DePaul Basketball: Key 2020 offseason storylines for Blue Demons

2. Who are the new guys at Depaul?

While DePaul will have the gargantuan task of replacing Paul Reed and Jalen Coleman-Lands, they add some key new players that could help.

First, we can look at Ray Salnave. The graduate transfer from Monmouth was phenomenal last season as he had 14.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG and had 3.2 Win Shares (which was 9th in the MAAC). Furthermore, he made all the All-MAAC 2nd-team on a team that finished 12-8 in conference play. Salnave won’t be a replacement for Coleman-Lands as he’s a multi-dimensional player; the most notable difference is he attacks the rim more.

This led to him averaging 7.2 free throw attempts last season where he shot an incredible 85%. Salnave isn’t a fantastic passer as he averages almost the same amount of assists as turnovers, but Charlie Moore will most likely handle more of the point guard duties with Salnave off the ball.

In terms of recruiting, DePaul will add three-star guard Kobe Elvis from Ontario. With a crowded backcourt, it’s unclear how Elvis will pan out, but head coach Dave Leitao said he was a “scoring guard that is improving as a facilitator every day”. I’d expect Elvis to be a spark plug off the bench, and depending on his transition to Division One basketball, Elvis could make a run as one of the first guards off the bench behind Salnave and Moore.

There is one more player I felt worth mentioning who likely won’t play this season: Javon Freeman Liberty. The transfer from Valparaiso averaged 19 PPG 6.1 RPG, and was All-MAAC First-Team and Defensive First Team. Freeman-Liberty is a game-changer for the Blue Demons but needs a waiver to be able to play this season. Whether he gets a waiver is impossible to guess, that means for now I’ll have to assume he’s sitting out until shown otherwise.

Next, we look at the guy in charge of the entire squad.