Big East Basketball: Preseason conference power rankings 2023-24
11. DePaul Blue Demons
Last season: 10-20, 3-17 in the Big East
Head coach Tony Stubblefield seemingly took a few steps backward this past season with the DePaul Blue Demons as they went 3-17 in Big East play and nowhere near the team they were in 2021-22 that went 6-14 in conference action. They find themselves last in the preseason conference power rankings.
The Blue Demons return Da’Sean Nelson, Jalen Terry, Caleb Murphy, Zion Cruz and K.T. Raimey but outside of Nelson, the frontcourt is bare with a few departures. Chico Carter Jr. (South Carolina) should give They’ll need Jeremiah Oden (Wyoming) and Jaden Henley (Minnesota) to make an impact right away to be a competitive squad in Year 3 under Coach Stubblefield.
Nelson will lead the way for DePaul in the painted area, but he’ll need their transfer additions to step up as well. He put up 10.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 1.7 apg on 52.8 percent shooting from the field in his debut season in the Big East. He’ll look to continue his adjustment period since joining DePaul out of Kilgore College (TX).
Terry will look to continue to provide support with starter minutes on the table once again for him in the backcourt. He posted 5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.5 apg across 24 appearances (16 starts) as a junior. Murphy will look to contribute to the backcourt at full health after missing the first 18 games of the 2022-23 season with a wrist injury. He finished with 5.3 ppg, 2.3 apg and 2.0 rpg across 15 appearances as a reserve in his first season with the team as a junior.
They’ll also add Mac Etienne (UCLA) and Elijah Fisher (Texas Tech) which should give them some depth in the frontcourt, but they’ll need to prove they can hang in the Big East among some other top names or things could fall apart for DePaul again.
After losing their final 12 games of the regular-season conference slate in 2022-23, the Blue Demons will look to better all-around play this season to carry them. They did manage to defeat Seton Hall in last year’s Big East Conference Tournament’s opening round but they would go on to fall to Xavier by five points after that to end the season.