People who I have spoken to that are close to the Xavier program tell me they have been advocating for the Dukes all along. I can also say that prior to Gormley and Harper there was no stomach for meeting the Big East criteria. Big East definitely wants back in the Pittsburgh market. 

If I’m not mistaken since the NCAA took over the NIT they have a policy of inviting conference winners who do not make the NCAA. That would make Richmond a pseudo automatic qualifier. 
That also takes up a portion of the 32 team bracket. 

City, my point is he didn’t need to make big time adjustments he got his kids to play harder and smarter. I’m sorry I have watched a ton of games and other than a possession or two I don’t see the Dukes playing zone. Maybe we aren’t switching as much but I don’t see a zone. DiMichele is a defensive liability who makes up for his deficiencies by playing hard. Necas, Savrasov and Drame all would have been better solutions. 

How many teams do you see who substitute within the first 4 minutes of a game????
That has been a staple of KD since he got here. It is ridiculous. 
So you start guys just to say you started them and then they disappear. 

City, not everything revolves around X’s & O’s.  What coach put his team in a better position to win?  I think that’s undeniable. I have put forth my position on the horrible substitution patterns, the lack of plays for Dae Dae the horrible offense. Good coaches put their players in the best position to win. The all out man to man defense KD demands gives no quarter to either Clark or Dae Dae. I would rather expend as much energy on offense as defense. where do Clark and Dae Dae pick up most of their fouls?  

When Fordham made their run to open the second half what were we saving timeouts for. Waiting for the TV timeout is a fatal flaw. Most runs seem to put KD in a stupor, this wasn’t the first we have seen. I really hate to point out individual deficiencies but Rozier is an absolute failure as a PG and truly warrants no time. Look at the stats. His turnover rate is higher than his assist rate, scoring is non existent and due to size his defensive problems are obvious. And finally I will repeat a past comment DiMichele starting for whatever reason KD wants to come up with is a failure. 

 

Unfortunately this outcome isn’t surprising. The Dukes just don’t win big games. Dambrot’s mind set of this is what we do and we are not changing really echo’s that of Tomlin. We don’t adjust, I recall once again last year when we were in a good position going into the A-10 tournament. We played a LaSalle team that just two weeks earlier we beat on their court by 17 and get out played and out coached in the rematch. 

KD went for broke by stuffing the rooster with 5th year players and then never used them. IMHO we were far too dependent on guard based scoring which has changed slightly but to admit that a walk on guard is your hardest working player is an inditement of the staff. We do absolutely nothing to help Dae Dae get open for 3’s thus forcing him to many bad shots. I realize this is back a little but think back to what Duke would do to get JJ Redcick open. How many double screens have you seen? Or better how much movement have seen by our offense. 

Finally one last point is the rebounding, or lack there of. KD thinks we are a decent rebounding team. I beg to differ. Last night again we were pounded on the boards 41-28. We are last in the conference in % of offensive rebounds allowed this isn’t new this year. 

Gents, it seems to me that many times after tough loses this board likes to look at the officials instead of the collapse of the team and more importantly the style that it plays. It’s extremely difficult to draw fouls when you are launching 3’s and really have very few players who take the ball to the hoop HARD. Many of the drives made by the Dukes have them falling away from the hoop or defender fearing a block. 
The Dukes by their nature want to pressure their man to man no matter where many times resulting in stupid fouls 40+ feet from the hoop. Clark at Bonaventure on his 5th foul is a classic example. 
We are last in the conference in offensive efficiency and we are last in the conference in points scored from the foul line. We are last in the conference in the percentage of points we give up at the foul line.  This is no conspiracy this is our style of play and it’s been that way since KD got here!


BTW Richmond lost to UMass at home last night. Both teams shot the same amount of foul shots. So much for A-10 wanting two teams in the NCAA's. We ALL root with our hearts but come on. 

I would never put the outcome of a game on officiating, it allows for to many errors to be forgiven. As with all sports that rely on officials it seems that the players get faster and more athletic making it more demanding.  Jamie Luckie was one of the 3 officials on Tuesday and to say the least he has lost a step but to me the bigger issue is the work load these guys take on. 
One of the categories KenPom tracks is officials and the games they do. Many of these guys especially the top 75 or so work 5 times a week and the 20 or so every night.  I don’t know how that’s possible. 
Quick example, Ron Groover considered one of the best, has worked 57 games this year and has worked 7 consecutive days since Thursday of last week. On Sunday he did a game at 4PM in Wilmington NC, noon Monday he had the Michigan/ Ohio St game in Ann Arbor.

Phoenix I couldn’t agree with you more. His teams have looked and played terribly in every big game. Let’s also not forget the OOC he has been given over his years is a joke. Let’s also not forget HE set the expectations higher before a game was played this year. 

BTW to Walsh and some of the other idiots in the local media, kids still want to play and many times they will play for coaches much more than schools. Pitino at Iona is a good example of this. Yesterday Southern Utah beat Rice and their big scorer was a Illinois transfer!!!!!  
We also can not underestimate the ability of coaches to totally out coach their opponent. Painter at Purdue suffered that fate the other night. Like KD he stubbornly adhered to man to man defense, frequent and inexplicably substitutions and an offense built around a small freshman point guard that other teams quickly figured out. 

 

Phoenix right on the money no pun intended on Grant. It didn’t get a lot of notice but early this season he lost two players to the portal and that further shortened his bench for the remainder of the season. Tyrone Baker a 6’9” sophomore forward and Kaleb Washington 6’7” forward. 

I hate to say this but after looking at this list of potential teams is this what we aspire to. Save your money and stay home! This does absolutely nothing for the program. 

Pistol you and CLK are absolutely correct in your assumption that it would have been a no brainer to sign on for this outcome based on last year’s disastrous season. What you can’t deny is the frustration of knowing it could and should have been better. Believe me I only speak from the frustration of knowing my time of seeing a tourney appearance is on the clock so to speak. It’s also the frustration of seeing what I believe is an obstinacy by Dambrot to necessary change.