LARRY NESS was on...
8* St. John's -13
St John’s 1-3 mark in Big East action so far this season is certainly not much better than the ugly 0-4 mark that DePaul has thus far. However, there are big differences here and it’s not just the fact that the Red Storm is 11-5 on the season and the Blue Demons are 7-9. The differences and the key to the value, even in laying big points in a spot like this, is that DePaul is simply a ‘mixed up bunch’ right now. With coach Jerry Wainwright out, former assistant Tracy Webster is in as the interim head coach. Webster’s coaching debut did not go well as the Blue Demons lost by 17 points to Providence and more of the same can be expected here. What make this spot particularly tough for DePaul is that they’re take their ‘struggling show’ on the road for this one. After getting blasted at home by 17 points by the Friars on Thursday, the Blue Demons now visit a St John’s team that can, essentially, ‘name the score’ on Sunday afternoon. After a 5-1 start to the season, DePaul has gone 2-8 since. What makes that even worse though is that the eight losses have included six defeats by a margin of at least 13 points. The only two defeats that didn’t come by this big of a margin were tight losses against American and Florida Gulf Coast. However, when you’re DePaul, you shouldn’t be losing to either one of those programs! That shows just how far this program has sunk as it’s only gotten worse now with the loss of Mac Koshwal to injury for a few weeks. The Blue Demons were expecting much more from senior guard Will Walker but his shot selection has been awful and that’s why his shooting percentage on the season has dropped all the way down to 35%. The Blue Demons are averaging just 60.7 points per game and some of that is coming in garbage time too when the scoring comes a little more easily. This is just a reflection of how limited this Blue Demons offense is, and with Koshwal out and Walker struggling, things have quickly gone from bad to worse for DePaul. St John’s is off of a two point win against Cincinnati after having lost three straight. So the Red Storm would love a nice comfortable blowout win at home here. The Red Storm have fared well in recent seasons when facing weaker foes as they are 9-4 ATS when facing a team with a losing record. DePaul has not shown the ability to bounce back from a losing streak in recent seasons. In fact, the Blue Demons are 10-18 ATS when they’re playing with a losing streak of at least three games in progress. Look for the Red Storm to add to DePaul’s woes here.