DePaul Progress Report: Week 3

It was a weird week for the Blue Demons. They showed us, first, that they'll always be DePaul when they took a horrible home loss to (previously winless) Lehigh in which they shot a measly 36.7%. Then, Sunday, they played a very good Stanford Cardinal team. On paper, Stanford was a much better team, but they don't play games on paper. DePaul pulled off the home upset. So who has stood out the most on the Demons? Let's take a look!

Myke Henry: A+

All offseason long the main story about DePaul was how it was Billy Garrett and everyone else. Apparently Myke Henry took exception to that. Through the first three weeks, he has indisputably been the Demons' best player. He was the only source of offense in the loss to Lehigh (24 pts, 9-16 shooting) and he followed that performance up with a 29 point outburst in the win against Stanford. In addition to his 19.3 points per game so far, he's grabbed 6.8 rebounds per game this year.

Forrest Robinson: C+

Forrest Robinson has tapered off in the past two games compared to the first two games. In his two games last week, Robinson went 1-6 with three points in 30 total minutes. He did have four blocks though, which saves his grade from plummeting even further. He didn't do much against Stanford, but Stefan Nastic and Reid Travis did a good job neutralizing his impact.

Tommy Hamilton: B+

I (Robert) gave Hamilton a lot of gruff in my game previews and halftime notes this week because he's been two different players this season ("Good Tommy" and "Bad Tommy"). But currently he's averaging 13 points per game and seven rebounds per game. If he can keep up that pace, along with Myke Henry keeping up his pace, Hamilton will be completely fine. I mostly gave him grief because after Billy Garrett he was supposed to be the second best player, but again, the emergence of Myke Henry has changed things.

Billy Garrett, Jr.:  B

Billy Garrett, Jr. just wasn't his normal self this past week.  While he was putting up a decent amount of points and continuing to get a good number of assists, he simply wasn't as effective in the fact that he was turning the ball over far too frequently in the Lehigh game.  He also shot 2/11 in that game, which contributed to the team average of 36.7% from the field. There's no doubt in my mind that Garrett can perform at the highest level-he has before.  He hasn't shown it in the past week, which could be one of a myriad of reasons why DePaul has been wishy-washy, losing to Lehigh but then beating Stanford.  This is a full week for the Blue Demons, so it's of the utmost importance that he maintain his role as floor general and continues to make sure that the offense is firing on all cylinders.

Durrell McDonald: C+

While he did not provide the scoring boost that he had given in the Drake game, Durrell McDonald still managed to put up well-rounded statlines.  He is excellent at making his presence felt in all facets, from getting turnovers to grabbing rebounds.  If he is to get higher grades, he simply needs to score more.  He needs to get more than 0 and 7 points (what he scored against Lehigh and Stanford, respectively) in order to astronomically boost DePaul's win chances.  This backcourt will be frightening if that happens.

Jamee Crockett: B+

Senior guard Jamee Crockett was a scoring machine the past week, doing his part to ensure that, even in defeat, he did his part to put DePaul in contention.  Last week, Crockett had 13 points against Lehigh and 19 against Stanford, a game in which he did an excellent job of driving the lane once he got the ball, leading to either a monstrous dunk (he's good at those) or a solid layup.  He's going to be a pivotal scoring asset going forward, so it's critical that he continues to perform at this level.