Castro mcp isiaha mike and Blackmon on all pro am team. These new guys ain't no slouches. I'm definitely interested to see what this new look squad could be.

Here is my take on the Dukes in the Pro-Am league.  First, since Castro has rightfully been getting the lions share of attention from both Pitt and Dukes fans, here is my read on him.  Simply put, there was zero hesitation in his play.  He went to the hoop, or jab stepped and took a clean three or two-ball shot. During last year he seemingly would yo-yo the ball and not make decisions on what he wanted to do or was supposed to do.  For some reason that went away over the last three weeks.  The other guards--Tarin Smith, Emile Blackmon and Mike Lewis, II.  Saw little of Lewis but the reports from others who were there were encouraging.  He apparently played the same or better as what he did on the ESPN games against strong competition.  Blackmon is a strong driver to the hoop.   He shows more than adequate 3-point capability.  Eric James got little time with the ball what with the Pitt kids kinda hogging the ball the games I saw.  Witness Michael Young and Kithcart taking 50 and 60 shots respectively in two games.  Everyone is going to love Isaiah Mike.  He is, in my opinion, a thin, but still muscular, version of Ovie Soko.  Soko used brute force to overrun people.  Mike uses finesse.  Mike has a complete reportoire of shots, passes, ball handling and rebounding ability.  He is the real deal.  I see him as the four who can mover to other positions.  Jordan Robinson and Sanders are improved.  Robinson is leaner than last year and more aggressive..  Ditto with Sanders.  They are either four or five's.  Did not see Markqwell Jackson, so I can make no observation about him.  Darius did not play at all-foot or ankle injury.  Abrahamson--plays offense better than L.G.  Can run the floor well.  Rebounds aggressively.  Is a good 3-point threat.  He is more than a  situational player.   His game is a lot like the Richmond forwards.  Will share time with Eric James at the 3.  Although his defense is suspect, he played very good defense tonight against Cam Johnson of Pitt.  Littleson got better the last couple of games.  He has a nice stroke and good overall offensive game.  He didn't get many touches.   I won't be surprised if he is red-shirted.  Josh Steel was in England and did not play.   We are bigger everywhere- especially at guard,a and as one poster noted we won't try and defend with smurfs.  I see opportunity for a better inside-out game with the guards. I don't see much drop-off in 3 point capability.  I see players who make better decisions.

Last edited by grammudder (7/20/2016 11:10 pm)

Just reading into what's written:

Castro's problems might begin once he's being defended. Not saying it's true, but if it is, it's an issue. He'll get no more than garbage minutes. If he can play off defenders, though, then he's instant offense.

Sanders and Mike give us two really athletic bigs. Interested to see them on the court together. Pairing them with Abrahamson, I think if Ferry has any creativity offensively we could cause fits and matchup problems.

Grammudder summed up much of the problem we've had the past four years: shot selection. I get knocked for "knocking" Colter and Mason but facts is facts and the record speaks for itself. Decent players, just not enough to win. We might finally have the players.

Of course, even though I'm from NJ, I'm from Missouri.

currentstudent wrote:

Castro is killing me. Last season I spent all year shouting he is robbing Duquesne of a scholarship. Now he is the co-mvp of a summer pro-am that our whole team plus Pitt squad is in attendance for. If he can produce at the rate he is now -- it'll change major things to our back court. 

As far as Colter and Mason -- They both had an amazing offensive game but their defense was not to par. It wasn't really DC fault, trying to defend in the low post when you are 5'10 is not fun. I honestly would much rather have our back court this season rather than the last. With more depth and no seniority, these guards will not have the green light to pull up with 2 guys in their face. They will have to make the correct basketball play which hopefully will make our team more well rounded. 

Plus one.

In discussing the Dukes from what I saw in all the summer games, I completely forgot to give my thoughts on Tarin Smith.  There is not much to dislike about Tarin.  There will be complaints about his shot.  But, that is where the complaints will and should end,  He is and will be the starting PG.  Rightfully so,  He should be the type of leader the Dukes need and have so sorely missed.  What I like most about him is that even though he commits turnovers he doesn't do stupid things with the ball. Every player commits turnovers.  But not every player does stupid things.   Smith falls into this category.   Dukes fans will like him.  At the very minimum the back court will be 6'2" and 6'2" or better from among Castro, Blackmon, Eric James, Marqwell Jackson or Josh Steel.  I still see Littleson as either a minimal sub or perhaps a red-shirt.  He needs seasoning.  

Last edited by grammudder (7/21/2016 9:58 am)

The fact that Castro has had this production for two consecutive years is a positive takeaway for me in the sense that it illustrates the fact that the kid truly has talent, and potentially serious talent. One or two 25-30 point games in the two summer leagues he participated in could have been lucky showings or just getting hot once or twice. This kid dominated the league for two years, enough so this year to be considered MVP over guys like Jamel Artis and Mike Young, two potential NBA guys. We'll see if he can put it all together this year.

If anyone saw my comment about seeing those guys the other night, Castro did say he hurt his knee last year and the coaches went away from him. I don't know how  much I believe that though, that was in response to me asking him if he thought he could replicate his summer league history to the reg. season. He never looked hurt when I saw him play, just slow as all hell.

Last edited by Duques102 (7/21/2016 12:59 pm)

We signed Seay after we failed to get Bob Sura. Seay was a really skinny kid with kind of a bowl haircut. But you're right; he could get up there. One game against UMass, he was getting garbage time minutes and went up for a rebound -- it had to be the camera angle or something, but I swore watching it his head was way above the rim.

CLK wrote:

grammudder wrote:

Here is my take on the Dukes in the Pro-Am league.  First, since Castro has rightfully been getting the lions share of attention from both Pitt and Dukes fans, here is my read on him.  Simply put, there was zero hesitation in his play.  He went to the hoop, or jab stepped and took a clean three or two-ball shot. During last year he seemingly would yo-yo the ball and not make decisions on what he wanted to do or was supposed to do.  For some reason that went away over the last three weeks.  The other guards--Tarin Smith, Emile Blackmon and Mike Lewis, II.  Saw little of Lewis but the reports from others who were there were encouraging.  He apparently played the same or better as what he did on the ESPN games against strong competition.  Blackmon is a strong driver to the hoop.   He shows more than adequate 3-point capability.  Eric James got little time with the ball what with the Pitt kids kinda hogging the ball the games I saw.  Witness Michael Young and Kithcart taking 50 and 60 shots respectively in two games.  Everyone is going to love Isaiah Mike.  He is, in my opinion, a thin, but still muscular, version of Ovie Soko.  Soko used brute force to overrun people.  Mike uses finesse.  Mike has a complete reportoire of shots, passes, ball handling and rebounding ability.  He is the real deal.  I see him as the four who can mover to other positions.  Jordan Robinson and Sanders are improved.  Robinson is leaner than last year and more aggressive..  Ditto with Sanders.  They are either four or five's.  Did not see Markqwell Jackson, so I can make no observation about him.  Darius did not play at all-foot or ankle injury.  Abrahamson--plays offense better than L.G.  Can run the floor well.  Rebounds aggressively.  Is a good 3-point threat.  He is more than a  situational player.   His game is a lot like the Richmond forwards.  Will share time with Eric James at the 3.  Although his defense is suspect, he played very good defense tonight against Cam Johnson of Pitt.  Littleson got better the last couple of games.  He has a nice stroke and good overall offensive game.  He didn't get many touches.   I won't be surprised if he is red-shirted.  Josh Steel was in England and did not play.   We are bigger everywhere- especially at guard,a and as one poster noted we won't try and defend with smurfs.  I see opportunity for a better inside-out game with the guards. I don't see much drop-off in 3 point capability.  I see players who make better decisions.

There is certainly some talent on this team.  The questions for me are will they jell as a team and share the basketball, and can Ferry get them to defend better and teach multiple defenses.  I honestly do not want to see the all the time, one size fits all zone again.  With a deeper bench, there is no reason why as circumstance dictate see our guys can't play an effective full court press or switch from zone to man mixing things up.

I still believe our best shot for this program is for Ferry to be successful, but I also think he has run out of mulligans.  A winning season, a winning record in the A10, a run in the A10 tourney, and post season tourney  play...anything less for a 5th year coach should bring his future into question if DU is serious.  A bottom or near bottom finish with a losing record should show him the door.  
 

This is pretty much the season we've been building for. A good mix of youth, and experience. Good size up front. Decent depth. Something similar to Ron's third year would make me happy. A 19-14 CBI type year wouldn't leave me calling for his head, but his seat would be warm going into the next year. What would bother me is if the program settled into a 17-20 wins a year rut. What do you do then? We'd kind of be hypocrites if we called for his head, since we were so angry about RE being fired for similar production. I guess I'm hoping we either fly, or fail, so that any decisions will be clear cut. Of course, either way we'll be looking for a new coach, as Ferry would become a hot commodity if he could ever get us to the NCAAs.
 

ElDuque wrote:

Trust me, if that happened I'd have no problems calling for his head. This was supposed to be the "next level" coach, remember? If he's not living up to the standard to which he was hired,then it's time to move on.

Then you're saying that will be the standard moving forward.
 

El D I want that too.....eventually. To have that expectation where we are now is like trying to jump across a valley, you have to bridge the gap IMO. That being said, bridging the gap for me would look like a real winning season compared to last year's BS almost winning season, 18-21 wins and a postseason. Then maybe a 20-24 win year and an NIT berth. Then maybe a 25-27 win season and an NCAA berth. To do this in 3 years is probably still even a stretch, if we could hit those type of milestones over the next 3-5 seasons I would say there is real progression, and if it took 5, we couldn't have any down years where we go below 20 wins. That being said I expect that first milestone I mentioned (winning season, 18-21 wins, and postseason berth) to be hit NEXT YEAR or we just cut the cord with Ferry.

In past years and on the other board when people called for his head I preached patience and the value of giving him time to build his program. I am not walking that statement back in any way whatsoever, I feel that is a realistic approach to take especially considering where the program was when he took over. That being said, 5 years is patience enough and letting him build the program enough, he has been able to get an entire cycle of his own guys plus one year and we have seen the quality of recruits increase consistently over that period of time. 

He has been given every opportunity to make this his and now he has to prove he can be a successful coach at this level of basketball, again, this year. I am rooting for him to do this not because I like him as a guy, to be honest I feel he has not done enough to establish a personality and mentality for this program or let fans get to know him as a person. I am rooting for him to get it done because another coaching change will set the program back yet again, and that will just bring about another rebuilding effort with mediocre to bad results for the short-term future.

8-22, 13-17, 12-19, 17-17, better be a 20 next year at the front of that Jimmy.


 

Last edited by Duques102 (7/22/2016 10:21 am)

currentstudent wrote:

Like I said before, this summer league play has showed that we have talented kids across the floor. The kids themselves that have joined the program this year have instantly become close. 

This year Ferry has no excuse. I care that we are competitive in every game we play and that we have a winning A-10 record. Throw in a win or two in the A10 tourney I will be happy with Mr.Ferry as long as the plan is to build upon success.

Also since the scheduled is out and we have seen most of the team play--when are we going to post predictions? 

I'd like to see some write up's about expectations for other A10 teams and maybe some preseason predictions before I can formulate an opinion. I think the league will be down a little talent wise overall when you look at all the big names on the top teams that graduated and in Deandre Bembry's case, left early for the NBA draft. I have a moderately optimistic outlook on the conference season at this point.

ElDuque wrote:

I'm saying the standard has to be 20 wins and the NCAAs

I have no problem with that. I just don't agree with a scenario where Ferry is held to that standard because people don't like Amodio, but the next guy would be ok if he wins 17, 18 games a year.