I watched DePaul's 80-69 loss to Marquette on ESPN2 last night and while listening to the genius that is Fran Fraschilla (small bit of sarcasm) point out how DePaul can change - don't worry he stated the obvious - I had my own observations about some things from this season with the Blue Demons.
1. Maybe Mac Koshwal's lack of touches is partially Koshwal's fault. After watching last night's game from the eye of the television camera instead of down on the court I began to wonder if maybe I had been unfairly criticizing DePaul's guards the past two seasons. It seems like Koshwal needs to be more aggressive about getting into solid post position. He also should be reposting more than he is. He took 11 shots and 9 free throws last night (and also had 3 turnovers), so he was getting his touches. But against a small Marquette team it could've been so many more. This isn't a knock on Koshwal either. He had a double-double last night (18 points, 11 boards) and I think he's a fine player, but he could be so much more.
2. Tracy Webster doesn't let DePaul give up. One of the things I was most impressed by on Wednesday was how hard the Blue Demons tried, even after they got down by a large margin. With 14:38 remaining and down by 24 the game was essentially over, but DePaul kept fighting. Webster was reluctant to press guard-heavy Marquette, but eventually he did and it paid off by making the game as least closer down the stretch. He pushed the right button there. The Marquette fans were a little bugged by Webster's late timeout calls, but this was a good teaching moment and it was worth it. I thought freshman Tony Freeland epitomized the Blue Demons' comeback with his hard work and late fouls.
3. The third banana continues to elude the Blue Demons. Koshwal scored 18 and Will Walker scored 13 (on 20 shots), but there isn't that consistent third scorer. Sure, Eric Wallace scored 11 on Wednesday in 18 minutes and just 5 shots, but he's very limited offensively. He can dunk. If someone would emerge as a consistent scoring threat - maybe Jeremiah Kelly, Mike Stovall, or Devin Hill - then this team would be in a much better place.
There were some things to build off of in this game. Whether DePaul can work on and build upon these three things will probably dictate how the season finishes.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: DePaul, Mac Koshwal, Tracy Webster
Great blog, John. it is on today's "Hot on ChicagoNow:"
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/hot-on-chicagonow/2010/02/hot-on-chicagonow-february-4-2010.html