Rotroff, Kelly, Bizeau and Swingle(the tallest class in DU history), are now down to 2 guys rehabbing ACLs and Ellis(who is a wildcard).  Thank goodness Rotroff is scheduled to be back for the season.

If it makes anyone feel better, Nick Honor is leaving Fordham, he was their best player and a freshman.

 

townsonkid wrote:

Rotroff, Kelly, Bizeau and Swingle(the tallest class in DU history), are now down to 2 guys rehabbing ACLs and Ellis(who is a wildcard).  Thank goodness Rotroff is scheduled to be back for the season.

If it makes anyone feel better, Nick Honor is leaving Fordham, he was their best player and a freshman.

 

Dambrot is not done recruiting.  Not sure why anyone leaving Fordham makes anyone feel better.

When the recruiting/transfer dust settles I want to start a thread to get everyone's opinion on if it was addition or subtraction.   The article said we may get a grad transfer.
 

Fordham loses their best player every year which is why they can't make any progress.

Westender wrote:

With 3 new recruits. 4 transfers out and presumably Ellis qualified , we have 1 scholie to give - is that right?

Yes that is correct.  The article said we are looking at grad transfers, or possibly holding the ship for 2020.  Not sure I understand holding it open.  I would take the best grad PF available.  It would still open up a scholarship for 2020 and give us another player for this year.

 

Last edited by CLK (4/10/2019 1:02 pm)

scduke wrote:

duq81 wrote:

Fordham loses their best player every year which is why they can't make any progress.

A lesson for us all.
 

Not really a lesson when you understand that this is the fate of most mid majors with the current transfer rules. The crappy mid majors are in the worst shape because the kid likely went there because it was his “highest offer” in terms of the best league he could play in.

Went there, exceeded expectations, almost a certainty he will leave because the team always sucks and probably always will. We are in a slightly better position than Fordham because of last year’s success, KD, and his connections with Lebron and others. Continued success will get us away from losing our best players every year as we seemingly have.

VCU, Dayton, and URI types do not have this problem because while they are in our league, they are looked at much more like a P5 program than we are. Their best players generally don’t move up because they are making the tourney and getting the exposure where they are.

We are moving in that direction I think.....

It appears to me that the new "Normal" at a school like DU is this.

 Freshman come in , they effectively are on a one year "contract".  If the player does not appear to be a long term fit the player departs in search of a better opportunity / fit for him. Those players that are contributors we have to hope they are back for years #2 , #3 and maybe #4 if we are blessed.

By my count ( I may be missing someone ) 9 players ( Kratholm , Krivo , Verhooven , Lewis , Randall , Swingle , Bizzeau , Williams , and Wade have departed since April , 2018.

I understand what Coach D. is doing given the sorry state of the program when he arrived. I just hope at some point there is a bit of stability from year to year.

A bit off topic, but there appears to be a proposal to limit the grad transfer situation by NCAA member schools.  If you accept a grad transfer the schollie is tied up for 2 years even thought the player can only play , in most cases , 1 year.  The thinking being it takes 2 years to obtain an advanced degree in most cases. I think I read somewhere that only 22 % of "Grad transfers" for hoops obtained an advanced degree.

 

PistolPete wrote:

I called Swingle leaving some time ago and I wish him the best.  I too believe and hear that KD is not done recruiting.  Frankly, I see him bringing in an immediate plug and play grad transfer + another big.  I don't know how he works out the scholies, but there are lots of ways kids can get school paid for through grants and other academic scholarships.  

If a player is recruited, I believe he counts against the limit, even if you put him on an academic scholarship. They have to be true walk-ons not to count.
 

Dsnyder15 wrote:

I am disappointed that Swingle is transferring.  The Dukes suffered against teams with  big, physical inside players.  Swingle would have helped counter those teams.

DSnyder15:
Does KD have any history with players like Swingle of changing up the defensive scheme a bit to account for less mobility & more bulk? Was the Big Dog abe to execute the hedging & switching required in the current scheme?

I love watching BD highlights. Great hands, great footwork, refined post moves, & a great sense of how to use his body. I hoped Swingle would develop in this way but though it a long shot given his high school videos.
 

If the coaches chased Dylan out then shame on them and I am sorry Dylan that  Duquesne  did this to you,
Duquesne should honor the scholarships given to players who are not developing  rapidly enough.
If the coaches make mistakes in judging talent then live with it and coach the kid up.

duq81 wrote:

Fordham loses their best player every year which is why they can't make any progress.

 Gee where have I seen that somewhere else....
 

I thought maybe ElDuque had over-reacted a little bit. But since then, some of you have really proved him right. I am embarrassed to even be part of this board. I hope the moderators will step in and clean this up.

phil95 wrote:

Dsnyder15 wrote:

I am disappointed that Swingle is transferring.  The Dukes suffered against teams with  big, physical inside players.  Swingle would have helped counter those teams.

DSnyder15:
Does KD have any history with players like Swingle of changing up the defensive scheme a bit to account for less mobility & more bulk? Was the Big Dog abe to execute the hedging & switching required in the current scheme?.
 

Phil95, yes, the elephant in the room.  It must have been obvious to both Dylan and Gavin (and the coaching staff) that they were going to have a hard time getting playing time because of their deficiencies in KD's defensive scheme. I can only imagine practice where these guys had to try to defend Mike Hughes, Ellis, Rotroff, Weathers, etc., plus aggressively hedge, get back and rotate.

We know that KD's defensive philosophy will always be primarily man to man, with an occasional desperation zone thrown in.  If that wasn't the case and KD primarily played zone, these guys probably would have played significant minutes; and we would have seen some good offensive stats from them.

Unfortunately for them, in the world of college basketball today, there are not many teams playing zone defense as their primary or frequent defense.  By my count, in the NCAA round of 32, there are a handful of teams that fell into the zone defense camp - Washington, Oregon, Iowa and Baylor.  The rest of the field was all man to man.  FWIW.

If I were Gavin or Dylan, I would look at coaches/schools that are mostly zone defense teams to give themselves an opportunity to get significant minutes.