John Ralston once sang of a “shallow grave of stubble field and half-remembered lies.” There’s every chance he wasn’t singing about Tony Stubblefield, but the stark imagery is rather fitting for the fallow land that DePaul basketball has become. The Blue Demons haven’t made the tournament since the 2003-04 season, they haven’t had a winning year in conference since 2006-07, and in the entire KenPom Era they’ve finished in the top 100 just nine times. It doesn’t matter which iteration of the Big East you prefer, DePaul is at the bottom of it.
Into that morass walks Tony Stubblefield.