Two words describe DePaul men’s basketball over the last couple of decades: frustration and underachievement.

DePaul has not been to the NCAA March Madness tournament since the 2003-04 season. They have not won a regular season game versus a Big East opponent since Jan. 18, 2023, when DePaul beat No. 8 ranked Xavier at Wintrust Arena.

New head coach Chris Holtmann and his team are looking to change that narrative and their future with a roster that includes 14 new players and a coaching staff with four new assistant coaches. A brand new era of DePaul men’s basketball, with a clean slate, will officially be underway on Nov. 4 vs. Southern Indiana. 

Graduate transfer from the University of Illinois Chicago Isaiah Rivera is entering his final year of college eligibility and said he believes in the vision that Holtmann and assistant coaches Bryan Mullins and Paris Parham articulated to him.

“(Holtmann) wanted a team of great guys on and off the court,” Rivera said. “That’s what I saw. Everyone here, one through 14, are just great people on and off the court, and that’s going to translate on the court as well.”

Rivera said Holtmann’s resume also made him want to play here in his final year.

“I knew Coach Holt’s resume, and he has flipped programs in a year,” Rivera said. “I just wanted to help him push his vision and really just flip the culture.”

For Holtmann, the change started in practice. His goal is to prepare the players for the rigors of the Big East, both mentally and physically, and to ensure that competitive practices translate into success during the season.

“As we’ve gotten closer and closer to the start of the season, we’ve added a little more conditioning element to them,” Holtmann said. “I think they’ve been really competitive, like most programs are this time. Your physical, competitive guys are vying for playing time and positions and spots.”

Holtmann is hoping those meticulous practices  translate to a game, but he knows it may not be pretty at the start of the season.

“Are we going to have some growing pains, some lumps, some ups and downs?” Holtmann told The DePaulia on Sept. 11. “I think we’d be foolish not to expect that.”

Holtman remains realistic about what the first part of the season will look like. Mullins sees it as a time for growth and learning.

“There is a lot of time before Christmas for us to get better,” Mullins said. “Those first two months, we will learn a lot about our guys.”  

In terms of playing time, Holtmann said that the coaching staff is going to look at everything the team does during practice and each player’s performance.

“That’s what we’ll be really working on this first month and a half of the season, to kind of get a feel for who’s putting in the work and the time,” Holtmann said. “Then, who impacts winning on both ends.”

But do not expect a revolving door of player rotations in the game.

“You can’t play everybody on the roster,” Holtmann said. “That’s not going to happen, we’re not able to do that.”

The roster features 14 players: four freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors (one redshirt, meaning a student-athlete who has sat out a season to extend eligibility), two seniors, and two graduate students. 

Some guys on the roster, Holtmann said, are “at a more developmental phase” of their careers, others more experienced. That means he’ll have to “make some tough decisions” when determining lineups and minutes.

Holtmann and his coaching staff will try to identify who can rise to the challenge when it counts most. 

“Who in these moments embodies that and can be poised, and then who can make smart decisions and then make plays in critical situations?” Holtmann said. “(Those) players win games.”

In the 20 minutes of practice that was open to the media on DePaul basketball media day on Oct. 7, everything was done at a high intensity and at an accelerated pace.

“Once we got to 20-hour weeks we started scrimmaging,” junior forward NJ Benson said. “It was very nice to be able to finally get up and down against each other and run our sets.”

Such high-energy practices are a deliberate strategy to prepare them for the tough competition of the Big East Conference, which many Big East players and coaches believe is the one of the toughest conferences in college basketball.

“(Holtmann) makes practice tougher than the game,” Rivera said. “So when you get into the game, it’s gonna be easier.”

Conor Enright, a redshirt junior guard who transferred from Iowa’s Drake University, said that the coaches will purposely miss foul calls in practice, and then tell the players, “Do you think you guys are going to get those calls in the Big East?”

DePaul has seven straight home games before their first true road game at Texas Tech on Dec. 4. The Blue Demons are hoping to build momentum early in their non-conference schedule. Their first game against a Big East team is on Dec. 10 against Providence. 

DePaul fans seem hopeful.

Even though DePaul only had four seasons above .500 since they last made the NCAA March Madness tournament, the DePaul ticket office saw an increase in men’s basketball season ticket holders from last year’s 3-29 season.

According to Matt Menard, director of ticket sales and service, as of Oct. 16, DePaul men’s basketball had sold 1,777 season tickets, up about 200 from last year.

“This year we renewed 93% of the seats that we had from last year,” Menard said. 

Menard said that the goal every year is to “renew at 90% of the previous year’s season tickets,” which they have done the last two seasons. 

Enright said this DePaul team “has nothing to lose” but also has “something to prove” to those loyal fans.

“We can play with a chip, play hard,” Enright said. “It’s a fresh start for everybody. Whether you came from a good situation or bad one, we all get to come together and form something new.”

With a fresh start, new faces and a competitive edge in practices, there’s cautious optimism that this season could start a turnaround for a program that has long struggled to find consistent success. 

“I just want to resurge DePaul and get their respect back,” Enright said.

Related Stories:

DePaul Athletics looks to boost student attendance at Wintrust

DePaul men’s basketball completes roster with EuroBasket champion

New team, new hope for redemption: men’s basketball preview

Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories, delivered to your inbox every Monday.