Game Day With the DePaul Blue Demons Women's Basketball Team

Last year, the DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball team beat the Marquette Golden Eagles in the championship game of the Big East conference tournament. A casual fan prior to that, I quickly fell in love with collegiate women's basketball and planned on covering, or at least attending, more games this season.

I recently wrote about my game day experience as Marquette hosted the Seton Hall Pirates. Two days later, I had a courtside seat as the DePaul Blue Demons also hosted Seton Hall. Having Seton Hall as the same opponent was a coincidence, but it would give me a good “control” in evaluating Marquette and DePaul.

Heading into Sunday's game, DePaul was 13-5 and 4-2 in conference play, good for 3rd place in the Big East. Seton Hall was in 4th and Marquette was in 1st with a perfect in-conference record.

While Chicago's temperature hovered in the single digits, I jumped on the el train and headed to McGrath-Phillips Arena. I arrived early and used the time to meander around the DePaul campus. I am always amazed at how much DePaul has changed since my graduation 30+ years ago.

Originally named the DePaul Athletic Center and renamed in 2006, the Sullivan Athletic Center is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena. It is the home of the women's basketball and volleyball teams and the DePaul Athletic Department. The court was named after longtime (and current) coach Doug Bruno in 2010.

On my way to the Media Room, I passed a wall honoring the many great players in DePaul history. I was happy to see Barb Atsaves (sister of my longtime friend and business partner Louie) featured on the wall. Back in the early 1980's, Barb was a force on the court and remains a DePaul legend.

I made my way down to the court and was pleasantly surprised to find my seat very close to midcourt. This was going to be so cool. The other members of the media there helped me with wi-fi and other technical stuff.

DePaul started strong and played well through the first quarter, building to a 21-15 score heading into the second quarter. Seton Hall kept chipping away and pulled ahead 37-35 at half. As much as I would have liked to see a DePaul cakewalk, I was looking forward to a thrilling second half.

At halftime, several mascots, including my old buddy Swiper from the Chicago Bandits, helped DePaul's mascot Dibs celebrate a birthday. The “Demon in a Blue Suit” turns 10 this year.

Unfortunately, DePaul did not regain their early game form in the second half. Seton Hall stayed in control. Every time it seemed like DePaul was set to make a run, Seton Hall rose to the challenge. DePaul kept it fairly close and exciting until the end, but ultimately lost 84-73.

For the game, DePaul shot 32.8% from the field and 25% from 3 point land. Seton Hall had a 45-41 edge in rebounding and 3-0 advantage in blocks. DePaul did have more steals (10-6) than Seton Hall.
DePaul had some noteworthy individual achievements. Rebekah Dahlman scored the 1,000th point of her career. Ashton Millender moved into 3rd place on the all-time 3 pointer list, passing Allie Quigley. Millender is also 3rd all-time in career three-point attempts.

The post-game media session featured Coach Bruno without any of his players. Coach Bruno was obviously frustrated with the effort and outcome, but he never single out any players. He was quick to credit Seton Hall with playing an excellent game, preventing DePaul from ever getting in a good rhythm.

Coach Bruno cited a lack of consistency, the low 3 pointer percentage and a lack of clutch rebounding as contributing factors. He mentioned Marquette being the class of the Big East right now. He said there was still plenty of basketball to be played, but there would be no magical solution for DePaul. It all must come from within. The players would need to dig deep within themselves.

Coach Bruno is a coaching veteran, a legend even. I am certain he will not just shrug his shoulders and sit back. DePaul's weaknesses will be addressed in future practices. That's not to guarantee major improvements, but it won't be for lack of effort all around.

As I witnessed a couple days prior, Marquette is playing great ball. They were clearly better than the DePaul team I saw Sunday, but you can't make generalities based on one game. While seeing both teams play Seton Hall with very different results was interesting, it is only one slice of the season.

In the end, I like the chances of seeing a rematch in the Big East championship tourney. In the meantime, I am looking forward to a lot fo great women's basketball.

I appreciate the hospitality of DePaul and Assistant Director of Athletics Communications Bob Sakamoto. It was a fantastic day at DePaul and I hope to return for more fun.