Demonstar 19965/12/2023 ![]() In fact, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul's senior associate athletic director, is tired of Blue Demons coaches using the academic standards as a recruiting crutch. Historically stricter than those of the NCAA, DePaul's academic policies have cost the school its share of Chicago high school players, especially those from the Public League.īut the school's admissions policies alone don't explain why recruiting began to suffer. Even after Joey Meyer replaced Ray Meyer in 1984, DePaul continued to win, averaging 21 victories during the next eight seasons.Īs always, there were-and still are-DePaul's stiff academic requirements. Beginning in 1976, the Blue Demons were NCAA postseason no-shows only twice in the next 17 years. Recruits flocked to DePaul, thanks to the national exposure and the likelihood of an NCAA tournament appearance. "You can evaluate anything you want about recruiting, but the No. "We were the TV school," said Jim Molinari, a former DePaul assistant and now the head coach at Bradley. DePaul recruiters could get into the house of almost any top-50 high school player. Those were the salad days, when DePaul basketball was beamed coast to coast on WGN, and infant ESPN was still the network for tractor pulls, not college sports. It began seasons earlier, when the Blue Demons were as adored as any basketball program in the country. ![]() It didn't begin with DePaul's 16-15 record in 1992. This is where it gets complicated, mostly because the recruiting drought was years in the making. "There could be a complicated conversation we could have for three or four hours, or there is a very simple one: We didn't get the talent," said Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw.īut why? How did DePaul quit attracting the nation's finest recruits, to say nothing of the city's best players? How do you go from a national recruiting powerhouse to a national afterthought in less than four years?
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