven-point win at Loyola (Chicago). Then, in an eight-point home loss to Notre Dame, Flores, McClure, Cotton and Popoola all hit double figures.
West Georgia begins its final season transitioning from Division II to Division I, which means the Wolves must wait until next year to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament.
Ninth-year head coach Dave Moore welcomes back Chas Lewless (12.8 ppg, 2.9 apg) and Kenneth Clhme (5.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg) from a squad that went 15-17 and finished tied for fifth in the ASUN, which has blended its football schools with the WAC to form the United Athletic Conference.
Moore, per Blue Ribbon, does not have an NIL budget, so he built a roster that features just one senior on scholarship — Alabama A&M transfer Lou Hutchinson.
“We’re going to need to be a program that wins together,” Moore told Blue Ribbon. “We don’t have two or three forces that are going to carry us all year long.”