Dave Corzine is legitimately excited about the future of the DePaul University men’s basketball program. This is a new development.

Once in a generation, DePaul fields a men’s basketball team capable of beating any rival in the country. The program first made a name for itself nationally in the early 1940s with the arrival of the M and M Boys, player George Mikan and coach Ray Meyer. Both grew up humbly—Mikan in Joliet, the son of a tavern owner, and Meyer on Chicago’s west side, the youngest of ten children born to a candy wholesaler. Both came to DePaul in 1942 with modest expectations. Meyer, who was a star player at Notre Dame and later joined its staff as an assistant coach, signed only a one-year contract at DePaul because, as he wrote in his 1987 autobiography, Coach, “I didn’t know if I’d like the job or profession.” Mikan, who didn’t even play basketball during his freshman year, was a gangly prelaw student in horn-rimmed glasses; the 6’10” would-be center possessed almost no natural aptitude for basketball.

The Blue Demons counted themselves among the talentless more years than they’d have liked. Between 1946 and 1976, DePaul appeared in only 11 postseason tournaments, winning just six total games. Enthusiasm waned; crowds at Alumni Hall—a snug, 5,308-seat, on-campus arena—were sparse enough that a New York Times reporter once spotted a man changing his son’s diapers during a game. (“No one nearby was offended,” theTimes wrote, “because no one was nearby.”) The program hit its nadir in 1971, a year in which Meyer’s squad finished a lowly 8-17. A few months after the season concluded, the school’s vice president for student affairs prepared a report for the board of trustees recommending they strongly consider either dropping to Division II or abolishing the team entirely. Instead, they gave Meyer additional cash to hire two full-time assistant coaches (his first two ever) and a three-year window to provide a reasonable return on their new investment. It turned out to be one of the most profitable decisions the school ever made.

Fans received a brief respite from misery when the school signed, in 1998, a vaunted recruiting class consisting of three Chicago Public League products, including future NBA players Quentin Richardson and Bobby Simmons. The excitement was short-lived; the athletic youngsters qualified for the NCAA tournament in their second season on campus but lost in the first round before Richardson bolted for the pros, leaving then-coach Pat Kennedy without a bona fide star. It’s been grisly ever since. After joining the competitive Big East Conference in 2005-’06, a move the athletic department hoped would broaden the school’s recruiting base, DePaul has notched only one winning season. In the last four years, they’ve claimed victory in just five total regular-season conference tilts, losing a depressing 24 straight between January 2010 and February 2011. “There are going to be a lot of prayers going up there for wins,” joked Reverend John Minogue, DePaul’s former president, when the school announced its decision to enter the Catholic-heavy Big East a decade ago. God, evidently, hasn’t answered any from Chicago.

As a group, the Blue Demons have worked to improve their half-court defense and defensive rebounding, two areas that killed them during Big East play a year ago. (Conference opponents made a robust 53.7 percent of their two-point shots against DePaul in 2011-’12.) The return of center Donnavan Kirk, an elite shot blocker who missed a large chunk of last season with a back injury, has helped fortify a thin front line. The team isn’t a title contender yet; dropping winnable games at home to Gardner-Webb and Loyola-Chicago proved that. But through December, Purnell’s squad is forcing more turnovers and snagging more rebounds than at any time since the new regime took over. And they’re finally playing as a team, as evidenced by a seven-game win streak between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Says Young: “We learned how to play with each other. We’re out there on the court talking to each other, and just playing the game the right way.”