We're struggling to move on from Marquette's catastrophic bed-soiling on Saturday, but move on we must, so: let's talk DePaul, which comes to town riding an 18-game losing streak in Big East play but playing better basketball under new head coach (and nice man) Oliver Purnell.
Cracked Sidewalks beat us to the numbers, and We Are DePaul reminded us of the perils of looking past the Blue Demons, but never fear: we've got you covered in the Random Nonsense Department:
As you probably know, DePaul plays its home games at the Allstate Arena, formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon and better known as That Building Outside the City That's 20 Miles Away from DePaul's Campus. Because of the remoteness of its home arena, DePaul is forced to resort to all manner of incentives, ploys, and bribes (hey, it's Chicago) to get students and other warm bodies to attend its men's basketball games. My boy Sir Sniffs passed along this link to DePaul's athletics website, which promises free tickets and a free T-shirt AND free membership in DePaul's Blue Crew (I assume this is a reference to the team's mascot and not to the general feeling of malaise that permeates the Allstate) to every Blue Demon boy and girl who's willing to make the trek to the Allstate.
And on that issue, re: the trek to the Allstate: according to Google Maps, the Allstate Arena is about 16 miles from DePaul's Lincoln Park campus. Google Maps insists that this 16-mile drive should take about 23 minutes, but that's a load of hooey -- anyone who's driven in Chicago knows that, between the road construction, tolls, and generally FIBery of the drivers, you have to multiply travel estimates by a factor of four, at the very least. Conservatively, then, that's an hour-and-a-half drive. If you want to avoid traffic and utilize Chicago's fine public transportation system, the journey takes a mere hour and 28 minutes.
On the other hand: the drive to Milwaukee from Lincoln Park is only an hour and forty minutes, unless you make a pitstop at the Casual Male (or Ann Taylor, for the ladies) outlet in Pleasant Prairie. For just ten more minutes, then, you get to watch major college basketball in an NBA arena that's never had its roof collapse and serves fine Miller products at every concession stand.
I know which option I'd pick.