Waking the Sleeping Demon | Maize's DePaul Dynasty

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2021-22 D1 Men's Basketball Awards
Norton Award: SG Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
Most Outstanding Player: SG Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
Player of the Year: SG Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
Defensive Player of the Year: PF Dylan Disu, Texas
Freshman of the Year: PF Trey Kaufman, Purdue
Coach of the Year: Mark Turgeon, Maryland

First Team All Americans
SG Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
SG Elijah Harkless, Oklahoma
SG Aaron Wiggins, Maryland
PF Trey Kaufman, Purdue
C Chris Vogt, Wisconsin

Second Team All Americans
SG Tamar Bates, Indiana
SG David Johnson, Louisville
SF D'Marco Dunn, North Carolina
PF Kaiden Rice, Georgetown
PF Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame

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2021-22 Men's Basketball Awards
Player of the Year: PG Collin Gillespie, Villanova
Defensive Player of the Year: SF Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall
Freshman of the Year: SG Jayden Taylor, Butler
Coach of the Year: LaVall Jordan, Butler

First Team All Americans
PG Collin Gillespie, Villanova
SG Jayden Taylor, Butler
SF Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall
PF Kaiden Rice, Georgetown
C Isaiah Whaley, UConn

Second Team All Americans
SG Adam Kunkel, Xavier
SG Aminu Mohammed, Georgetown
PF Jermaine Samuels, Villanova
PF Tre King, Georgetown
C Cesare Edwards, Xavier

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Assistant Padgett Steps Down After One Season with DePaul
Assistant Coach Scott Padgett, the former NBA player and Kentucky Wildcat, has decided to leave DePaul after just one season on the coaching staff. The decision came with a short press release that declared Padgett's interest in spending more time with his family, away from basketball.

This past season, he worked closely with the team's big men and was also instrumental in scouting opponents before each game. His experience as a Head Coach was key for first year Head Coach Kenny Payne.

Prior to DePaul, Padgett had spent six seasons as the Head Coach at Samford. He compiled 84 wins over his six seasons, including a trip to the CIT Tournament after a 20-win season in 2017.

Besides his six years as a Head Coach, he was also an Assistant at three other schools over six seasons. That was after an eight year professional basketball career, including 7 seasons in the NBA.

A former first round pick, Padgett was an NCAA Champion as part of Kentucky's 1998 title team. The big man was instrumental and brought that experience into his coaching.

Padgett's departure opens a spot on the coaching staff. Kenny Payne has said he would like to find another coach with similar experience; hoping to keep some consistency after a solid first season in Chicago.

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DePaul Forward Kok Yat Enters Transfer Portal
After his first season on campus, freshman Kok Yat has decided to transfer from DePaul. The former high three-star prospect was unhappy with his playing time and is looking for another opportunity to continue his college career.

Yat is a 6'8" combo forward that saw mostly reserve minutes in his first season. Still growing and maturing, Yat is a bit of a raw prospect but has a high ceiling given his skillset and size.

It's been reported that he will be considering some of the schools that originally offered him a scholarship. As a member of the Class of 2021, Yat had 14 Division 1 offers all from Power 5 and high-end mid-majors.

It's expected that he will be considering transferring to some of those schools with initial interest; including Auburn, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami and Saint Louis.

Yat's departure also opens up a scholarship. This comes at the same time that the coaching staff is back to scouting the Class of '22. After the decommitment from Chisom Okpara, DePaul has made multiple contacts and offers.

It's possible they could now add two more players to this recruiting class. Otherwise, DePaul might be looking into the transfer portal themselves.

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Payne Adds Luther Riley to DePaul Coaching Staff
Head Coach Kenny Payne is already facing a lot of changes in his first full offseason with DePaul. He needs to fill two scholarships and add a coach to replace the departed Scott Padgett. He quickly handled the latter; hiring Luther Riley as an Assistant Coach.

Riley is the former Head Coach at Alcorn State. Prior to his three seasons at the helm of Alcorn State, he was one of the winningest coaches in Mississippi high school basketball history. Leading Provine High School for eleven years, Riley compiled an 80% win percentage and won 5 state championships.

He would leave Provine for the college ranks, only to later return to Mississippi high school basketball when he took the head job at Columbus High School for the 2015-16 season.

In his lone year at Columbus, he led the program to their first state championship after a 27-5 record. A contract dispute meant his time at Columbus was short, but since then he has continued to run basketball camps and has started the LRBasketball camps.

A Mississippi native like Head Coach Payne, both men were familiar with each other from their high school days. Payne wanted to add a coach with experience as a Head Coach, someone who was a "proven winner." It's safe to say he found that in Coach Luther Riley.

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Video Series, Episode 8: https://youtu.be/Rv9IBjkTATQ

In this episode, we break down the major moves of the offseason for DePaul. That includes incoming freshman along with outgoing seniors and transfers. After reviewing the roster, we also preview the Class of 2023 (with real recruits) and the upcoming season's schedule.

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DePaul Added to Emerald Coast Classic Field
The DePaul Blue Demons will be taking part in the annual Emerald Coast Classic tournament, scheduled to take place starting December 9th. #BasketballOnTheBeach is back with a field headlined by Florida State, Mississippi State and Utah.

DePaul, the 5th seed, will take on Richmond in their first round matchup. The tournament at The Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College.

Close to home for the Seminoles, the former 2019 tournament champion, will take on Northeastern in the first round of tournament play.

The entire tournament will take place over three days, culminating with the championship game on Sunday, the 11th.

“The reputation of our tournament has allowed us to continue to attract some of the top basketball programs in the country,” said tournament director Maury Hanks, chief executive officer of Global Sports. “We continue to strive to bring the best college basketball teams possible to the Emerald Coast of Florida.”

Emerald Coast Classic History
2021 — Vanderbilt, champion; Wisconsin, runner-up
2020 — Tournament Cancelled
2019 — Florida State, champion; Purdue, runner-up
2018 — Cincinnati, champion; Ole Miss, runner-up
2017 — TCU, champion; St. Bonaventure, runner-up
2016 — Virginia, champion; Providence, runner-up
2015 — Iowa State, champion; Illinois, runner-up
2014 — Ole Miss, champion; Cincinnati, runner-up

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2022-23 DePaul Roster

Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Kenny Payne
Associate Head Coach: Ernie Kent
Assistant Coach: Luther Riley
Assistant Coach: Aaron Brooks
Director of Basketball Operations: Ralph Davis
Director of Player Development: Andre Brown

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2022-23 DePaul Men's Basketball Schedule

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2022 Men's Basketball Media Day
This year marks the return to in-person for the annual Big East media day. After being held virtually for two years, the event returned to conference headquarters in Manhattan. Coaches and players from each of the 11 programs in the Big East held media availability and answered questions from a group of national and local reporters.

Each year, the programs vote on how they think their Big East colleagues stack up in the conference. Villanova has dominated the preseason poll for the last decade. That trend continued with the Wildcats receiving 7 of the 11 first place votes.

The other four first place votes were split between Butler and Georgetown. Those two teams, along with Xavier, return multiple starters and are expected to be Top 25 teams this year. Georgetown was the only other program ranked in the first preseason AP Top 25.

Here are the results of the 2022 Preseason Coaches Poll:
1. Villanova (7 1st place votes): 89 points
2. Georgetown (2 1st place votes): 78 points
3. Butler (2 1st place votes): 73 points
4. Creighton: 62 points
5. Xavier: 61 points
6. St. John’s: 55 points
7. UConn: 52 points
8. Marquette: 49 points
9. Providence: 37 points
10. DePaul: 27 points
11. Seton Hall: 22 points