1985 DePaul Basketball: A New Era and a Step Back

It was a new era for DePaul basketball in 1985. The legendary Ray Meyer had stepped down after over four decades on the sidelines and handed the reins to his son Joey.

Meyer the Younger was taking over a program that was on a high. DePaul had run with the national elite for the past seven seasons, making a Final Four in 1979 and earning a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament four different times. While March disappointments were an unfortunate part of recent history, so was a lot of winning. The 1985 season saw some more success…but also some slippage.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Senior forward Tyrone Corbin led the Blue Demons in 1985, scoring 16 points and averaging 8 rebounds per game. Dallas Comegys was at the other forward, starting to come into his own and averaging a 12/5 line.

Senior point guard Kenny Patterson ran the offense, averaging seven assists a night to go with his 11ppg. DePaul got rebounding help from Marty Embry and Kevin Holmes, who combined for 13 boards per game.

Expectations were high and DePaul was ranked #3 in the preseason pills.

MIXED SIGNALS EARLY

After barely surviving a bad Northern Illinois team to start the season, DePaul knocked off UCLA 80-61. While this was not a standout Bruin team, they did end up winning the NIT.

The Blue Demons went on to get a 13-point win over Illinois State, a consistent NCAA Tournament team in this era and who ended up a 9-seed in the March bracket.

That set the stage for a home date with Notre Dame. After three down seasons, DePaul’s traditional rival in the days of Catholic independents in the Midwest was back on the upswing and would make the NCAA field. The Blue Demons handed the Irish a 95-83 loss.

DePaul rose to #2 in the polls and that set up a showdown a mid-December showdown in Washington D.C. with top-ranked Georgetown. The Hoyas, anchored by Patrick Ewing, were the defending national champs and the dominant force in college basketball. The Blue Demons got it handed to them, a 77-57 loss, but that was still seen as more about Georgetown and less about DePaul.

More alarming was what happened a few nights later—a visit to a weak opponent in Western Michigan ended up a 65-62 loss. DePaul went on to an unimpressive win over an atrocious Northwestern team.

Blowing out Creighton, who was bound for 20 wins, closed December on a positive note. The Blue Demons went into the New Year at 7-2 and ranked #10 in the polls.

JANUARY MOMENTS

DePaul got a perfunctory home win over St. Mary’s on the first Thursday of January. The Blue Demons immediately hopped a plane to Birmingham to play a Friday night game against NCAA Tournament-bound UAB. Friday games were unusual, and to play one on the road immediately after a home game was a scheduling anamoly. The Blue Demons lost 66-59.

Houston came to Chicago eight days later. The Cougars were in rebuilding mode, after the departure of Hakeem Olajuwon to the pros, and DePaul won 69-58. Then they beat an NCAA Tournament team in Old Dominion.

January 20 was a big day in the United States. It was a presidential inauguration year. It was also Super Bowl Sunday. On top of all that, a deep freeze was settled on most of the country, keeping everyone indoors. That was the context for DePaul’s rematch with Notre Dame, nationally televised from South Bend.

Once again, the Blue Demons handled their key rival, getting a 71-66 win and moving up to #7 in the polls.

A tough one-point loss to Dayton, a solid team that made the NCAA field came a week later, sandwiched around easy wins against Eastern Washington and Princeton.

DePaul closed January with a record of 13-4 and ranked #13 nationally. They weren’t meeting preseason expectations, but they were still playing good basketball, and a lot of opportunity lay ahead.

DOG DAY WOES

The dog days of February bit the Blue Demons. Louisville was a consistent national contender in the 1980s, but their 1985 edition settled for the NIT. Even so, they sent DePaul home with a 77-73 loss. A second loss to Dayton knocked the Blue Demons from the national polls.

A blowout win over a quality NCAA Tournament team from Pepperdine settled things down briefly and set up a key stretch against two good teams. Games that would expose the gap between DePaul and true national contenders.

Loyola-Illinois had a high-scoring machine led by Alfredrick Huges and eventually made the Sweet 16 team. This was the best Rambler team until the group that made the Final Four, cheered on by Sister Jean, in 2018. And they knocked off DePaul 78-71.

St. John’s was ranked #1, bound for the Final Four and led by Chris Mullin. The Blue Demons went to Queens for a midweek game and lost 93-80.

Even though DePaul closed the month with wins over pedestrian teams from Indiana State and LaSalle, they were 16-8 and while they were still likely to make the NCAA Tournament, it was not assured.

A NERVOUS FINISH

Marquette was another traditional Catholic independent rival and the Warriors were squarely on the NCAA bubble. DePaul would play Marquette twice in the final three games.

A 69-52 blowout win at home eased the pressure on the Blue Demons. After getting an easy win over UT-Rio Grande Valley, DePaul went up to Milwaukee. They lost 68-64 to close the season at 18-9.

Selection Sunday was nerve-wracking, but DePaul heard their name called—in spite of the late fade, they were the 10-seed in the East.

AN EARLY EXIT

DePaul was sent to Atlanta where they would play Syracuse. The Orangemen were led by an electric point guard in Pearl Washington and they had an emerging young center in Rony Seikaly.

The Blue Demons got some good individual performances. Patterson handed out fifteen assists. Corbin hit his average, going for 17 points/8 rebounds. Comegys delivered a 15/10 line, although it came at the cost of 5-for-15 shooting.

But no one could contain Pearl, who scored 23 points. And no one could keep Syracuse off the free throw line. The Orange made 26/32 free throws compared to 13/20 for the Blue Demons. The night—and the season—ended in a 70-65 loss.

COMPETING IN A CHANGING GAME

It was a disappointing start to Joey Meyer’s tenure, although it was more a byproduct of the challenging times that Midwest Catholic independents were going through in an era where conference-based TV contracts and exposure were becoming the new fuel of the sport.

1985 was the start of a run where Joey Meyer made seven NCAA Tournaments in eight years. This season was symbolic of that entire run—given where DePaul had been in recent years, it looked like a step back and it was. But in the context of where college basketball was going and what it meant for programs like DePaul, it looks pretty decent in retrospect.