That 5 star freshman I recruited really paid off! Made us a 3 seed. We got revenge on #4 seed Cal for eliminating us last year. We eliminated them in the elite 8. Then we beat a 1 seed Colorado 93-77 in the title game. End up getting coach of the year having coached the freshman of the year. DePaul is truly relevant again. Hope to get a lifetime contract and win more titles.
The Big East Conference Tournament was March Madness Mayhem!
Round 1 -
An unranked Seton Hall team beat #22 Villanova 84-82. West Virginia beat UConn 79-73 which means we will have a new Big East champion this year.
Round 2 was a round of upsets.
My #24 DePaul beat #11 Rutgers 112-95. Unranked Cincinnati beat #3 Georgetown 63-62. Seton Hall beat #8 Marquette 70-67
Semifinal between the two overachievers Cincinnati and Seton Hall is won by Seton Hall 75-72. DePaul beat #15 Syracuse 123-114.
The finals
DePaul beat Seton Hall 92-77
Aftermath:
Georgetown becomes a 1 seed.
Rutgers and Marquette become 2 seeds.
Syracuse becomes a 4 seed.
DePaul becomes a 5 seed.
Villanova becomes an 8 seed.
UConn becomes a 10 seed.
Cincinnati becomes a 12 seed.
It’s a miracle we made it through the Big East tournament.
DePaul, Big East tournament champs made it to the sweet sixteen before losing to the #1 overall seed Cal. DePaul had a 2 point lead in the final 3 minutes of the game. Cal went on a 8-0 run and DePaul never recovered.
Marquette wins the tournament. 92 overall. 29-7 (13-5)
Georgetown gets coach of the since they were a number 1 seed in the tournament and Big East regular season champions.
Syracuse had a player of the conference.
Very great year by the Big East but our 5 star 85 overall freshman shooting guard is going to shake up things in the conference before heading to the draft in a season or two.
Wish me luck.
I am distraught. They went undefeated without me! I am proud of those boys! And at the same time I feel like Tom Thibodeau right now. It should’ve been me!
On top of that I was one of the teams they beat this season. 63-46. 🥹🍻
Marquette is already proving to be a great rival. They’ve eliminated us in the Big East tournament 2 years in a row. Both blowouts. But I’m doing okay so far. 18-13 first season at DePaul and 21-10 this season.
“Best season since Bird” has been the quote said over and over around town in Terra Haute, Indiana. Coach Warzynski demanded excellence out of the Sycamores and they delivered it.
When Coach War arrived in Terra Haute he asked his staff what were Larry Bird’s 2 greatest strengths on the basketball court. Everyone’s first answer was shooting unanimously. The second answer was a tie between his basketball IQ and his skills. The team set out to recruit based on that over the subsequent seasons and it netted them a title contender.
Lead by co-captains, small forward, Dominick Hoyer from Canada and center, Damond Conley from Detroit who won conference player of the year, defensive player of the year, & mid-major player of the year. Conley was the team’s leading scorer at 20.4ppg & Hoyer was secondary in scoring but was the perfect threat at 91 overall, leading to more buckets for Conley.
The following season they had to settle for a 2 seed instead of a 1 seed like the prior year but they went to the sweet 16 before being eliminated.
Coach War has moved on to DePaul to return home to his Alma mater and home state. This is his first head coaching role in his home state and hopes to make it a permanent stay.
The question he’s been pondering all off-season is what made DePaul great during its deepest NCAA tournament runs and will he and his staff be able to replicate that or improve upon it in this new era.
All in all Coach War hopes to bring the right stuff to DePaul this fall.
My personal pick is Shel. She had an interesting dilemma. Could you imagine the potential of Roman’s group meeting Carver’s group? I also would like to have seen more interaction between kids closer to Clementine’s age. We know Becca wasn’t particularly a fan of Sarah but what would her reaction to Clementine be? Would they be friendly or enemies. Enemies to friends eventually? Lots more potential there in my opinion.