Max Strus probably wishes Tuesday’s game was in Chicago.
The Cleveland Cavaliers guard and his teammates have outdone nearly everyone’s expectations, clinching the Eastern Conference’s top seed in the upcoming playoffs with a win against the Chicago Bulls in Cleveland on Tuesday, April 8.
Last time the Cavaliers were in this position in 2016, they lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy.
If the game had been in Chicago, like their last matchup on March 4, Strus would have had more than 50 friends and family present to watch.
Before that March 4 game with his folks in the stands, the 29-year-old Hickory Hills native told The DePaulia that if he had a free afternoon to go anywhere he wanted to go in Chicagoland, he would go home and “probably just spend some time with my family.”
Whether in front of his family, on the road or back in Cleveland, the DePaul alumnus has found himself a starter on the top team in the conference. A five-year college student, Strus started his career at Lewis University before transferring to DePaul for his final two campaigns. He has not stopped climbing.
Now in Cleveland after previously playing in Chicago and Miami, Strus’ team is chock-full of talented players who had largely impressive collegiate careers. Some are alumni of elite basketball programs like Texas, USC and Auburn. They have two 2019 national champions out of Virginia.
Though the former Blue Demon star — who in 2018 became only the second in DePaul history to score more than 700 points in a season — did not play for a national powerhouse, Strus is still an integral part of DePaul basketball, seven years later.
“Max Strus is the kind of alum every program hopes for,” said Taylor Stapleton, DePaul’s executive associate athletics director and chief revenue officer. “Despite all his success at the highest level, he’s never lost touch with DePaul … Max is consistently there for our program. He takes the time to build genuine relationships with the team, and that says everything about who he is.”
Stapleton said getting in contact with Strus is “like chatting with an old friend” and that he is a regular visitor on campus, spending time with men’s basketball head coach Chris Holtmann last summer during Holtmann’s first few months leading the program.
“He made a point of coming to the gym,” vice president and director of athletics DeWayne Peevy said. “I walked in the gym one day and he was on the scout team.”
Holtmann was coaching at Butler University when Strus transferred in 2016 and was recruiting the then-sophomore along with DePaul.
“Holtmann’s done it the right way everywhere he’s been. It’s been impressive to watch … he was a guy I wanted to play for when I was transferring,” Strus said. “I know what he does with his programs, I know he’s trying to get the right character kids, the right motive kids that are going to build a culture here.”
Peevy said Strus’s involvement with the team goes beyond the walls of the Sullivan Athletic Center, being the most recent figure in a long list of esteemed alumni that Peevy hopes to bring to the forefront of the fan base.
“That’s one of the reasons we want to get back to our jersey retirements,” Peevy said. “We’ve got one of the best alumni bases in the country, and that’s something I felt like we weren’t letting people know enough.”
Peevy hinted that while Strus is still ineligible for a jersey retirement, his No. 31 jersey could one day join George Mikan, Mark Agguire, Terry Cummings and Dave Corzine’s in the rafters of Wintrust Arena.
“I’m sure he’ll have his due time,” Peevy said.
Strus is about to take basketball’s biggest stage for the fifth time in his six professional seasons. The NBA Playoffs begin this Saturday, April 19.
“It’s fun being a part of good teams,” Strus said. “I’ve had a pretty good career so far, so I’m looking to keep building off of that, and obviously playing on winning teams and teams that are competing for championships is what you want. We got a good chance of making a run in the playoffs.”
The Cavaliers will face one of the four Play-In Tournament teams in the first round after the mini-tournament concludes this week — the Bulls are one of the four teams. Perhaps Strus will get a chance to play back at home next week; his 50 biggest supporters and an entire university will be hanging on the edge of their seats.
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