When not rooting for the Scarlet Knights, I pull for the Blue Demons — thought I’d share some thoughts on their first two games this season. They’re off until our game on Thursday.
It’s hard to have a feel for this team because it’s essentially a brand new roster. A bit of background: in 2019-20, they started 13-1 with wins against Iowa, Texas Tech, BC, Minnesota and Northwestern. Then started Big East play with a handful of close losses; the losing must have caused some internal issues because the team totally unraveled, and finished the season 16-16 with some 30+ pt losses down the stretch. They returned most of that roster last year, but had some covid issues, never found a rhythm, and HC Dave Leitao was out at season’s end.
Longtime Cinci / Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield was hired to replace Leitao and he rebuilt the team in the portal (I think four guys are back two or three see meaningful minutes). They’ve played two games (Coppin State and Central Michigan), and both games followed a similar pattern: uneven first half for DePaul then they turned it on a bit and pulled away by a bunch in the second half.
Bad News for RU: DePaul is talented and will have a puncher’s chance in every game this year. They’ll likely be a bottom half of the standings team, but they found some decent players in the portal, and will pull out a few unexpected wins.
Javon Freeman-Liberty will probably be the best scorer on the court on Thursday. He’s a bit of a Baker / Harper hybrid. Does a little more than Baker, but doesn’t have Harper’s size or versatility. Like those guys, he’s a streaky shooter. He’s a returning starter for DePaul, but started his career at Valpo. He should be playing the two, but two of DePaul’s incoming guards (a transfer from Oregon and a local high school kid) have been sidelined with ncaa clearance issues, so Freeman-Liberty has been playing the point. I think it slowed him down offensively early in the first game, but he settled in and ended up with 25 points, added 22 more against CMU.
Brandon Johnson (Minnesota transfer) has looked good inside, but that might have something to do with the competition. He’s only 6’8, so might be a good matchup for Cliff. Overall the team looks pretty long and athletic, and it seems like more than a few guys can hit a shot from deep. A big component of their half court offense is swinging the ball around the perimeter until they catch the defense slow to shift, often resulting in someone launching a three. David Jones has been hot to start the year, but looks to me like a guy that will level off against better competition.
Good News for RU: the timing works well for us. Though DePaul pulled away in both games, they’ve looked a little out of sorts for stretches on both sides of the ball. Their guys haven’t been teammates long, they only have two games under their belt as a unit, and they haven’t faced stiff competition yet.
I think that will be a huge advantage given our tough defense. We’ll slow the game and keep them in half court sets, forcing DePaul to communicate and move the ball around. I don’t think that will come easily for them, especially without a natural point guard running the offense. The back door cuts and over the top lobs to the paint that have been working for them against weaker competition will be contested against RU, and Cliff is an inside presence Johnson hasn’t faced yet.
Summary: this will be a dangerous DePaul team if they catch us snoozing, but I think our defensive approach will serve us well given their inexperience as a unit and guard situation. They struggled for stretches against Coppin and CMU, and those stretches should be longer against us. DePaul might keep it close, or we might keep it close for them, but I think we’ll win if we avoid shooting 30% from the field.
It’s hard to have a feel for this team because it’s essentially a brand new roster. A bit of background: in 2019-20, they started 13-1 with wins against Iowa, Texas Tech, BC, Minnesota and Northwestern. Then started Big East play with a handful of close losses; the losing must have caused some internal issues because the team totally unraveled, and finished the season 16-16 with some 30+ pt losses down the stretch. They returned most of that roster last year, but had some covid issues, never found a rhythm, and HC Dave Leitao was out at season’s end.
Longtime Cinci / Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield was hired to replace Leitao and he rebuilt the team in the portal (I think four guys are back two or three see meaningful minutes). They’ve played two games (Coppin State and Central Michigan), and both games followed a similar pattern: uneven first half for DePaul then they turned it on a bit and pulled away by a bunch in the second half.
Bad News for RU: DePaul is talented and will have a puncher’s chance in every game this year. They’ll likely be a bottom half of the standings team, but they found some decent players in the portal, and will pull out a few unexpected wins.
Javon Freeman-Liberty will probably be the best scorer on the court on Thursday. He’s a bit of a Baker / Harper hybrid. Does a little more than Baker, but doesn’t have Harper’s size or versatility. Like those guys, he’s a streaky shooter. He’s a returning starter for DePaul, but started his career at Valpo. He should be playing the two, but two of DePaul’s incoming guards (a transfer from Oregon and a local high school kid) have been sidelined with ncaa clearance issues, so Freeman-Liberty has been playing the point. I think it slowed him down offensively early in the first game, but he settled in and ended up with 25 points, added 22 more against CMU.
Brandon Johnson (Minnesota transfer) has looked good inside, but that might have something to do with the competition. He’s only 6’8, so might be a good matchup for Cliff. Overall the team looks pretty long and athletic, and it seems like more than a few guys can hit a shot from deep. A big component of their half court offense is swinging the ball around the perimeter until they catch the defense slow to shift, often resulting in someone launching a three. David Jones has been hot to start the year, but looks to me like a guy that will level off against better competition.
Good News for RU: the timing works well for us. Though DePaul pulled away in both games, they’ve looked a little out of sorts for stretches on both sides of the ball. Their guys haven’t been teammates long, they only have two games under their belt as a unit, and they haven’t faced stiff competition yet.
I think that will be a huge advantage given our tough defense. We’ll slow the game and keep them in half court sets, forcing DePaul to communicate and move the ball around. I don’t think that will come easily for them, especially without a natural point guard running the offense. The back door cuts and over the top lobs to the paint that have been working for them against weaker competition will be contested against RU, and Cliff is an inside presence Johnson hasn’t faced yet.
Summary: this will be a dangerous DePaul team if they catch us snoozing, but I think our defensive approach will serve us well given their inexperience as a unit and guard situation. They struggled for stretches against Coppin and CMU, and those stretches should be longer against us. DePaul might keep it close, or we might keep it close for them, but I think we’ll win if we avoid shooting 30% from the field.
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