The worst decision in college sports


K

Kendrick

Well-Known Member
DePaul men's basketball moving from Conference USA to the Big East.

Here is why:

This season the Blue Demons are 1-16 in Big East play. From 2005 to 2010 DePaul was 21-65 against Big East competition.

I understand why the school made the move. Exposure, influx of revenue and competing against the best schools in the country were very attractive propositions.

However, DePaul does not have Big East talent on its roster. There is Big East talent in Chicago, but those guys go elsewhere around the country to ball.

I think that school needs to swallow its pride and go back to C-USA.
 
For what reason?

Without talent, they are not going to win CUSA either. Nor will they be competitive in the NCAA tourney.
 



Well, the Big East conference cut of NCAA tourney money is probably waaaaaaaaaay more bigger than the Conference USA cut. If you are gonna get your behind tore off the frame anyway, might as well do if for more money. IMHO, the ncaa needs to limit the size of a conference to 12 members.
 
Lewis said:
Well, the Big East conference cut of NCAA tourney money is probably waaaaaaaaaay more bigger than the Conference USA cut. If you are gonna get your behind tore off the frame anyway, might as well do if for more money. IMHO, the ncaa needs to limit the size of a conference to 12 members.
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Exactly.

They have to consider their athletic budget. Do they even have a football team?
 
SUJagFan said:
Exactly.

They have to consider their athletic budget. Do they even have a football team?
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DePaul has never had a football team.

While C-USA revenues are obviously not the same as the Big East, at least the basketball team was competitive. That program has no shot to win the Big East or even win a game in the Big East tournament.
 
kendrick said:
DePaul has never had a football team.

While C-USA revenues are obviously not the same as the Big East, at least the basketball team was competitive. That program has no shot to win the Big East or even win a game in the Big East tournament.
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Well, it's a money issue for them. If they don't have football, then men's basketball is the revenue leader for their athletic program. They have to go where they can make the most money and that's not CUSA.
 
SUJagFan said:
Well, it's a money issue for them. If they don't have football, then men's basketball is the revenue leader for their athletic program. They have to go where they can make the most money and that's not CUSA.
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DePaul is one of the largest Catholic schools in the country. They are not hurting for money.

Their eyes were bigger than their stomach in the case of men's basketball.
 
kendrick said:
DePaul is one of the largest Catholic schools in the country. They are not hurting for money.

Their eyes were bigger than their stomach in the case of men's basketball.
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So, the athletic department is not self-supporting?

If that's the case, why aren't they winning more? Facilities? Talent? Unlimited dollars can fix that. Right?
 
The problem with DePaul is they fail to properly market in their product.

1) They keep hiring these old used car salesmen East Coast coaches with no Chicago ties.
2) They play in the damn suburbs. All-State arena is nice, but it's like 10 miles (30-45 min in Chi-town Traffic) from their downtown campus.

Basically, they have ostracized the entire city. Q. Richardson is the only Public league talent in over a decade. If they hired an up and coming coach from the Public League mafia, they'd selling out the United Center right now. This basically boils down to recruiting. If they could have kept talent like D. Rose in the Chi, the city would explode.

Remember, Marquette in Milwaukee moved with them. Both Catholic schools in urban markets. However Marquette is half the size of DePaul and in a smaller market, yet they have twice the attendance. They invest heavily in their program and it remains successful. Hell, they average more than the Bucks in attendance in the same arena. DePaul missed an opportunity during the Bulls decade of futility.
 
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kendrick said:
DePaul is one of the largest Catholic schools in the country. They are not hurting for money.

Their eyes were bigger than their stomach in the case of men's basketball.
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Most larger schools aren't, but that doesn't mean they don't want more of it. Besides, DePaul wasn't exactly lighting up C-USA either, they only made the tournament twice in 10 years. Let's not make it like DePaul was a thriving program that fell on hard times because it joined the Big East.
 
BULL DAWG said:
The problem with DePaul is they fail to properly market in their product.

1) They keep hiring these old used car salesmen East Coast coaches with no Chicago ties.
2) They play in the damn suburbs. All-State arena is nice, but it's like 10 miles (30-45 min in Chi-town Traffic) from their downtown campus.

Basically, they have ostracized the entire city. Q. Richardson is the only Public league talent in over a decade. If they hired an up and coming coach from the Public League mafia, they'd selling out the United Center right now. This basically boils down to recruiting. If they could have kept talent like D. Rose in the Chi, the city would explode.

Remember, Marquette in Milwaukee moved with them. Both Catholic schools in urban markets. However Marquette is half the size of DePaul and in a smaller market, yet they have twice the attendance. They invest heavily in their program and it remains successful. Hell, they average more than the Bucks in attendance in the same arena. DePaul missed an opportunity during the Bulls decade of futility.
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Yeah, playing all the way out in Rosemont is not smart. Nobody is going to drive from Chicago to Rosemont in droves to watch that drek play.

When Pat Kennedy was the head coach in the early 2000s, he got some talent in there. Even those some said he used shady tactics to get those players, DePaul was super competitive. They took Duke down to wire at Duke, and gave the Kenyon Martin-led Bearcats all they could handle when they were C-USA foes.

Those Public League coaches want those kids to stay and ball in the area. But they want something in return as well.

DePaul needs a Wayne McClain type cat on the bench who has a Public League pipeline to get kids in that program.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
Most larger schools aren't, but that doesn't mean they don't want more of it. Besides, DePaul wasn't exactly lighting up C-USA either, they only made the tournament twice in 10 years. Let's not make it like DePaul was a thriving program that fell on hard times because it joined the Big East.
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True, they were not exactly dominating the C-USA, but they were at least competitive.
 
kendrick said:
True, they were not exactly dominating the C-USA, but they were at least competitive.
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Not really, they had flashes of success, but they were middle of the pack or worse. Their composite conference record for their ten years in C-USA: 61-95. One regular season championship, no tournament championships. DePaul's issues became magnified in the Big East, but they weren't created there.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
Not really, they had flashes of success, but they were middle of the pack or worse. Their composite conference record for their ten years in C-USA: 61-95. One regular season championship, no tournament championships. DePaul's issues became magnified in the Big East, but they weren't created there.
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If DePaul stayed in C-USA, they would not have had to compete against Louisville, Marquette, and Cincy who all moved to the Big East back in 2005. That would have helped a bunch.
 



kendrick said:
If DePaul stayed in C-USA, they would not have had to compete against Louisville, Marquette, and Cincy who all moved to the Big East back in 2005. That would have helped a bunch.
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Since they left C-USA has dropped off big time. They had 4 teams in the NCAA the last year prior to Big East Expansion. They been mostly a 1-bid league since then, usually with Memphis. And if DePaul didn't leave, Memphis would have jumped ship leaving C-USA to compete with the Sun Belt.

Plus DePaul would be the only midwestern school in a Southern Conference and no rivalries. At least DePaul's few loyal fans can get excited about playing other Catholic schools.
 
BULL DAWG said:
Since they left C-USA has dropped off big time. They had 4 teams in the NCAA the last year prior to Big East Expansion. They been mostly a 1-bid league since then, usually with Memphis. And if DePaul didn't leave, Memphis would have jumped ship leaving C-USA to compete with the Sun Belt.

Plus DePaul would be the only midwestern school in a Southern Conference and no rivalries. At least DePaul's few loyal fans can get excited about playing other Catholic schools.
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Pretty much, and with Memphis returning to the pack, they've dropped even further. Coincidentally, DePaul's women's basketball, which did well in C-USA, has continued to thrive in the Big East. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
Pretty much, and with Memphis returning to the pack, they've dropped even further. Coincidentally, DePaul's women's basketball, which did well in C-USA, has continued to thrive in the Big East. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.
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That there's only two divisions of women's basketball. UCONN/Tennessee and everybody else.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
Coincidentally, DePaul's women's basketball, which did well in C-USA, has continued to thrive in the Big East. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.
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You can't compare women's basketball to men's basketball in that regard as it relates to the DePaul situation.
 
kendrick said:
You can't compare women's basketball to men's basketball in that regard as it relates to the DePaul situation.
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Actually I can. It shows that a program that was in a position to succeed continued to do so, whereas the one that wasn't struggled.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
Actually I can. It shows that a program that was in a position to succeed continued to do so, whereas the one that wasn't struggled.
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You can't. You are dealing with a different type of athlete and recruiting process. When Bull Dawg described Chicago Public League boys basketball coaches like the mafia, he wasn't joking about that.

There are certain expectations coaches and others have when you recruit those kids. Oh, and an outsider not familar with the Chicago area like Oliver Purnell makes it tough as well to get committments. They view cats like him as carpetbaggers.

Not to mention DePaul has to fight for kids with Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Villanova, St. Johns and UConn. We are talking about the cream of the crop in men's basketball programs (who have produced NBA talent and gone deep into the NCAA Tournament over the years) that are led by the some of the best coaches in America.

The women's basketball team doesn't have to face those prospects.
 
Lewis said:
UCONN/Tennessee/Stanford/Brittney Grinner
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:lol: ... actually Baylor has a freshman point guard that has been playing great this season... if she can keep up her scoring, Baylor could go all the way...

I agree with your post tho... its clearly those four and then everyone playing for participation medals...
 
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