NapaDuke wrote:

phil95 wrote:

I can't agree with the assessment that the Dukes had a good season. It wasn't a disaster of a season. Encouraging signs in both the player development & coaching departments are easy to recognize. I have a generally positive outlook for next season & expect that to improve during portal season.

Unfortunately,starting the season 0-6, having a 5 game losing streak in conference play that included defeats at the hands of Richmond, Fordham, & UMass, the late season meltdowns against Dayton, St. Louis, & SBU, & having 19 total losses all point in the same direction. The program had a bad season.

I agree. It was not a good season. Never start the season 0-6. It's never a good thing. It doesn't instill confidence in the players that they are winners going forward with a losing record all season.  I'd think refs are more likely to not  give you those 50-50 calls against teams with better records.  I know attendance just drops way off reducing that home court advantage. There is little chance of a decent RPI the rest of the season and in the end, the A-10 will very likely not put your players on the All- A-10 Anything over teams that won those games early on.  My opinion would be, play lesser teams the first 5 or 6 games. Do not go to some faraway place to play in some useless tourney just when you are trying to get the team up and ready for the season.  I believe it did little for the Dukes and likely waste valuable practice time. Later in OOC try to schedule some stronger teams like a Princeton, UC Irvine, or DePaul when your team is more prepared to take on better teams. To me, start slow and build up some momentum.  

Lipscomb, Hampton, South Dakota St., Milwaukee....Most of us thought that was starting against lesser opponents. Not sure where you could find more-beatable teams, nor why the program would want to try to do that.
 

CLK,
As a frequent reader and infrequent poster, I just want to add my thanks for all you have done for so long.

NapaDuke wrote:

I can't believe these Dukes actually practice on this court and shoot so bad on it. And if they don't practice on this court instead of their practice gym, then they had better re-think that. It's an embarrassment that they can't hit FT's. No one on this team is any good at the line?  That's not good coaching letting them shoot from the line this bad all season  I'd bet that none of these kids shot FT's this bad before they got to DU.  

Will the coaching staff do some teaching about foul shooting? Corbett is the worst of the group. A simple adjustment - start with your shooting hand directly behind the ball - could fix the problem. His shooting hand is on the side of the basketball. That doesn't work!

BluffHunter wrote:

Well Maximus has a season high 16 points and 2 steals at halftime. That was definitely the storyline

Several of you commenters pretty much expected Max's production would be there. Right now, he is doing wonders.

NapaDuke wrote:

applecorps wrote:

NapaDuke wrote:

Once again, I think personal attacks on posters views should be banned from posting. Speak your view, if you disagree, say so, and respectfully, state your view. Nothing else should be tolerated 

The sentence I wrote was meant to be funny, and it certainly was not a personal attack on anyone.
 

We get it, since you stated it. It's not you. This is an open blog of real DU fans. Please state your views wrong or right. Do not attack real DU life long fans their thought's, that's just so wrong. This is a special team and coach. It's so one in a thousand that Coach Dru and his very talented team are at DU at this moment, it's nearly impossible. Winning the regular A-10 is nothing. Winning the tourney is everything. Right now Coach Dru is going to win the tourney.  All your views are very important to all of us. Just saying. 

I'll say it again. I DID NOT attack anyone. After opening a message about having someone I don't know being recommended to match any A10 fines against our coach I made quick a off-the-cuff response. It was a light-hearted reference to the nice salaries of basketball (head) coaches. 
It wasn't stating any views about anybody.
The reactionary stuff I got has been totally unexpected. Some posters on this board seem to be thin-skinned. .BTW, I have a brick on Academic Walk, and have contributed very substantially to DU for a very long time. If I need to be banned on this board, something is drastically wrong.

Ironduke81 wrote:

Rayrich wrote:

I want a coach who is willing to get a $20.000, $50,000, or whatever fine on his multi millionaire salary and having his players back, and calling out the inept refereeing in the A-10. Not a coach who is afraid to lose money. Speak your mind Dru. 

Ray rich great point. How about this. If Coach Dru gets fined by the A10 for criticizing the assigned officials you match the fine and donate to the Duquesne NIL fund. Both sides win.

Maybe Rayrich would match that fine if you can get him a paycheck like Dru's.

Ironduke81 wrote:

This was a mess 2nd half. Superior coaches makes adjustments at 1/2 time. Coach Joyce looks lost. How can the remaining 5 guys from last years team regress? Look at the box score. Plus minus, shots, assists & rebounds. Dinkins has to play point. Obviously, nobody sees everyday practice. But after 4 games a blind man including the announcers questioned Edwards shot selection. This is on Coach Dru & his staff. Chemistry is a non factor with the introduction of the new players. I know Dixon, Jake, Nacas, Chabi, Haronski have game. The good news is the majority of Duquesne fans did not see this game or the next 2 remaining AAU games. The Dukes look lost.

After the first 4 games, I decided to just listen today while doing other stuff. The audio alone was disheartening. I don't think anybody on this board could have imagined what a horrid start this team would make.
Just before the season I bought the "47 years" book, which quickly became hard to read. 

CityDuke wrote:

Dimichele is special. He should rarely come off the floor.

Sidenote, Ellis Cannon is complaining about a call FOR the Dukes. This guy never ceases to surprise me.

Anyone else on this board that thought we might be 0-4 at this point? 

BluffHunter wrote:

3 keys:
https://bustingbrackets.com/duquesne-basketball-3-keys-to-beating-milwaukee-panthers-for-1st-win-of-season-01jcy4vber3c

Duquesne has the THIRD WORST 3 point defense percentage in Division 1. 47%!!!!! 

Having watched those 3 games, I would have guessed the percentage was over 50. Lots of  the 3-pointers that didn't drop ended up as put-back deuces.
 

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

https://www.steelers.com/news/top-leaders-honored-at-art-rooney-award-dinner

Glad you posted that article. Really good read! Gormley has proven to be a visionary and fine leader.

Ironduke81 wrote:

Watching the entire national sports media every segment is dedicated to Bronny James & the NBA Summer league. I am not posting to give an opinion as to his talent. My point is if Duquesne was the landing point for Bronny based on his father’s relationship with Coach Dambrot & Coach Joyce the Dukes this season would have been the most talked about men’s program. Duquesne University would have received millions in FREE publicity. If Bryce James chooses to go the route of Duke U Cooper Flagg (1 & done) hopefully the landing point is The Bluff. Go Dukes.

Yes, there's a lot of publicity but it isn't all good. I hope Bronny does well and stays healthy. I think Duquesne will be better off with the returning and incoming talent this upcoming season. Maybe when Bryce J is ready, DU might be a consideration for him.

Duques102 wrote:

I would like to understand more about this graphic, not to pour cold water on this but I don’t take too much away from it.

For the “lost” column it is clearly only counting players going into the portal. We obviously lost a ton in the form of Grant, Clark, and the rest of the graduates, but for the sake of this graphic we are only credited as having lost Nicholls, who had few minutes and this inflates our overall rank as we essentially lost no one. We all know this is not the case.

Can’t say I grasp what “OVR” and “MIN%” mean. I was thinking the one was minutes percentage, but how can that be in the hundreds? And is OVR some type of rank of the “MIN%” values amongst others on the list?

I don’t really know or understand how much any of this means.

 I'm not sure what some of this stuff is either. But I would guess "OVR" has to do with average points scored per game in which the player(s) appeared. The "net OVR" is clearly the difference of portal gains minus losses. Hoping someone can interpret the "Mins" thing.

I do agree with Duques102 that the data is not very meaningful, for the reason he cited. I wouldn't guess the players transferring in would rank 6th in the Nation among incoming transfers, even though there is definitely talent in the incoming group.

luckymcd wrote:

I haven't seen anything about this, so I'm guessing it's for season ticket holders.

Yes, and for Duquesne Society members