Hutty seems to still be doing what a lot of young bigs do: bring it down low when he catches it near the basket. With his height he need to keep it up and put it up when he’s that close.

Now comes the disgusting part. Cheering for DePaul to win some games in the Big East and not be their usual cellar dwellers. Arizona State will likely finished dead last in the Pac 12 so that win won't mean a ton. Need the Blue Demons to find a way to be a middle of the pack type team.

My thoughts exactly, he's going down low on the pass and get immediately contested since the defense has time to react. He's not head faking well, using footwork or protecting the rock so he got stripped bad on a few of the under the basket passes. Don't get me wrong, I love Hutty but he seemed to out matched against a very active paint defense

DePaul got Uguake'd down the stretch. Aher came up big when we needed him.

Great fun today. Good tough game to win with Vande and Davidson looming soon. Now for some takeaways>

1. Strange game. We dominated the game for 30 minutes, but had probably the worst 10 minute stretch in 1st half that we have played in long time. The turnovers were killing us. We had 11 in the first half which lead to 17 DePaul Points. We lost a little concentration and we not getting and securing the ball on defensive rebounds. We cleaned it up in the second half and we held DePaul to under 30 for the half.

2. Love Hutty, but he needs to understand that despite being tall, he has certain flaws. These include that he is not the quickest guy off the floor and his one on one game is very mechanical, not quick and explosive. He is fine when we get him the ball when he is moving, but straight post up at this point is not very good. I would like to see him keep the ball higher, use some head fakes and learn to use the rim more to protect the ball when shooting it. He can finish with either hand, has good touch shooting the ball. He needs to understand his game right now and learn to be “craftier” (is that a word?). He will always struggle a bit against smaller quicker post players.

3. Norris has been struggling at times against quick guards who are more athletic than he is. Teams are really going after him hard, on offense and defense. At times he looks shaky bringing the ball up and is having a hard time getting his shots. I would like to see us alter the offense, take some of the ball handling responsibility off his plate. When we are moving and screening, it really doesn’t matter who makes the first pass. Drew was actually using Kennedy as primary ball handler in this game, but he got into foul trouble. I would like to see the continued movement and let’s run action which get Norris open for 3’s. He did not shoot it well today, but we need him and should be encouraging him to shoot it. When he is rolling and getting shots, he’s a killer.

4. The movement was better today! We did it for the 30 minutes when were dominating and grinding. We just need to get to the point where we do it ALL the time. Hopefully, it continues. Drews post game comments on the floor were telling when he commented about how he thought in the first half some of the guys were doing their own thing. This game will great film study as a contrast as how they looked when executing and when they did not.

5. Chris Knight is getting better it seems every time out. He played a very efficient game.

6. It was good to see Welch and Thomas get some minutes. I wish that coming into this game they would have gotten more minutes and perhaps they would have been better.

7. Clemons needs to get a few more minutes. He hit a big 3 in 1st half and we never tried to get him look in the second half. Another offensive threat we need to have when we are not shooting the ball well.

8. I am happy with the win. We executed down the stretch against Ind. St. And again today. This is a good sign. It shows growth from where we were against MSU and Auburn. Final Four team and last year’s team were tremendous down the stretch in games.

9. Final thought…Drew might have waited a possession or two too long to call the time out in the 1st half, but he did call one! DePaul, unfortunately, began to believe prior to the time out. With athletic, emotional teams like DePaul you just don’t want them to get rolling and feeling good. Great adjustments at half and getting team refocused, especially in taking care of the ball. On to playing Roosevelt. Let Welch, Thomas, Clemons get some big minutes!

Go Blers!

Nice dub today.

Crowd announced at around 6,700, which is 65% of capacity. Seemed like more than that. And seemed to be around half Loyola.

Glad that someone on this board gave the shout out to Aher. He we was fantastic in this game....the difference. Made good decisions, great defense as always (on multiple positions)
made his free throws (even after the long TV timeouts), created offense on drives to the basket, and smartly drove to the basket - getting the 5th foul on JFL. Aher has always been a stud on defense, but is finally playing with great confidence on the offensive side (a direct result I would think of Drew vs. Porter).

Knight also had a great game....again. Most of his points were the result of good team offense and passes from teammates - but he got it done. Unlike Hutson. A lot of correct and accurate commentary on Hutson in this chain . But Hutson vs. Knight right now is simple: Knight makes quick decisions and quick shots. Hutty is just slow -period - with both his decisions and his release. Perhaps it speeds up for him with experience.

And Lucas was spectacular as always. What a special player. Man - are we going to MISS him next year.

nice win...tough win..DP is playing a better brand of bball this year.
1. Boy did we do a job on Freeman.....
2. Main difference between Krut and Hutson,,,feet and hands....Krut had great hands and foot movement for a big guy. Hut just seems to drop just about everything, still very inexperienced...his hard work and effort provides hope.
3.Marquis Kennedy has really developed into a pretty good point guard. Which gives me hope for Hutson. Remember that first year for Marquis..he just went as fast as he could to the hoop...only one speed...He was used to dominating people. No one in high school could stop him on the way to the hoop. But he was too weak and inexperienced...I see the same thing with Hutson. Used to dominating weaker, smaller high school players. He got away with less than good fundamental play...So hopefully he will continue to progress and get better...In the mean time I really hope Welch and Knight get more minutes.
4. Lot of excitement. Chicago seemed to enjoy this match up. Local math ups create excitement. Makes me wonder who is going to wander in to see us play Fordham ?
5. Worried about our assist to turnover ratio.....this used to be our hallmark...Speeded up o probably mean more TOs but still would like to seethe assists be above the turnovers
6. Norris really seems to be struggling to get his 3s. only two things I see is more handoffs,less screens, so more traffic...and some teams not doubling and more low post presence which limit his open looks as well as drives to the basket...He needs space to shoot..hope they find a way to spring him loose .

The more I watch Aher play the more I wonder if he is the most likely player from this team to get a shot in the NBA. With his size and athleticism combined with his growing confidence on the offensive side of the ball I can't help but wonder there is a team out there who will give him a shot.