DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball

The DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball program is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate women's basketball program of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. The team competes in the Big East Conference.

DePaul Blue Demons
2024–25 DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball team
University	DePaul University
Head coach	Jill Pizzotti
Conference	Big East
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Arena	Wintrust Arena McGrath–Phillips Arena (capacity: 10,387 3,000)
Nickname	Blue Demons
Colors	Royal blue and scarlet[1]
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
2006, 2011, 2014, 2016
NCAA tournament appearances
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022
Conference tournament champions
Big East Conference 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020
Conference regular-season champions North Star Conference 1987, 1988, 1989 Great Midwest Conference 1992 Conference USA 1996, 2005 Big East Conference 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
NWIT champions
1988

The Blue Demons play home games at Wintrust Arena at the McCormick Place convention center on Chicago's Near South Side^[2] and at McGrath–Phillips Arena on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus. While DePaul is among the ranks for regular appearances in the NCAA tournament with 25, they have the most appearances in the tournament without reaching the Final Four.

History

The DePaul women's basketball team began competing in the AIAW in 1974–1975 under coach Debbie Miller and had their first winning season two seasons later, obtaining an 11–10 record under then coach Doug Bruno.^[3]

DePaul is one of the seven core schools that left the original Big East Conference in 2013 to form the current Big East Conference. Before joining the original Big East in 2005, the Blue Demons previously competed in Conference USA, the Great Midwest Conference, and the North Star Conference.^[3]

After 39 seasons as head coach, Doug Bruno announced that he was stepping down on March 28, 2025, after missing nearly the entire 2024–25 season. Beginning May 1, Bruno will become DePaul's Special Assistant to the Vice President/Director of Athletics for Women's Basketball.^[4] Associate head coach Jill Pizzotti finished the season and was officially promoted to full-time status on 3 April 2025.^[5]

Year by year results

Source^{[6] [7] [8]}

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason	Coaches' poll	AP poll
Debbie Miller (Independent) (1974–1976)
1974–75	Debbie Miller	3–8	–		IAIAW
1975–76	Debbie Miller	7–12	–		IAIAW
Debbie Miller:		10–20	–
Doug Bruno (Independent) (1977–1979)
1976–77	Doug Bruno	11–10	–
1977–78	Doug Bruno	16–6	–		IAIAW
Doug Bruno:		27–16	–
John Lawler (Independent) (1978–1980)
1978–79	John Lawler	23–4	–		IAIAW
1979–80	John Lawler	11–13	–		AIAW Midwest
:		34–17	–
Ron Feiereisel (Independent, North Star) (1980–1984)
1980–81	Ron Feiereisel	18–14	–		AIAW Midwest
1981–82	Ron Feiereisel	18–12	–		NWIT Sixth Place
1982–83	Ron Feiereisel	13–15	–
North Star Conference
1983–84	Ron Feiereisel	12–16	5–5	3rd
Ron Feiereisel:		61–57	5–5
Jim Izard (North Star) (1984–1988)
1984–85	Jim Izard	19–9	7–7	5th
1985–86	Jim Izard	21–7	8–6	4th
1986–87	Jim Izard	23–8	5–1	1st	NWIT Seventh Place
1987–88	Jim Izard	27–4	9–1	1st	NWIT Champions	22
Jim Izard:		90–28	29–15
Doug Bruno (North Star, Great Midwest, Conference USA, Big East (original), Big East (current)) (1988–2025)
1988–89	Doug Bruno	23–10	12–2	T-1st	NWIT Sixth Place
1989–90	Doug Bruno	22–10	10–2	2nd	NCAA Second Round (Play-In)
1990–91	Doug Bruno	19–12	11–3	3rd	NCAA First Round
Great Midwest Conference
1991–92	Doug Bruno	21–10	8–2	1st (GM)	NCAA Second Round (Bye)
1992–93	Doug Bruno	20–9	8–2	2nd	NCAA First Round
1993–94	Doug Bruno	10–20	5–7	4th
1994–95	Doug Bruno	20–9	9–3	2nd	NCAA First Round
Conference USA
1995–96	Doug Bruno	21–10	13–1	1st (CUSA Blue)	NCAA Second Round	23
1996–97	Doug Bruno	20–9	10–4	T-4th (American)	NCAA First Round
1997–98	Doug Bruno	11–18	5–11	T-7th (CUSA)
1998–99	Doug Bruno	12–15	7–9	4th (American)
1999–2000	Doug Bruno	18–12	10–6	2nd (American)	WNIT Sixteen
2000–01	Doug Bruno	18–14	8–8	T-3rd (American)	WNIT Sixteen
2001–02	Doug Bruno	15–14	8–6	4th
2002–03	Doug Bruno	22–10	10–4	3rd	NCAA First Round
2003–04	Doug Bruno	23–7	10–4	4th	NCAA Second Round	25
2004–05	Doug Bruno	26–5	13–1	1st	NCAA Second Round	20	17
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2005–06	Doug Bruno	27–7	11–5	T-3rd (Big East)	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	15	13
2006–07	Doug Bruno	19–13	8–8	10th	NCAA First Round
2007–08	Doug Bruno	20–12	8–8	T-8th	NCAA First Round
2008–09	Doug Bruno	23–10	10–6	T-4th	NCAA First Round
2009–10	Doug Bruno	21–12	9–7	T-6th	NCAA First Round
2010–11	Doug Bruno	29–7	13–3	T-2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	10	9
2011–12	Doug Bruno	23–11	9–7	8th	NCAA Second Round	24
2012–13	Doug Bruno	21–12	9–7	T-6th	NCAA First Round
Big East Conference
2013–14	Doug Bruno	27–6	15–3	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	23	22
2014–15	Doug Bruno	27–8	15–3	T-1st	NCAA Second round
2015–16	Doug Bruno	27–9	16–2	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	20	21
2016–17	Doug Bruno	27–8	16–2	T-1st	NCAA Second round	19	18
2017–18	Doug Bruno	27–8	15–3	T-1st	NCAA Second round		23
2018–19	Doug Bruno	26–8	14–4	2nd	NCAA First round	24	25
2019–20	Doug Bruno	28–5	15–3	1st		15	14
2020–21	Doug Bruno	14–10	11–5	4th	WNIT First round
2021–22	Doug Bruno	22–11	14–6	4th	NCAA First four
2022–23	Doug Bruno	16–17	8–12	8th
2023–24	Doug Bruno	12–20	4–14	9th
Doug Bruno:		786–402	379–183
Jill Pizzotti (Big East) (2024–2025)
2024–25	Jill Pizzotti	13–19	8–10	6th
Jill Pizzotti:		13–19	8–10
Total:		905–479
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

NCAA tournament results

The Blue Demons made their 20th appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2015. After the 2022 tournament, their combined record is 17–25.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1990	#8	Round of 48 Round of 32	Western Kentucky Washington	W 73–63 L 77–68
1991	#12	Round of 48	Oklahoma State	L 80–81
1992	#11	Round of 48 Round of 32	Arizona State Penn State	W 67–65 L 54–77
1993	#11	Round of 48	Louisiana Tech	L 59–70
1995	#13	Round of 64	George Washington	L 79–87
1996	#7	Round of 64 Round of 32	Southern Methodist Iowa	W 96–82 L 71–72
1997	#12	Round of 64	Duke	L 56–70
2003	#9	Round of 64	Utah	L 64–73
2004	#9	Round of 64 Round of 32	George Washington Tennessee	W 83–46 L 59–79
2005	#5	Round of 64 Round of 32	Virginia Tech Liberty	W 79–78 L 79–88
2006	#4	Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	Liberty Tulsa LSU	W 68–43 W 71–67 L 56–66
2007	#10	Round of 64	Georgia Tech	L 54–55
2008	#10	Round of 64	Marist	L 57–76
2009	#7	Round of 64	San Diego State	L 43–68
2010	#11	Round of 64	Vanderbilt	L 76–83 (OT)
2011	#3	Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	Navy Penn State Duke	W 56–43 W 75–53 L 63–70
2012	#7	Round of 64 Round of 32	Brigham Young Tennessee	W 59–55 L 48–63
2013	#10	Round of 64	Oklahoma State	L 56–73
2014	#7	Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	Oklahoma Duke Texas A&M	W 104–100 W 74–65 L 65–84
2015	#9	Round of 64 Round of 32	Minnesota Notre Dame	W 79–72 L 67–79
2016	#6	Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	James Madison Louisville Oregon State	W 97–67 W 73–72 L 71–83
2017	#7	Round of 64 Round of 32	Northern Iowa Mississippi State	W 88–67 L 71–92
2018	#5	Round of 64 Round of 32	Oklahoma Texas A&M	W 90–79 L 80–81
2019	#6	Round of 64	Missouri State	L 78–89
2022	#11	First Four	Dayton	L 57–88

WNIT Championships

DePaul has won one National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT) championship before the tournament folded in 1996 to become the WNIT.

Year	Coach	Record	Result
1987-88	Jim Izard	27–4	DePaul 83 Purdue Boilermakers 55
Total NWIT/WNIT championships:	1

Notable players and coaches

National awards

• Tamika Catchings Award (USBWA Freshman of the Year)

Aneesah Morrow – 2022

• WBCA Freshman of the Year

Aneesah Morrow – 2022

• Carol Eckman Award

Doug Bruno – 2008

Conference awards

• Big East Conference Player of the Year

Brittany Hrynko – 2015

Chanise Jenkins – 2016

Brooke Schulte – 2017

• Big East Conference Freshman of the Year

Aneesah Morrow – 2022

• Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Jacqui Grant – 2017

Chante Stonewall – 2020

• Big East Conference Sixth Player of the Year

China Threatt – 2009

Taylor Pikes – 2011

Tanita Allen – 2017

• Big East Conference Coach of the Year

Doug Bruno – 2014, 2016, 2017

• Conference USA Player of the Year

Kim Williams – 1996

• Conference USA Freshman of the Year

Khara Smith – 2003

Allie Quigley – 2005

• Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year

Kris Booker – 1996

• Conference USA Coach of the Year

Doug Bruno – 2005

• Conference USA All-Decade Team^[a]

Khara Smith

• Conference USA Coach of the Decade

Doug Bruno

• Great Midwest Conference Player of the Year

Tammy Williams – 1993

Latasha Byears – 1995

• Great Midwest Conference Coach of the Year

Doug Bruno – 1995

• North Star Conference Player of the Year

Sally Anderson – 1987

Diana Vines – 1988, 1989

• North Star Conference Coach of the Year

Jim Izard – 1987

Retired numbers

DePaul has retired four jersey numbers.

DePaul Blue Demons retired numbers
No.	Player	Pos.	Career	Year Retired
40	Diana Vines	Forward	1985-89	2024

Notes

1. "Decade" is defined as the first decade of Conference USA's existence, starting with the 1995–96 season and ending with the 2004–05 season.