Chicago Trib...
DePaul needs complete overhaul...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...paul-haugh-spt-0212-20140212,0,5811627.column
some excerpts for those who don't want to register
"DePaul basketball needs complete makeover
Mysterious departure of leading scorer Cleveland Melvin further illustrates
irrelevance of Oliver Purnell's program"
With a strong final month, DePaul senior forward Cleveland Melvin realistically
could have finished his college basketball career as the school's No. 2 all-time scorer behind Mark Aguirre.
Melvin scored 1,792 points for the Blue Demons. His abrupt departure Monday
warranted 62 words in a university press release.
Mystery surrounds Melvin's sudden absence as those who run the basketball
program cling to privacy laws that are intended to protect students but also
help absorb DePaul's accountability. Coach Oliver Purnell and athletic director
Jean Lenti Ponsetto refused the Tribune's request for comment on Melvin for
the second straight day Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Melvin's father, Cleveland, didn't return messages. Nor did
confidants such as Melvin's coach at Lake Clifton High School in Baltimore,
Herman Harried, or his AAU coach, Anthony Lewis. A family member who
picked up the phone at Melvin's grandfather's home in Maryland professed no
knowledge Melvin had left the team until the Tribune called looking for
answers.
What did Melvin do? Was it an academic violation or worse? Was leaving
immediately Melvin's choice, Purnell's or the university's?
And those are the easy questions looming over the pocket of Lincoln Park
irrelevance known as DePaul basketball....
