DePaul is back

Leitao has turned around once-proud program after years of mediocrity

By John O'Keefe, SI.com

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Legs were heavy, shots were falling short, free throws were being missed and players were scrambling for loose balls. Still, Drake Diener had something extra.

With DePaul leading Dayton 66-65 with 1:20 left in the second overtime of their first-round NCAA tournament game Thursday, the junior guard came off a series of screens along the baseline and curled back toward the basket to free himself on the high end of the right wing. Having just an inch on the Flyers defender, Diener never flinched -- shooting just over the closing defender's outstretched hand. Nothing but net, and the Blue Demons had a three-point lead.

"I guess I did want the ball in that situation," Diener said after the game. "I don't think I have to hit all the big shots for us, but at that point I was in a groove."

The basket was two of Diener's 23 points after halftime en route to a game-high 28. Diener nailed eight consecutive free throws in the last 2:13 of the second OT after the team had missed five of its previous six.

DePaul isn't loaded with size or great quickness, but it is long on guys with heart. Senior Delonte Holland, a 6-foot-7 220-pound forward who finished with 13 points and 14 boards, consistently finds ways to get to the rim and draw fouls, always seeming to come up with the big play.

Trailing by three points with 2:25 left in regulation, DePaul hadn't made a field goal in almost four minutes when Holland grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic off a Quemont Greer miss. He drew a foul and made one of two free throws. More important, his hustle energized his team.

"We needed something," Holland said. "I thought maybe I could get a putback."

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun watched the last 12 minutes of the first half after his team's victory over Vermont. For the veteran coach it was more than just scouting his next opponent. Blue Demons head coach Dave Leitao played for Calhoun at Northeastern in the early '80s and coached with him there for two years before moving with him to Connecticut for 14 seasons as an assistant. He took the DePaul job two years ago. Said Calhoun on Wednesday, "I've always said that I want all my players to turn out like Dave Leitao." Said Leitao after his team's first-round victory, "I don't want to play them. I think there is just too much emotion for both of us."

There isn't any question DePaul is a program on the rise. In just his second season, Leitao has turned it into a 22-win team that shared the Conference USA regular-season title. Diener and Holland clearly are the leaders on this team, and Leitao has them believing they can play with anyone if they play hard-nosed defense and take good shots.

DePaul has shown that it will scrap and claw no matter what the score, while UConn has a bad habit of playing down to its opponents. Even though Connecticut's frontcourt players -- 6-10 Emeka Okafor, 6-10 Josh Boone and 6-10 Charlie Villanueva -- will tower over DePaul's bigs, and Ben Gordon and Taliek Brown are quicker than the Blue Demons' guards, count on this second-round game being a good one.