Summer school, for most, is a time to either catch up on course credits or get ahead.

For the DePaul men’s basketball team, summer school is a way to stay on campus and develop as a team.

Coming off a disappointing 2012-2013 campaign, summer practices began June 18 with a team looking to make major strides in the upcoming season. That team, however, looks drastically different.

A strong 2013 recruiting class and transfers added seven new players – Billy Garrett Jr., R.J.  Currington, Tommy Hamilton Jr., Forrest Robinson, Greg Sequele, Sandi Marcius and Myke Henry – for Head Coach Oliver Purnell to get acquainted with. Five players – Moses Morgan, Jordan Price, Montray Clemons, Derrell Robertson and Donnavan Kirk – departed by transferring to other schools.

The new players could very well end up being a positive, but the team has to take its time and grow over the summer first.

“Every year is different because of the makeup of your team,” Purnell said. “(There are) a lot of young freshmen, some experienced players and transfer players. We look at it and gauge what you need for that particular group – I’m expecting we’re going to have a breakthrough year.”

Summer practices are broken up into two major sessions, with the first already happening and the second beginning the second session of summer school, July 22. Purnell said that the beginning of these practices is to stress fundamentals.

At the first practice, only eight players – Brandon Young, Cory Dollins, Durrell McDonald, Billy Garrett, RJ Currington, Forrest Robinson, Myke Henry and Cleveland Melvin – participated fully, while the other seven were limited due to factors such as conditioning or healing from injuries.  

“We’re doing a lot of fundamental, breakdown stuff,” Purnell said. “Reading screens, moving without the basketball, passing – a lot of fundamentals. We will do some team stuff as soon as we get guys we feel like that makes sense.”

To Purnell, summer practices are also about finding out how each player will fit into his system. The fourth-year coach has run an up-tempo style throughout his coaching career, mixing in full-court presses and stressing the fast break.

During his time at DePaul, Purnell’s system has not always worked. While the team averaged 71.4 points per game (third in the Big East), defense has been a huge liability. The team gave up 75.3 points per game (second in the Big East) in 2012 and 76.7 points per game the season before. Under three seasons of Purnell, DePaul is 30-64 overall and 6-40 in conference play.

However, Purnell said that changes to the system will come based on how these practices go.

“That’s the great thing about being able to start here in June: you get a chance by middle of July to have an idea of what you want to do,” Purnell said. “Whether you want to run more or run less; whether you want to press more, press less or want to play more zone or not – we’re in the process of evaluating.”

Areas where the team can improve with its new roster are shooting and rebounding, Purnell said. DePaul shot 43.4 percent from the field, but just 29.92 percent on three-pointers. The Blue Demons also averaged 34.2 rebounds a game while giving up 38.1.

It is good news then that the Blue Demons went under rapid changes that should affect both areas. DePaul added three new big men, including Purdue’s Sandi Marcius, to bolster the front-court. Billy Garrett Jr., a top 100 recruit, could also have a big impact on shooting from downtown.

“I look at it as an opportunity to get better,” Purnell said. “We clearly like the guys coming in and that’s why we recruited them. Bottom line is we have to get better defensively, which includes rebounding. I think the big guys coming in, along with the perimeter players; we have a chance to do that.”

So with a redefined roster, just how much better will the Blue Demons be?

“The team, certainly, has improved from a win-loss standpoint. We are a better shooting team, a better deeper team. Those things should translate into having more success,” Purnell said. “We are going to have a team that plays extremely hard that gets along on the floor and represents DePaul in a way that our fans want it represented.”