DePaul notebook

By Staff     Dec 2, 2006

¢ DePaul, enrollment 24,300, is located in Chicago. The team plays its games at the 18,500-seat Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill. Nickname is Blue Demons. Conference is Big East. Colors are Royal Blue and Scarlet.

¢ KU leads the all-time series, 7-0. The Jayhawks won the last meeting, 75-69, on Dec. 12, 2000, in Chicago.

¢ DePaul, which had a busy slate to start the season, hasn’t played since a 81-73 loss to Purdue Nov. 22 in the third round of the Maui Invitational. The Demons beat Chaminade, 93-74, and lost to Kentucky, 87-81, in Maui. The Demons have suffered a 78-58 loss to Bradley and 49-39 loss to Northwestern.

¢ DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright is 200-162 all-time and 14-19 at DePaul.

¢ DePaul is the only team in the Big East to return four players who averaged double figures last season. Sammy Mejia (15.1 ppg), Draelon Burns (11.6 ppg), Wilson Chandler (10.6 ppg) and Karron Clarke (10.0 ppg) return.

¢ DePaul will honor legendary coach Ray Meyer today – named “Ray Day.” Former players and Meyer family members will participate in pregame and halftime ceremonies. Meyer will be recognized this season with a redesigned uniform that was inspired from the days when Meyer was head coach at DePaul. The jerseys have stripes running along the sides, reminiscent of the Blue Demons’ run of excellence in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The memorial patch itself is designed in a red, white and blue basketball with “42” in the top panel, “Coach” in the middle panel and “724” in the lower panel. The “42” is for Meyer’s tenure as head coach at DePaul from 1942-84 while the “724” is for his 724 victories with the Blue Demons. The center panel with “Coach” refers to Meyer as he was known. Meyer died at the age of 92 on St. Patrick’s Day last March.

¢ DePaul freshman Will Walker’s dad, Thomas, was a high school teammate of DePaul’s alltime leading scorer, Mark Aguirre, at Chicago’s Westinghouse High School.

¢ DePaul is in its 27th season at the Allstate Arena (formerly Rosemont Horizon). The Blue Demons are 272-92 (.747) all-time in Rosemont.

¢ DePaul was picked to finish eighth in the 16-team Big East Conference.

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