DePaul vs. Marquette: Closing out a regular season to forget

Senior night

Two of the three Golden Eagle seniors had underwhelming performances in their final home game in a Marquette uniform, but one finished his brief regular season just as strongly as he entered. Matt Carlino hit his first two threes of the game and never really looked back. He finished the day with 20 points, five rebounds and five triples. The other two seniors, Juan Anderson and Derrick Wilson finished with a combined nine points, 10 rebounds and two assists on 2-of-7 shooting. It was not their best individual performance, but their final career home game ended with the result they were looking for. A victory.

Dedicated fans

If you are a fan of either of these teams, and watched the entire game, no one should ever question your fan loyalty. It was a battle of two 11 and 12-win teams shooting 32 percent from the field and less than 23 percent from three in the game.  Only one team managed to score at least 20 points in the first half and with about 13 minutes to play, there was a seven-minute span where each team managed just two baskets. At a time where the number one team in the country was working on completing its perfect regular season, the number one team in the Big East was dropping 100 points, and a bubble team was hitting a game-winner over a Top-25 opponent to almost certainly lock its bid in the Big Dance, only fans bleeding Gold and Blue or Blue and Red were tuned in for this bottom-of-the-barrel matchup.

DePaul making strides

DePaul briefly sat atop the Big East this season for the first time in its history, but after questions of whether this team truly turned the program around they dropped 12 of their last 15 games, including their final seven.  DePaul finished the regular season in third to last in the Big East with a conference record of 6-12, a record still good enough for its best finish in seven years.  Their six conference wins this season are just four fewer than their previous six seasons combined. From 2009 to 2014 DePaul finished dead last in the conference with ten combined wins. While the Blue Demons had a rather unfavorable ending to what seemed to be a promising season, they still cannot hang their heads as this season was one of its best in years. Not to mention, they return three starters next season including their two leading scorers.