Multiple wide open looks from 3 down the stretch and our shooter made 1-5. Dinkins was the only guy who made his 3’s when the game was on the line.  Nice shooting on his part, just wish he had taken the little jumper from the lane instead of the kick out pass that was stolen and cost a critical possession.  Once they took away Dinkins open looks, I might have preferred to see Necas set up for the open 3’s instead of Matus, but guys just have to make some open shots.  This team is very very challenged to make even open shots.  The 3-2 zone by Maine in the second half should have been carved up and destroyed.  It took far too long for Duquesne to attack and get open shots, but for the most part they missed anyway. 

Responding  to Napa and his comments on not going to the hoop in the second half; that was due to the tightly packed 3-2 zone employed by Maine.  It took away driving lanes and basically challenged Duquesne to hit some open shots from distance.  They didn’t hit enough to win!

Kind of a bad look at the end when the Dukes let 17-seconds run off the clock before fouling.  The clock was at 38-seconds when Maine took over up by 3.  If the decision was to foul it should have been immediately, not when the clock ran down to 21-seconds. 
Oh well,  I keep hoping they hit bottom and start to move upward.  Could this be the bottom?

Sure, a a lot of teams are “better on the run” than in half-court, but you need to be able to score in both ways to win against better teams.  Running doesn’t just happen by saying “we want to run”.  Last night in the second half the Dukes created running opportunities by playing aggressive defense, forcing bad shots by Delaware, getting hands on passes, and rebounding the basketball, all of which created open-court running opportunities.  You have to create those opportunities in order to run.  So if teams are getting good shots and making them, or hitting foul shots, it’s pretty hard to run because you don’t have open-court opportunities. 

I thought Dru must have lit a fire under the team at halftime.  It was a different team in the second half.  Dru played a smaller quicker lineup to take away the matchup problems we had in the first half when our bigs were getting beaten to the hoop by smaller quicker players.  This adjustment made it hard for Delaware to score along with the more aggressive Duquesne defense.  Nice work!

Ouch!  That certainly puts a negative spin on things. Hopefully it isn’t long-term.  That would be a huge loss.

Very simply, guys like Corbett who  cannot shoot Free throws cannot be on the court. Unless your name is Shaq, you cannot play at this level. 

If someone made a “deal with the devil” to allow us to get to the NCAA Tournament last year; he is collecting his debt with vengeance!

Yes,
A couple of impressive wins for St.Joe’s.  I expected them to be very strong this season, with lots of veterans returning and some guys who can score in bunches.  They will be tough in the A-10. 

SD St Jackrabbits were in the same NCAA pod at Omaha with the Dukes.  I spoke to some of their fans about their team as well as the drubbing the Dukes football team took on a snowy day in the playoffs at SD ST.  I didn’t see them play in Omaha but they are usually pretty good.  I see they have been winning this year, but haven’t beaten anyone yet.  Still,  with the Dukes struggling to find any consistency, I’m not expecting a win.  I think the Dukes have played some good minutes in spurts, but then revert back to bad habits.  They had a nice run against Milwaukee in the second half, but had to sub four guys due to fatigue, I suppose, and lost all momentum after the substitutions.  I don’t expect them to play at their highest level for forty minutes, but they need to even out the low spots.  Defensive lapses and poor switches on screens have hurt them.  Surprisingly some of the returning players seem to be struggling on defense at least as much as the newcomers.  Hoping they can clean up the defense soon.

I think we are seeing some revisionist history being practiced on this board.  First -off the concern with Jake being shortchanged on minutes, is kind ridiculous since he clearly stated that he missed a month and a half of practice prior to the season, and was not in playing shape when the season started.  So you can conclude that his minutes would have been limited until his legs and wind could handle more playing time. 

Furthermore the comparisons to defense being a priority during the Dambrot  years are misguided in my opinion.  I recall the Dambrot Dukes being victims of a fifty point half more than once, where there was literally no defense being played. Recall the Marshall visit to The Coop two years ago.  The first half was a layup drill for Marshall.  The Dukes were also largely helpless defensively in the New Mexico State game the same year.  There were also games where the Dukes basically fouled nearly every defensive trip in the second-half of losses. 
I think we all want to remember how well the Dukes played down the stretch last year, and tend to forget that there were many rough times through the other six years. 
Let’s give this team and Coach the same consideration that we gave the previous teams under KD.

Hah!  I don’t even want to think that way!  I have confidence that the coaches will be able to turn things around before too long.

Down 16 at this point.  Effort is good, but execution is lacking.  Just tried to press full court but nobody got back and allowed an easy dunk and a foolish foul by Hronsky added to the misery.  They haven’t panicked and continue to get good shots. 
They continue to give up lots of 3-pointers, and that can’t continue.  No team can win when giving up 13-threes.  In general the defense is also giving up straight-line drives to the hoop.  Offensively they need to convert easy opportunities and free throws. Going to be an ugly final score in this one, down 20 and sinking fast.  Team is  probably talented enough to compete, but needs to get much better on both ends of the court.

gjgsr wrote:

Refs certainly did the Dukes no favors here, however they better start improving on their foul shooting if they want to consistantly win.   And the the 3 point shooting needs to improve as well. 

Good effort on defense.

Fifty points allowed in second half! That’s tough to overcome.

Well,
They were schooled somewhat by a very seasoned team with great ball movement, and outstanding shooters at several positions.  They also burned the Dukes with mismatches at the hoop.  Despite the Dukes poor FF shooting, defensive breakdowns, unforced turnovers, and failure to convert some shots in the paint; the team still made a run at the end that could have pulled out a win with some better play in the last 9-minutes.  Once Rozier left the game with the leg cramps(hopefully nothing worse), the comeback died.  What followed was pretty ugly, with something like six empty offensive possessions in a row! That sealed the deal for Lipscomb. 
It could be a huge problem all season if Rozier is the only Point guard on the team. Nobody can play all those minutes. 
Look for more of the same from Princeton on Friday.  Ball movement, back-cuts, strong fundamentals, and shot-making.  We’ll find out quickly if the team learned anything last night!  Let’s hope for some major improvement.

I don’t see where the problem.  Put a large sign up before the parking garage entrance -Private Parking-Duquesne U only.  Have a person check credentials prior to garage entrance.  Others who enter can turn around in  the surface lot adjacent to the garage.

Any word on who the Dukes have/are scrimmaging before Nov 4?