Junior Adam Botts drains a free throw during DePauw's
83-73 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
DePauw ended their season with 20-10 overall record.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
Two days after his team has bowed out of the NCAA tournament, DePauw University men's basketball head coach Bill Fenlon already knows the date of next season’s first practice.
He’s sitting in his office, lamenting about what his players will be up to during the Summer and first stages of Fall.
“At this level we don’t own these guys,” Fenlon said. “So the offseason improvement and all that kind of stuff is really an individual thing. I can’t make them get in the weight room, I can’t make them get in the gym, I can’t make them do another thing until next Oct. 15th.”
If his players do get in the weight room and gym, then DePauw may have the chance to stave off what was a pretty up and down 2014-2015 season for the program.
On Jan. 24, DePauw fell on the road to the College of Wooster 62-63 and their postseason hopes looked bleak.
The Tigers’ record fell to 11-6 overall and to a poor 4-6 in North Coast Athletic Conference play. Not many people would have thought DePauw would have been dancing come March. However, DePauw head coach Bill Fenlon got his guys right back up and helped them transform.
“What was surprising was how inconsistent we were shooting the basketball all year,” Fenlon said. “I think as that started to be more of the rule rather than the exception, I think in some ways it kind of made us really get focused on the fact that we had to get better defensively and we had to be better on the boards and we had to take better care of the basketball.”
Five times this year, DePauw was held under under 50 points and the Tigers only shot 43.6 percent from the field as a team.
Following the loss to the Fighting Scots, the Tigers railed off four straight wins that got them back in a position to have a buy in the first round of the NCAC tournament. Once again, however, things went south.
DePauw lost their final two regular season games to Wabash College and Ohio Wesleyan. The Tigers were dangerously close to being forced to travel to Wittenberg for the first round of the conference tournament, but Wittenberg failed to defeat the lowly Hiram College Terriers in their final regular season game, giving DePauw the four seed.
DePauw’s shooters quickly took advantage when Wittenberg payed them a visit in the quarterfinals of the NCAC tournament.
The Tigers would survive a thrilling double overtime game against Wittenberg and went on to upset number one seed Ohio Wesleyan in the semifinals and eventually took down Wooster in the finals to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“The last two weeks we were playing against top 20 ranked teams,” Fenlon said. “We were defending and we were also shooting the ball well and that gives you a chance to win those games.”
The Tigers would then go on to defeat the Washington Univeristy-St. Louis Bears 83-73 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
DePauw’s season would come to a stop the following Saturday when they traveled to Augustana College and lost a dramatic 68-66 contest that saw the Tigers blow a five point lead with less than five minutes to play.
“To be so close to the Sweet 16 then to have it taken from you in matter of 90 seconds was very difficult to swallow but in all I had a great experience over these four years and learned a lot from it,” senior Tommy Fernitz said. “I wouldn't have wanted any other group of seniors to go to battle with and I will certainly miss putting on a DePauw jersey.”
It was the way the team stuck together, that will stand out the most to senior Bob Dillon.
“We underachieved all year and lost some games early in the season that we wish we had back, but anytime you make the NCAA Tournament and win a game on the road, something went well for you,” Dillon said. “I'm proud of everybody in the program because of the way we were able to deal with the ups and downs of this rollercoaster ride of a season.”
Fenlon was more blunt in his interpretation of DePauw’s 20-10 final record.
“You can only lament so much about a 20 win season,” Fenlon said.
Moving forward DePauw will have some key pieces to replace. The Tigers will lose five seniors, Mark Johnson, Connor Rich, Frank Patton III, Fernitz and Dillon.
“It is very bittersweet,” Dillon said. “Athletics have been a huge part of my life and I'm really going to miss competing and laying it all out there every night with some of my best buds, but like they say, every good thing must come to an end. I've enjoyed my time as a DePauw basketball member and will always support the program.”
What the Tigers can count on is the return of sophomore Luke Lattner who emerged as an offensive weapon. He was one of only two Tigers to average in double figures with 12.5 points per game.
Either way, the Tigers will have to rely on some new faces to keep the success going.
“We had guys not play in the last two weeks that I think can be really good players at our level,” Fenlon said. “Whether they will or not, the jury’s out.”
Fans will have to wait till Oct. 15 to find out.