Big East Basketball: Way-too-early 2019-20 preseason Power Rankings

10. DePaul Blue Demons

Last season: 19-17, 7-11 (CBI runner-up)
Key departures: G/F Max Strus (20.1 ppg), G Eli Cain (13.1 ppg), F Femi Olujobi (12.8 ppg)
Key additions: F Carte’Are Gordon
Recruiting Class (3rd in the Big East): F Romeo Weems, G Markese Jacobs, G Oscar Lopez
2019-20 National Projection: 155th
Joker Says: “How much you want?” “Uh, half.“

With three key starters graduating, including two-time All-Big East second-teamer Max Strus, the Blue Demons will likely take a step backwards in 2019-20 as they try to replace nearly half of their minutes, the most in the Big East. However, DePaul’s program is beginning to emanate a faint glimmer of hope for the first time since Dave Leitao’s initial stint in Chicago.

The Blue Demons were the last Big East team standing in 2018-19, storming to the CBI championship round before eventually succumbing to South Florida. (Quick aside – why does the CBI, of all events, feature a best-of-three format for its championship round? What college basketball fan is so shrouded in schadenfreude to watch multiple nights of USF-DePaul? Are we that desperate to re-live the glory days of turn-of-the-century Conference USA and the bottom-of-the-barrel Big East? Anyways, I digress…) Despite falling one win short of the tournament title, DePaul still posted it’s best season in years as it cleared the admittedly low bar of finishing over .500 for the first time since 2006-07.

Junior Paul Reed will be the headliner at Wintrust Arena in 2019-20; the Big East’s Most Improved Player averaged 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds last season on 55/41/77 percent shooting. He came on strong once he moved into the starting lineup for good prior to the start of Big East play, posting 14.0 points per night over his final 27 games.

Alongside Reed will be a pair of freshmen – four-stars Romeo Weems and Markese Jacobs – who highlight DePaul’s best recruiting class since 2007 (currently ranked 26th nationally). The first-year editions of Weems and Jacobs will almost certainly fall short of the production the Blue Demons are losing, but they have the potential to be so much more down the road. Saint Louis transfer Carte’Are Gordon, a former top-100 recruit, will also be eligible to play at the conclusion of the first semester. Gordon averaged 8.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 13 games with the Billikens as a freshman.

DePaul, in all likelihood, will return to its losing ways in 2019-20, but the following year – when Reed is a senior, Weems and Jacobs are sophomores, and Gordon is sprinkled with a bit more seasoning – could come with some legitimate preseason promise. And any DePaul fan that has held on this long can certainly power through one more sluggish season.