By approximately 4:00p this afternoon, Syracuse should have strolled into Allstate Arena in the ‘burbs of Chicago and performed another pulmonary embalism on DePaul’s down and out Demons.
On paper, it’s not a fair fight. The Orange are a Top-3 team, the Demons have one Big East win. Jim Boeheim is a Hall-of-Fame coach. DePaul is led by an interim zombie after firing hapless Jerry Wainwright three weeks ago.
There, of course, are two things that scare any SU fan today; 1) A potential Syracuse letdown 2) DePaul’s 108-69 win over Syracuse on March 2, 2006, which is still the worst loss in Jim Boeheim’s coaching tenure.
No one truly expects either one of these things, primarily because the Demons suck so bad. Like really bad. So bad, in fact, that just a decade ago Quentin Richardson was ballin’ at DePaul – and today you could argue the program should be demoted to the Horizon League.
Kids might not remember Mark Aguirre (pictured), but this dude killed. He was on the¬†cover of SI as a Demon back in the early ’80s. He was devastating in college – and had a terrific NBA career with Dallas and Detroit.
How did DePaul lose itself? Terrific piece by Jon Greenberg earlier this month at ESPN.com:
“DePaul has regressed tremendously as the last two coaches failed to harness the steady talent that comes from the Chicagoland area, from the northernmost suburbs to northwest Indiana.
Who should come in and save the Blue Demons from the stifling mediocrity that has pushed the program below Southern Illinois and Northwestern — not to mention Illinois and the rest of the Big Ten.
This… isn’t officially rock bottom. That low probably came when Joey Meyer’s final team in 1997 went 3-23, but this is close, only because Blue Demons basketball has become a non-entity both in the city and nationally. It wasn’t ready to enter the bloated Big East, and without immediate action and a lot of luck, it will take years to catch up.
Let’s face it, when you talk about Chicago sports, DePaul basketball is about as relevant as the Blackhawks in the halls of Morgan Park High School.”
Sorry DePaul, for today – let’s keep it that way.
