1987 DePaul Basketball: A Sweet 16 Trip

The 1980s were a great time for DePaul basketball. They had earned four #1 seeds in the first half of the decade. Even though March flameouts became all-too-common, the Blue Demons were on the map as a national power. When Joey Meyer took over the coaching reins from his father Ray in 1985, the son made the NCAA Tournament each of his first two years. The 1987 DePaul basketball team was Joey’s best, soaring with the national elite and eventually making the Sweet 16.

DePaul was built around center Dallas Comegys. The 6’9” senior scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds per game. The Blue Demons had a dynamic sophomore point guard, one with a good NBA future ahead of him. Rod Strickland posted a per-game line of 16 points/4 rebounds/7 assists.

Kevin Edwards and Terrence Greene were reliable players running alongside Strickland in a three-guard set. Edwards and Greene combined to average a 26/10/7 line. Stanley Bundy only went 6’6”, but he attacked the boards. And in this first year that the three-point shot was standardized across college basketball, DePaul had an outside shooter coming off the bench. Andy Laux hit 52 percent behind the arc—although in a prime example of how the game has changed, the main outside shooter in this era took two three-point shots a game.

Expectations were low, and DePaul was unranked to start the year. They took advantage of a soft early schedule and rolled through December with a 9-0 record. That included a road win over defending national champion Louisville, but the Cardinals would fall hard this season and miss the NCAA field entirely.

January 10 came the first signature moment for this Blue Demon squad. A good Notre Dame team came to the Rosemont Horizon. This was an era when these schools, along with Marquette, were the high-profile Catholic independent schools in the Midwest. They played a home-and-home with each other. While Marquette was on the downswing, the Irish were a contender. And DePaul got a 58-54 win. It was all part of a surge that pushed them to 16-0 and #6 in the national polls.

The undefeated season came to an end with a 74-71 loss at Georgetown on January 25, a marquee Super Bowl Sunday matchup against a team that would eventually get a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. But DePaul responded well to the loss—they ripped off nine more wins, including an 84-62 blowout of NCAA-bound N.C. State, and an 88-76 win at Marquette.

DePaul was up to #4 in the polls as they got set to close the season with Notre Dame and Marquette. A #1 seed was possible, but a 73-62 loss at South Bend ended those hopes. Even so, the Blue Demons closed out a 26-2 regular season by beating the Warriors, 68-59.

The NCAA Selection Committee only gave DePaul a #3 seed in the Midwest Regional. More important that the seeding, however was the placement. This was an era where teams were still allowed to play on their home floor. The Rosemont Horizon was the host for the first weekend. And the Blue Demons would be in front of the home crowd.

DePaul came out cooking on Friday and shot 60 percent against Louisiana Tech. Comegys and Strickland both went off, the former for 29 points/8 rebounds, the latter for 25 points/8 rebounds/5 assists. In a cleanly flowing game where there were only twelve combined free throw attempts, the Blue Demons coasted to a 76-62 win.

St. John’s was up on Sunday. The Redmen were led by point guard Mark Jackson, who had a good future as an NBA point guard, head coach and TV analyst.

DePaul led 42-30 at the half and all looked well. But Strickland and Comegys, while they were getting their points (31 combined), were doing it at a high cost. The two best players combined to shoot just 12-for-29 from the floor. St. John’s rallied. With 0:19 left, the Redmen had a 69-65 lead. It looked like another March disappointment awaited the Blue Demons.

Comegys stepped up and got an offensive rebound. He put it back for the basket and was fouled. Trailing by two, a decision was made to have him intentionally miss the free throw. If it’s possible to miss a shot perfectly, Comegys did it, and the ball came rolling off the rim into the lane.

Edwards was already having a fantastic afternoon, on his way to 26 points. He got the biggest of his five rebounds off this missed free throw. And he got the biggest of his four assists when he fed Strickland for the tying bucket.

Jackson got a good look at the other end, but missed a jump shot. The momentum in overtime was all with DePaul and the crowd was raucous. The Blue Demons dominated the extra session and won 83-75.

The bottom half of the Midwest bracket seemed to open up when 2-seed Temple lost to 11-seed LSU. It turned out to be fool’s gold for DePaul fans. Temple was a nice team, but an overachiever, who didn’t match up with Strickland or Comegys. LSU was the opposite—a talented team that had underachieved, but was now coming on strong.

In the regionals at Cincinnati, Comegys played well, with 14 points/8 rebounds. But Strickland had a rough night and only scored nine points. LSU center Nikita Wilson was emblematic of his team—surging in March, and he was unstoppable. The Tigers controlled the boards and ended DePaul’s season, 63-58. LSU then came within a basket of beating eventual NCAA champ Indiana two days later.

DePaul continued to play competitive basketball under Meyer for five more years, making four NCAA Tournaments in that timeframe. But they never again got out of the first weekend and have completely fallen off the map in the 21^st century. 1987 was the last high point of basketball on the great urban campus of DePaul.