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. 

Unfortunately both Fordham and ourselves were picked as conference bottom dwellers!  The A-10 is an absolute joke in comparison to non power 5 conferences. The league has very little juice with their TV partners. 

Stew you are on the money we were out rebounded 41-28 and our smaller guards were badly exposed. The cover for that were 21 turnovers by UMass, our 12 steals and 22 assists. The two headed monster of Brewer/ Rozier had a decent night last night but in half of Brewers playing time McGriff nearly equaled his stats. 

Fordham took Brewer out of the game by using a bigger guard to harass him while bring the ball up court. I’m anxious to see what adjustments Dambrot is going to make to change that. They also have a power forward in Moore who like Kante tonight had his way inside. 

Can anyone explain to me how Dixon doesn’t get significant minutes for this team every game. If you don’t think he could have made a big difference on Saturday we aren’t watching the same games. 

KD’s obstinance with regard to defense will cost this team any chance of winning the A-10. St.Louis went into the game 293 in 3pt scoring. He can never adjust out of his man to man. We offer NO different looks, other than minor adjustments on switching or playing ball screens we are predictable to a fault. The other persistent problem all year has been a lack of attention to “boxing out.” We are 14th in the league in allowing offensive rebounds. That should have been addressed a long time ago. I'm sick and tired of saying this over and over since I realize he will NEVER change ZONE!!!!!!!

One last point, someone please explain to me how Dae Dae doesn't get a shot in the second half until 10 minutes in. All year long we haven't done enough to get him open shots. Go back an look at film of Duke when they JJ Redick. They would run him off of double and triple screens. 

City Duke I’ll accept part of the challenge as to where are all your friends. I’m glad you totally buy into McGriff being “healthy again.” There is absolutely no guarantee that he will see significant minutes in the near future. I also like how you miss the fact that Dixon was “healthy enough” to play 2 minutes at mop up time. 

We should all pull back from our expectations considering the Dukes shot a near impossible to repeat 53%from 3. Eliminate the four 3’s taken by Reece and it’s 61%.  They also had an incredible 22 assists 10 of which came from Dae Dae and Reece not our point guards.

The problems are still there, we get far too many points from 3, we go to the foul line far to infrequently and when we get there we are 254th (KenPom) in percentage. We are 344th, 14th in the league in allowing offensive rebounds. 

Let’s hold back on the parade and remember this was ONE game. 

Gents, 
Here is my primary problem with KD and his hard headed attitude. I’m not sure where Dixon and Q are but I believe sickness and injury are great excuses for the doghouse. During one of KD’s post game pressers someone asked as to his substitutions and he answered with its a “feel” thing for him. I may not have the exact wording but I think you can all get the point. 

Last night while watching Syracuse I thought about a 2/3 zone with a back line of Dixon, Williams and Barre.The front could be Clark and Dae Dae. I don’t see that configuration getting beat to death on the boards. Also the length and quickness could cause teams problems. 

Looking at KenPom we are 14th in giving up offensive rebounds, we foul far too much and our two point defense is 12th. A ton of which are layups or easy put backs. This defense especially playing two terribly undersized guards is ridiculous. 

It’s been a long time since I felt comfortable in saying the Dukes have the best player in the city on their roster, in Dae Dae. And what a shame that it’s in total obscurity!!! 😪😪😪

When he was helped off the court he couldn’t put a lot of weight on it. He was on the end of the bench with it packed in ice. Fortunately we should be able to give him some time to heal with our next two opponents. 

IMHO what I believe many are missing is the fact that Dambrot’s insistence on playing man to man no matter what is the deciding factor in playing time an then ultimately to players disengagement from the program. Mike Lewis was a early example of this when he couldn’t fit into the mold KD was looking for. Many felt last year during the prolonged losing streak it would have been a much better fit for the Dukes to be playing a zone with Hima as an anchor.