Hoopapalooza Stop 3: Lincoln Park

You've got to hand it to DePaul. It wants to return to the glory days. Its fans want to return to the glory days.

And to kickstart the return to the glory days, DePaul started Friday night's "Blue Madness 2009" at mostly-full McGrath Arena with an elongated Michael Jackson tribute -- complete with a Jacko impersonator dancing around the floor for two songs.

The highlight? When all of the players from the men's and women's teams came out in gray hooded sweatshirts, the DJ put "Thriller" on the sound system at roughly 115 decibels and they all did the Zombie Thriller dance. You haven't lived until you've seen 7-foot-2 Kene Obi and some of his frontcourt mates do this dance.

Why did DePaul do an MJ tribute? This is just a theory, but when was Thriller at its hottest? Roughly 1983-85. Coincidentally, that's right about the time DePaul last was among the nation's top programs. In 1983-84 and '84-85, the Demons got as high as No. 2 in the polls.

Then, during early 1987 when "Bad," Thriller's followup, was at its peak, DePaul charted as high as No. 4 in the polls.

Since that time, DePaul has never been higher than No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25.

DEPAUL TIDBITS:
--These are among the words fifth-year coach Jerry Wainwright offered the crowd: "We are going to be the hottest ticket in this town in a very short period of time."

--Eric Wallace, who wore an Everlast boxer's robe and boxing gloves prior to the dunk competition, failed to reach the finals. Freshman walk-on guard Nate Rogers edged junior-college transfer Mike Stovall in the finals.

Wallace, unbowed by his defeat, capped the competition by revealing his Superman shirt and running the length of the court for a monstrous Dr. J slam. I believe Wallace's heels touched the edge of the free-throw line as he took flight.

(By the way, the Demons had a nice group judging the dunk contest: David Booth, Dave Corzine, Tom Kleinschmidt and Lemone Lampley).

The rest of the fellas didn't do much else during the 90-minute affair, though they ran a layup line for a few minutes. Guard Mike Bizoukas threw down some reverse jams. Devin Hill, Krys Faber, Mac Koshwal and Will Walker are among the dudes with more muscle on their frames.

LW