I was also in Omaha, for both games. I made predictions based on my assumption that Clark would be defending Shannon, which he almost never did. I will say the one time Rozier defended him he forced a turnover. I don't think it would have gone very well if he continued defending him, but you can't do any better than 1 for 1. 

phil95 wrote:

I would take Shulga over every portal player the Dukes have shown interest in; that includes Bronny & Thiero. He is super skilled, smart, tough, a great shooter, experienced, athletic, he knows the A-10, & has great positional size. Aside from TJ, Duquesne hasn't had a lead guard with as many positive attributes in 30+ years. I feel like he would fill the team's greatest area of need in a damn near perfect way.

Unfortunately, I don't think he is leaving VCU just to go to another A-10 school. I bet he gets a dozen high major offers.

KD deserves much credit for bringing in better, bigger, stronger players. I think the next step for the program is to maintain & improve the quality of the recruits while also aiming for players with significantly higher basketball IQs. Shulga would be a great place to start.

The last guard we got from VCU worked out pretty damn good. That last part sounds like a shot at this year’s team. I remarked many times how smart I thought the team played. It was a big part of the defense Shawn the stretch. Everyone played good positional defense, but the team defense was exceptional.

I'd pretty much agree with you on all of them. I think Necas is they key. While I think he's more naturally suited to the 3, I think he'll be the main PF this year. I think he can do a lot of what Drame did for us this year, a little bit of everything and whatever the team needs that game. His defensive game was stellar from the get go, but his offensive game developed nicely towards the end of the season. Hopefully that continues, and I expect big things from him next year and going forward. 

Even though he's always been listed as a forward, I've always considered Dixon a center. He's much more athletic than most centers (although perhaps slightly undersized), but his game screams big man. One of my favorite quotes from this season was in the off day during the tournament when he was asked about defending Dainja in the 2nd round. He gave a great answer and capped it off with "I fear no man." If we had a superstar center I'd say we should play a big lineup with Dixon at the 4 spot, but we don't. We also don't seem to be going after any big men in recruiting. So look for Dixon to be the starting center. With only Barre to back him up, he should get plenty of time as long as he can stay out of foul trouble. Luckily he did a much better job of that late in the season. 

Barre gives good mobility for a center, but I don't think he should be playing forward except in dire circumstances. His skill set is good around the rim both ways. I don't think he has the quickness to defend "power forwards" which would have been called wings 20 years ago.

Hronsky has good size, but with his skill set even calling him a small forward is a bit of a stretch. To me, he's a shooting guard in a forwards body. He impressed me early on, but his game hasn't seemed to develop much since he arrived. He'll need to take a big step forward as an upperclassmen if he's going to  be more than a role player. He seems to be a high character guy and definitely has raw talent, so there's no reason i

FAM wrote:

I don't know if Primo was ever a "team player." 

And that helps explain why his college teams have gone 25-61 with him in the lineup. 

Familiar faces continue to show up on the portal. Ethan Morton and Mounir Hima (again) put their names in yesterday.

Unfortunately I can’t make it mid-week, but thanks for posting the details.

I think the plan is to use his similarly to how he was in the last month or so of the season, 15-20 minutes a game. That was enough time to let his assets shine while not being a liability because of his size. As of now he is the best (only?) point guard on the roster though. So it all depends on what we bring in from the portal (as well as how good the freshman Aekins is). If the season started tomorrow I think we’d see more of what his role was at the beginning of the season; starting PG going 30-35 minutes every night.

Thanks for the correction DuqBlue. I thought the conference was at seven last year, and forgot Robert Morris came back for football. I guess the conference wanted Mercyhurst and as long as they have football that was part of the deal. I don't think there's really a logical conference to move to, but Dukes football really needs a change.

I’ll be up front and admit I haven’t watched the NBA in probably 25 years. Still I don’t see any way he gets drafted. The article says he could be a second round pick because of his upside. If there’s a team out there that just can’t pass him up, why not wait until the draft is over and sign him to a free agent deal with no obligation if he doesn’t work out? So to me the relevant news is that he is entering the portal after all. Even after the past month it’s still kind of crazy to see Duquesne mentioned alongside Ohio State, Oregon, and UCLA as possible destinations.

The conference needed somebody to maintain the minimum six teams to keep an automatic bid. I can't say I'm thrilled with the addition, but beggars can't be choosers. Once the conference decided not to let Merrimack and Sacred Heart stay football members, it was going to be a team like this that got the sixth spot.

Styles1229 wrote:

Lucky

I would agree with that assessment BUT he played before Dusan in the game. It wasn’t like Dusan was failing so he tried Chabi - Chabi played before Dusan. I found it strange at the time and waited for a reporter to ask and as far as I can tell, it never happened

I don’t believe Dusan played until the 2nd half

I think Dusan was assigned to Dainja for the Illinois game. The two checked in at the same time in both halves and Dusan went to the bench about the same time too. I was hoping a reporter would ask why Clark wasn't on Shannon, but the story was so good and the game so decisive that the game itself didn't really get much coverage, even in the postgame. 

Well we're seeing the first payoff of our success. Since we rejoined the A-10 thirty one years ago, we've played one power conference team at a neutral site in a "preseason tournament." It's possible we'll play two in this tournament alone.

indygjm wrote:

Here's an item that would seem to qualify for an  April Fools story - except that it is factual...

USC finished near the bottom of the Pac 12 with an overall 8-15 record with both Bronny James and DJ Rodman (Dennis' son) on the roster.  On paper, that would seem really hard to do.

It's almost like world-class genes aren't enough by themselves. Apples don't fall far from the tree, but they can roll far away. I'm not saying they aren't good players, but they aren't nearly their fathers. Add Marcus Jordan to that list.