Big East Basketball: Ranking best homecourt advantages for 2020-21 season

9. DePaul Blue Demons Homecourt: Wintrust Arena

As much as I don’t want to continue a frequent Big East trend of Depaul being in last place, it’s only the truth that they still rank last on a home-court advantage list. In 2016 when DePaul picked up a huge upset win on their home floor against a Providence team ranked 11th in the nation, only 5,114 fans were in attendance in a stadium capacity of 18,500. DePaul’s home court has not been indicative of the difficulty of winning road games in the Big East.

Including three seasons with a below .500 record, DePaul is 57-59 at home since the 2013-2014 season, the first season of Big East realignment. While DePaul has definitely surprised the conference on numerous occasions, this has typically been the only place in the Big East you’re supposed to win. I attended a DePaul game a couple of years ago and while the student section did their job well, there was still way too low of the number of people present in both the student section and the stadium.

However, DePaul has made significant progress with their home court advantage and real progress as a program as well since the beginning of the Big East. Before the 2017 season, DePaul was playing their home games at All-State Arena, a venue that was a hike for DePaul students to even attend the games. More than 15 miles away from campus and probably more than a 30-minute drive from campus, it’s understandable why many DePaul students didn’t go to the games if they even had the ability to.

While Wintrust Arena is still not directly on campus, it’s a fantastic arena that has made a huge improvement for their home-court advantage. While DePaul has still finished last in the Big East the past two years, the team has sincerely improved. With seven conference wins in 2019, that was still technically tied for 8th place in the conference and DePaul picked up four postseason wins in the College Basketball Invitational, falling short in the tournament championship (16-7 at home that season as well).

Last season DePaul looked like a great team during non-conference play, picking up several high-quality wins (3 against Big Ten opponents) and was on the border of being nationally ranked. The crowd was absolutely electric in a win against Texas Tech and they stormed the floor after winning in overtime.

I’ve always thought Billy Garrett was one of the most underrated Big East stars (NBA experience with the New York Knicks recently too) but DePaul has added significantly more star power to their rosters the past couple years. Current Chicago Bull Max Strus was amazing during his time at DePaul and led the Blue Demons to some impressive wins. Paul Reed is an NBA talent entering the draft this year and Romeo Weems is a rising Big East star with NBA talent as well.

With sincere hope for the product to improve on the court and a new Athletic Director joining DePaul this year, we could see DePaul’s home court improve immensely soon.