Looking Ahead To Year Two Of The Leitao Era

Year one of the Dave Leitao era of DePaul basketball was all about building the foundation for the program. While Leitao admits the foundation is not fully in place, you can bet the Blue Demons will be looking to add a bit of window dressing in year two.

“We will continue to make the proper strides to have the program become one of the best in Conference USA. In order to do that, we have to continue to work hard on the court and improve as a team, but we also have to continue to have the building blocks put in place as a model to what the program is going to look like in the future,” Leitao said.

DePaul is coming off a 16-13 season that saw the Blue Demons reach the postseason for the first time in three seasons with a berth in the NIT. DePaul also recorded wins over Conference USA rivals Cincinnati (the first time since 1999) and Louisville (the first time since 1995) in Leitao’s first season.

Before any window dressing can be put in place, DePaul will have to find replacements for the four seniors that departed from last season’s squad including third team All-Conference USA selection and leading scorer (15.6 ppg) Sam Hoskin and Joe Tulley who left ranked sixth on the school’s all-time 3pt. field goal list.

The experience for year two of the Leitao era will come from seven returning letterwinners, three of whom are seniors.

“The three seniors will provide that type of leadership that all good programs have to have in order to be successful,” Leitao said. “Each player has experience in our system and because of that they will be asked to teach as well as learn this season.”

Andre Brown returns after leading the Blue Demons in rebounding for the second consecutive season. The 6-9 Chicago native averaged nine caroms (fourth-best in C-USA) a year ago while scoring 9.4 points an outing. All of this was accomplished despite missing the preseason with a knee injury. Brown will be aiming to become the first DePaul player to lead the team in rebounding for three consecutive seasons since Tyrone Corbin accomplished the feat from 1983-85.

“Andre has been through the highs and lows of college basketball in his first three seasons. He went through an injury plagued junior season and is now ready to carry the torch of DePaul Basketball,” Leitao said. “It is his hope, as well as ours, that he has gotten through the injuries and is ready to have his best season ever.”

Delonte Holland, the leading returning scorer, is back for his final campaign in a Blue Demon uniform after showing signs solid play after transferring from Vincennes University. Holland averaged 10.9 points and scored 22 in the win over Cincinnati. He made 20 starts in his 28 appearances.

“Delonte went through the typical junior college transfer type of year last season and now with that under his belt, he has worked extremely hard to add muscle and improve his skill level. His confidence is high and we hope that he will have a breakout year. We will lean on him for his leadership and play on the court,” Leitao said.

The third member of the senior class is point guard Chris Exilus. The 6-2 native of Canada made 14 appearances all off the bench as a junior last season.

“Despite not having logged a lot of minutes last season, Chris is a valuable member of our program,” Leitao said. “His work ethic, intelligence and thirst for learning are traits that should help him earn more minutes in his senior season. We expect Chris to be a leader and inspire our younger players.”

The junior class boasts three players who have all earned major minutes in their college careers and will again be looked upon to provide the pillars to the team’s foundation this season.

At 6-5, Drake Diener moved from the shooting guard to the point prior to last season and responded nicely – becoming one of five Blue Demon players ever to lead the team in assists (99) and 3pt. field goals made (34) in the same season. Diener, who scored the game-winning basket with under a minute left in the win over Cincinnati and then had seven of DePaul’s 12 points in overtime in the win over Louisville, will be used primarily in his normal position this season.

“Drake and I have had many conversations about his role in the upcoming season. We worked very hard to recruit lead guards so Drake can move back to his natural position as an off guard,” Leitao said. “We fully expect him to increase his scoring while maintaining his ability to take care of the ball and shoot it at a high percentage.”

Quemont Greer, an athletic 6-7 native of Milwaukee, showed the versatility of his game last season as he averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds while hitting 19 3pt. field goals all the while splitting time between both forward positions.

“Quemont gained some valuable time at two different positions last season,” Leitao said. His versatility will help us establish more of an up-tempo style and that will bode well for his game.”

The defensive stopper of the group is 6-4 Chicago native LeVar Seals. Seals earned 15 starts last year and was honored with the program’s “Best Defender” award at the end of the season. An improved offensive game will continue to keep Seals in the lineup.

“LeVar established himself as a defensive standout last season and he has continued to work hard to become more consistent on offense. Having been through the wars of Conference USA should help him tremendously in his junior season,” Leitao said.

The lone sophomore on the 2003-04 squad is 6-8 Marlon Brumfield who battled a nagging knee injury throughout his rookie season as a collegian. Despite the constant pain, he played in 12 games and continued to improve in practice throughout the season. The coaching staff hopes that trend will continue now that the pain is gone.

“Marlon experienced the highs and lows of learning what college basketball is all about in his freshman season,” Leitao said. “Coming off the knee surgery in the spring, we expect him to be pain free this season and hope that will allow him to contribute a lot more as a sophomore.”

With all of the renewed enthusiasm on the court, Leitao and his staff may have made their biggest splash of the season off the court with the signing of a nationally ranked recruiting class.

“With this group of freshmen, we feel we’ve taken the necessary steps towards establishing ourselves as a future force in Conference USA,” Leitao said. “Each individual player brings different skills that we desperately need while also providing versatility that will allow us to play many different styles on both ends of the floor.”

Wesley Green, a 6-9, 250-pound native of Eustis, Florida and Lorenzo Thompson, a 6-8, 240-pound Chicago native, will provide the bulk inside. Green was the runner-up for Mr. Basketball in the state of Florida while Thompson was a Chicago Public League standout and an All-State selection in Illinois.

Marcus Heard, a 6-7, 210-pound swingman from Springfield, Illinois has the ability to see action at both forward spots after earning first team All-State honors last season.

The backcourt will be bolstered by the arrival of a pair of guards who can play both positions. Sammy Mejia, a 6-6 native of the Bronx, was an All-American honoree at Storm King Prep last season while jet quick Tyler Smith (6-2, 180 who also attended prep school last year) was the Baltimore Player of the Year two seasons ago.

The Blue Demons will face another challenging schedule in 2003-04. The non-conference portion opens with visits from local rivals Loyola-Chicago and Northwestern before a trip to East Lansing, Mich. to participate in the 25^th Anniversary of the 1979 Final Four tournament with Michigan State, Pennsylvania and Indiana State. Trip to Seton Hall and Ohio take place before Notre Dame returns to the Allstate Arena for the first time since 1993.

Conference USA will have a new look this season as the two-division format has been scraped in favor of one. Every team in C-USA will play each other once and there will also be three “mirror games” based on geography, rivalries and television. DePaul’s mirror games (meaning they will face each team twice) are against Cincinnati, Marquette and Saint Louis. DePaul will host Charlotte, Memphis, Southern Miss and Tulane while visiting East Carolina, Houston, Louisville, South Florida and TCU.

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