Four from DePaul Picked in NBA D-League Draft

CHICAGO - In addition to Wilson Chandler, Steven Hunter, Quentin Richardson and Bobby Simmons playing in the NBA for the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat and New Jersey Nets, four former DePaul basketball players were selected in the 2009 NBA D-League Draft on Thursday night.

Dar Tucker was the second pick of the second round to the Idaho Stampede while Draelon Burns, Quemont Greer and Delonte Holland were also selected by D-League franchises.

Tucker was the 18th overall pick and followed by Holland who was also selected by Idaho. Holland was the 15th pick of the third round to the Stampede. Burns was the 13th pick of the fifth round to the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Greer was selected by the Austin Toros with the 11th pick of the sixth round.

Burns concluded his DePaul career in 2008 with 1,329 points and 150 career three-pointers. He picked up second team All-BIG EAST honors following his senior season and scored over 30 points in a game on three occasions. He became just the fifth player to score at least 32 points in consecutive games when he posted back-to-back 32-point outings. Burns finished his career ranked third in school history in three-pointers made and three-point attempts while also setting a school record with an 8-for-8 effort from behind the arc against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He ranks 18th all-time in career scoring over his collegiate career from 2004-08.

Greer finished his career from 2001-05 as one of 11 players in program history with at least 1,300 points and 600 rebounds. He earned first team All-Conference USA honors and put together a DePaul record of eight straight games of at least 20 points from Dec. 1, 2004-Jan. 6, 2005. During the streak, he became the first player in Conference USA history to earn Player of the Week honors in three straight weeks. In his 118 career games, he totaled 1,397 points,

Holland was a junior college transfer to DePaul and played his junior and senior campaigns for the Blue Demons from 2002-04. He averaged 13.9 points in 60 career games at DePaul with the Blue Demons reaching the NCAA Championship second round during his senior season. In the first-round game against Dayton, Holland posted a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double in an overtime victory over the Flyers.

Tucker entered the professional ranks following two seasons at DePaul from 2007-09. He led the Blue Demons with 18.5 points per game during the 2008-09 season and added 5.4 rebounds in 32.4 minutes of action. His scoring average ranked fifth among BIG EAST players and 50th in the NCAA rankings. Tucker's 592 points as a sophomore are tied for eighth on DePaul's season chart with David Booth (1989-90). As a freshman, he picked up BIG EAST All-Rookie Team honors after averaging 13.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 29 games. He started eight times during the 2007-08 season and averaged 23.6 minutes per game while shooting 50-of-156 (.321) from three-point range.

The NBA D-League will again have 16 teams playing in 2009-10 as it enters its fifth season as the NBA's affiliation system. The NBA D-League continues to be a springboard for elite basketball talent, with more NBA players than ever boasting NBA D-League experience. Twenty percent of NBA players on 2008-09 end-of-season rosters had NBA D-League experience, while 29 of 30 NBA teams featured players with NBA D-League experience last season. Over the first four seasons of the NBA D-League's assignment system, NBA teams have assigned 116 players a total of 175 times to play in the NBA D-League.