What a disaster. Listening on radio and watching game cast. Choke the game away and Dinkins throws up all over himself at the end. Glad I didn’t pay the 15 bucks to watch. Sucks the season is all but over at this point.

College Insider does a mid major top 25, the account has almost 50k followers on Twitter for what that’s worth. Here is a link:

https://collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25

According to them, our non conference schedule looks like this from a mid majors ranking perspective:

-Lipscomb #24
-Princeton #3
-DePaul (Power 5)
-Milwaukee #18
-South Dakota St (#50 based on other receiving votes)
-UC Irvine #12

One interesting note is they don’t have the A10 included in these rankings.

I still give Joyce and the staff a lot of credit here. It was ambitious, and we made a legit 4 star recruit’s top 3 choices. That in itself is an accomplishment, as I can’t remember the last time we were there that late with that high level of a player.

We are in another 4 stars top 4. Being in the conversation with this level of recruit often is how you eventually end up landing one. The investment in facilities and on court success coupled with Dru’s report and stature in the game is making this an attractive proposition for higher level players, that is the definition of progression in my eyes.

Joyce did a great job in the portal after the tourney run, and he is hitting the ground running on the recruiting trail which is highly encouraging. A good start to this season will undoubtedly help with getting more high level guys interested and on visits. I think there is more to come on this front!

Pgh sports now guys, if you are reading these posts, the recruiting board is great. Two columns I would add to your spreadsheet/pivot table-highest star rating, and what service is providing that rating. Seeing that list sorted by star ranking would be a nice way to digest the data.

No need for sour grapes in my opinion. Maybe I’m biased because we were in the same freshman class (TJ was a nice kid), but I have no hard feeling towards him.

He gave us two excellent seasons that were fun to watch and then did what was best for him. I truly believe he would not be where he is today in terms of being a 9 year NBA vet with about $45mm in career earnings through this year if he stayed and didn’t go to Arizona. That is where he was able to prove he could play and run a team at the power 5 level, which undoubtedly got him a shot at the NBA combine and summer league.

I enjoyed watching him play the two years of power 5 ball with NBA guys around him and the runs they made in the tourney, as well as his NBA career to this point which has been ridiculously successful for an undrafted and undersized point guard for that league. He was even an alternate invite to the combine.

The story of his career has been a guy who was never thought to be good enough for the “next level” and time and again he has proved he can work hard enough and be heady enough to keep proving people wrong. This playoff run has been another elevation of his game from NBA rotation guy to 6th man big time contributor in an NBA playoff run. I love the way he plays the game, seemingly making the correct decision almost every time.

He is still a Pittsburgh guy, and he is still a former Duquesne player. Do we not like any of the guys who were good and transferred before graduating? If so I guess we don’t like almost any of our former players??

If anything TJ was slightly ahead of his time. While not the first or only player to “transfer up” back then, it was a more rare occurrence. Fast forward to today and that is literally the year to year landscape of college basketball (that we are also benefitting from as a program). By the same logic, every guy we brought in this off season was a “transfer up” situation. Does that mean we can’t consider them players for thei

Just saw these recent transfers:

Quincy McGriff-Alabama A&M
Jackie Johnson III-Fordham
Toby Okani-West Virginia!!!

Accidentally just posted the same in the every thing else thread, surely this has to mean he is coming!

Also, if this happens I think we see another few big boys come in in short order as well.

More smoke for the-fire?

https://x.com/zachgelb/status/1775624768638861806?s=46&t=zESGqqM3fFqt8AkqllKT-A

With you on everything you stated Phil. Objective facts aren’t negative. Hell, a few months ago I was wondering if we should fire KD. Some people thought we should before the A10 tourney started. Spot on with RE too. People are confusing a couple bright spots for a “highly successful” tenure. The NCAA run and dates back to when we last made it and then last won a game prove that no one has been successful here in a very long time.

Until the A10 tourney, and I don’t know if this would have been my opinion, but I think you could make a legitimate argument that Dambrot had failed here. I think it’s ok to admit that, things can change quickly in sports.

One thing for me is sure, the consistent level of talent that has been brought in under Dambrot was light years ahead of what we say from Ferry and especially RE. I am hopeful that can take an additional step under Joyce.

This program now has an identity. It’s exciting to think about what’s next.

Got my ticket through the athletic department allotment and got that package that includes the Friday watch party with food and drinks. Can’t really tell if that watch party is DU only or other fans. Didn’t see any emails about events. Anything going on this weekend in Omaha!

Not to try to tell anyone “how it is”, but I don’t think older posters may realize the impact Joyce can have on this program. All of the recruiting draws and interest the Lebron relationship has garnered for Keith (exclusive Nike deal, new arena, credibility etc) will be doubled or tripled with Joyce. This is Lebrons childhood best friend. He is young, was a great player, and ran teams in the ncaa tourney and professionally in Europe. I don’t know if he can coach yet, but I expect the recruiting to take another significant jump under him and with this years success.

Kd loves him and seems to want to give him the platform. I think if Joyce becomes coach, we will see Lebron at a game. His ceiling to me is enormous and he has been here, knows the system and current players. If anyone will get the young guys to stay it’s him. Joyce is the obvious choice for me and I think he gets the job. Leaving Vegas up a lot of money and booking Omaha! Go Dukes!

What a performance tonight from the whole team. So many guys stepped up with Clark and Grant starting slow. We were in control the whole game, and did an unbelievable job slowing down Holmes in the first half. Necas played big minutes, and the step back from Clark to seal it was amazing.

Thoroughly deserved to win and couldn’t be happier for the team. Dambrot has done extremely well down the stretch and I think some forget just how poor of a situation he inherited. Back to back 20 win seasons, a now historic team and season and just knocked off a ranked tourney team and we couldn’t look more in stride right now. We have beaten all 3 of the remaining teams, time to finish strong and make a real run at the dance. I was a freshman in 2010 and have followed the program closely since then, best run in my time as a fan, so excited for all the fans and players and staff.

I will be in Vegas Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be enjoying a cigar in a sports book hopefully watching us knock off the Bonnies and heading to the finals!

Best performance of the season for me on both ends of the court. Think today’s performance is the kind of basketball a lot of us expected to see from this team this year. Ditto for the coaches who picked them 4th and the media covering mid majors who gave them a lot of love going into the season.

The first part of the A10 stretch was tough, but after UMASS which was admittedly bad, they lost the next 4 games by an average margin of 3.5 points to Dayton who is now nationally ranked, Richmond who is undefeated in the conference, Loyola who has been a big surprise and currently sit 3rd at 6-2, and St joes who are currently 5th and were another favorite this year in the A10.

That was a 4 loss stretch to #1, #2, #3, and #5 and the average margin was 3.5. On top of that UMASS are currently #6. That now looks like the toughest stretch of the schedule and feels like we have some momentum having ripped off 4 wins in a row.

Gotta beat Davidson and beating SBU at their place would be a big statement. If they do that and split Dayton and St. Joes, they should be favored in most other games besides maybe VCU/maybe GMU for the rest of the season.

This next 4 game stretch is crucial. Win 3 and I believe we have a real chance of making a run at a top 5 finish which is big for the tourney. Get in with a decent seed and I feel like we have a real chance of beating anyone, except maybe Dayton. Hopefully Mahorcic can continue to gain strength and health and be ready to match up with Holmes in the tourney if we can actually get to that point.

This still feels like our best team and chance in a long time. If we beat one of Princeton/Nebraska/Santa Clara (all games it felt like we could have won), and one or two of those first conference games, this season would look very different. We should be favored in all but 2-3 of the last 10 games. Everything to play for.

Go Dukes.

This broadcast team is first team all A10. Color guy is knowledgeable and informative. What a breath of fresh air compared to the usual.