• Six different sports have represented the Blue Demons in NCAA postseason play. The women's basketball program has played in seven straight NCAA tournaments including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2006. Women's softball has made six NCAA appearances in the last eight years with two trips to the Women's College World Series in 2005 and 2007.
  
  
• Thirteen individual athletes have earned All-American honors a total of 20 times. Five student-athletes were named All-Americans at least two times.
  
  
• Eight Blue Demons have won individual conference championships including four who have won multiple titles. Brad Millar claimed DePaul's first BIG EAST individual championship with a first-place finish in the hammer throw at the 2007 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships before defending his title with a 2008 championship. Melissa Fraser claimed the first women's individual championship in the javelin at the 2008 BIG EAST Championships.
  
  
• All Conference honors have gone to 146 DePaul student-athletes in the Conference USA and the BIG EAST Conference.
  
  
• The success has continued away from the playing field as well. There have been 787 DePaul student-athletes named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll from 2002-05 and the BIG EAST All-Academic Team list from 2005-08. The 2007-08 athletic year saw the Blue Demons accomplish many outstanding moments including:
  
  
• Nearly 75 competitions have been either on the ESPN family of networks, CSTV, Comcast or the BIG EAST Network in the last two years.
  
  
• Men's soccer put together the best season in program history as the Blue Demons earned their first NCAA Tournament berth. DePaul captured the BIG EAST Red Division title before reaching the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament and finished the season with a record-tying 12 victories in 2007.
  
  
• Women's basketball reached the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season and the 13th time since 1990. Senior Allie Quigley was honored by the BIG EAST Conference as the BIG EAST/Aeropostale Scholar-Athlete of the Year and also earned NACDA Division I-Triple A Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors for the second time in three years.
  
  
• Softball won the 2008 BIG EAST Tournament title and qualified for its sixth NCAA Tournament since 2002. The tournament championship was the first for a DePaul team in the BIG EAST after the 2007 squad became the university's first BIG EAST Conference regular-season champion. Amber Patton became the program's 22nd All-American with second team recognition and seven players were recognized as All-Conference players.
  
  
• Men's tennis claimed third place at the 2008 BIG EAST Championships while the women's tennis team finished in fourth place. Both teams placed two student-athletes on BIG EAST All-Tournament teams.
  
  
• The DePaul Blue Demons team name evolved from "D-Men," the name given to DePaul athletes who wore blue letter sweaters in the early 1920s. DePaul's colors are blue and red.
  
  
• In fall of 1999, DePaul unveiled the new logo of the Blue Demon. The new logo heads a family of 17 symbols that visually captures the essence of DePaul's athletic program and represents the attitude of DePaul's student athletes.
  
  
• The $10 million DePaul Athletic Center, 2323 N. Sheffield Ave., opened in May 2000, replacing the 43-year-old Alumni Hall. The facility serves as a practice, training and fitness center for student athletes on DePaul's teams, including the Blue Demon men's and women's basketball teams. The women's basketball and volleyball teams compete in the facility's 3,000-seat arena.
  
  
• A multi-million dollar renovation has been completed on the Cacciatore Stadium softball field and Wish Field soccer field.
  
  
• Other than exhibition games, the DePaul men's basketball team plays all home games at the 18,500-seat Allstate Arena (formerly the Rosemont Horizon), 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont, Ill.
  
  
• DePaul's Athletic Academic Advising program provides academic and professional support services for all athletic team members, including supervised study time, weekly advising meetings, tutoring and career development services.
  
  
• Off the playing field, seven DePaul teams earned BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Awards in 2009, a conference best. The Blue Demons claimed the top team grade-point averages for women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s tennis, men’s indoor track and field and men’s outdoor track and field.
  
  
• Throughout its years, the DePaul athletic program has produced prominent athletes that have taken their playing careers to the professional level. In 1946, the late George Mikan signed with the pre-NBA National Basketball League's Chicago Gears. He would later carry the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers (currently the Los Angeles Lakers) to five championships in six seasons. In 1981, Mark Aguirre was the first overall draft pick in the NBA by the Dallas Mavericks. In 1982, Terry Cummings was the second overall draft pick by the San Diego Clippers (currently the Los Angeles Clippers). Today, the league serves as home to several former DePaul standouts, including Quentin Richardson (New York Knicks), Steven Hunter (Denver Nuggets), Bobby Simmons (Milwaukee Bucks), Andre Brown (Memphis Grizzlies), Wilson Chandler (New York Knicks) and Sammy Mejia (Detroit Pistons).
  
  
• In his 42 years as head coach of DePaul, from 1942 to 1984, the late Ray Meyer compiled a record of 724-354 (.671). Thirteen of his teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and seven of his squads played in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). His 1943 and 1979 teams advanced to the NCAA Final Four, while his 1945 team, featuring future Hall-of-Famer Mikan, won the NIT when it was considered the national championship.
  
  
• DePaul's home floor at the Allstate Arena was named Ray & Marge Meyer Court in December 2003 in honor of the legendary coach and his wife.
  
  

About the Athletic Director

• Jean Lenti Ponsetto was one of only a handful of women to head NCAA Division I athletic programs when she was appointed director in 2002. A four-sport athlete, Jean Lenti Ponsetto earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from DePaul in 1978. After graduation, Lenti Ponsetto took a position as assistant women's basketball coach at the university. Since then, she has moved up the ranks with promotions to assistant athletic director, associate athletic director and senior athletic director.  In 1998, Lenti Ponsetto was named Administrator of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and National Association of Collegiate Women's Athletics. Lenti Ponsetto is the first woman ever to chair the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, which oversees all the division's championship events, playing and practice rules, athlete safety and drug education, as well as the financial impact and image of all NCAA events.
  
  
• DePaul's Athletics Web site: www.depaulbluedemons.com