tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10389503.post2460088121096252760..comments2023-10-20T04:16:20.694-05:00Comments on Cracked Sidewalks: The Rest of the Big East, Part IUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10389503.post-85791691368910633092011-10-23T20:35:14.460-05:002011-10-23T20:35:14.460-05:00Long time lurker, first time commenter. I'm a...Long time lurker, first time commenter. I'm a DePaul fan who really respects (most of) the articles posted here.<br /><br />A couple of points about my team...<br /><br />1. Yeah, we're already banged up. But we've still got more depth than we did last year. Let me drop some names on you... Mike Stovall, Devin Hill, Mario Stula, Mike Bizoukas. The new guys couldn't possibly suck more than those guys did.<br /><br />2. Two guys who I think people are overlooking heading into the season... Jeremiah Kelly and Moses Morgan. Both seemed to "get it" down the stretch last year. And I think Morgan would have beaten out Freeland to start at small forward, anyway. Kelly really shot the ball well down the stretch last year, and Morgan was a bit streaky, but after Melvin was hurt, he was averaging double digits in terms of points last year in the year.<br /><br />3. As a group, DePaul seemed to "get it" to a certain degree late in the season. After they got blown out by Notre Dame, they followed it up with a four point loss at Louisville, a three point loss to Cincinnati, an 11-point loss at WVU that got blown open in the last three minutes, a win at Providence, and an OT loss against Villanova. Melvin gets hurt, and even without him, they nearly beat South Florida and Rutgers.<br /><br />Give the freshman the summer to improve their games (a college player's biggest leap forward is typically between their freshmen and sophomore seasons), a team bonding trip to France, and an infusion of athleticism to play Purnell's pressing style, and I don't think things are quite as bleak as you make them out to be.<br /><br />Then again, I could just be wildly optimistic.Mike Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317277057754474465noreply@blogger.com