PistolPete wrote:

Here is something that I simply don't get.  KD has said several times that he is going to play the young guys as "why not", especially with our record.  Well a reporter in the post-game asked him that again and specifically asked about Hima and KD said he is going to play him and let him develop, but despite saying that Hima gets pulled quicker than anyone on the team!!  He makes one mistake, like when he bobbled the one pass and committed a turnover, and he gets yanked.  Why the contradiction KD!!???  The kid has to play through mistakes to learn and develop, not ride the pine!!!  Professor 1108 has it right though - huge talent gap.

The Dukes continue to get crushed on the defensive glass. All Hima does is rebound & challenge shots. The announcers emphasized on multiple occasions the loss of Rotroff resulted in thr current losing streak. Cmon man it’s not like he was Bill Walton . If he was healthy do you believe he would get 30 minutes at the 5 & Williams goes to the 4. Don’t think so.

Pistol and Iron Duke--I completely agree with both of you.  You both make valid points as usual.  Rotroff was playing better this year but he is not the kind of player who would flip Duquesne's record.  As for Hima, what is there to lose in playing him?  Duquesne loses when he doesn't play so KD might as well let him play.  

I repeat...Duquesne doesn't have A-10 level players.  John Wooden (coached Abdul Jabbar, Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks, Gail Goodrich, Henry Bibby, etc.) would be losing with this Duquesne team.  Like in all sports talented players win games not coaches.  The coach's primary job is to recognize talent and get it in the door.  The players will take care of winning games.

Valid points all the way around boys and Iron Duke the Walton analogy is perfect - Rotroff is not Hippie Bill.  Professor the only thing I can add is that KD is probably not going anywhere so he needs his next recruiting class to be his best to date.  Right now we have too many guys that should be coming off the bench on a middle of the pack A-10 team.  Pretty much the only guys I care about sticking around are Primo (if he starts distributing the ball and reduces the 1 on 1), JJ, Tre and yes Hima, but the reality is that probably everyone is expendable depending on who you bring in.  I do think we can't just rely on high school talent alone as we are not bringing in 4 or 5 Star level recruits.  That being said we need to nab 3 Star recruits that other legit schools actually want and we need some PROVEN transfers.  If Hima doesn't see at least 12-15 minutes next game I sure hope one of the reporters asks KD why he isn't playing when he said he might as well play and develop him!!!  Frankly, I don't know how KD actually said with a straight face that he is going to play the younger guys and specifically Hima when he in fact hasn't done that.  Here is the question for Zach or some other reporter to ask: "Coach, is Hima going to really develop getting only a couple of minutes and not playing through mistakes due in large part to inexperience?" Nuff said, Pistol out 
  
 

ghost, you have done a great job of outlining the frustrations most of us share.  I am convinced that this is a completed system failure and not a problem that bringing one or two players is going to fix, or even a complete roster overhaul will fix.  Regrettably, what Dambrot said about his players last year is more true about this coach and staff: this is not a group that can win championships in the A10.  

PistolPete wrote:

Ghost and CLK you guys raise a good point.  All of the good teams in our conference recruit to their system and Davidson and Richmond are excellent examples - movement, screens, shooters.  I would also say Dayton, with their length, athleticism, D and shooting do the same.  St. Lou plays to their toughness, D and attacking the boards.  Dambrot is supposed to be an inside out guy, but how do you do that without a true 5 and a couple of lock down shooters ala Micah Mason types?  What is the most disturbing part of all of this was the foreseeability of these issues.  Again, the roster composition coming into this season was and is a complete disaster which falls squarely on this staff.

Funny thing here. Just an observation, but we got to this game very early and I watched our team in warm-up shooting around and everyone missed three's, I mean constantly. It wasn't pretty, guys throwing up knuckleballs, no backspin, everyone shooting like a chest-pass, ball even with their face,  instead of high over their head release.  Do we have any coach to coach good technique, or do we just recruit from high-light film? This might seem petty, but no one on this team is a Lockdown 3 point shooter. It just could be bad form. Anyone else notice?  

phil95 wrote:

NapaDuke wrote:

PistolPete wrote:

Ghost and CLK you guys raise a good point.  All of the good teams in our conference recruit to their system and Davidson and Richmond are excellent examples - movement, screens, shooters.  I would also say Dayton, with their length, athleticism, D and shooting do the same.  St. Lou plays to their toughness, D and attacking the boards.  Dambrot is supposed to be an inside out guy, but how do you do that without a true 5 and a couple of lock down shooters ala Micah Mason types?  What is the most disturbing part of all of this was the foreseeability of these issues.  Again, the roster composition coming into this season was and is a complete disaster which falls squarely on this staff.

Funny thing here. Just an observation, but we got to this game very early and I watched our team in warm-up shooting around and everyone missed three's, I mean constantly. It wasn't pretty, guys throwing up knuckleballs, no backspin, everyone shooting like a chest-pass, ball even with their face,  instead of high over their head release.  Do we have any coach to coach good technique, or do we just recruit from high-light film? This might seem petty, but no one on this team is a Lockdown 3 point shooter. It just could be bad form. Anyone else notice?  

Acuff (45%) & JJ (39%) are both very good 3 point shooters & are being guarded as such by A-10 opponents. Easley (37%) is also quite strong in this area. Primo will have himself up past 34% by night's end. The rest of the team is miserable.

The first 2 guys I mentioned would be considered "knockdown shooters" at any level with numbers like that. To say otherwise seems like piling on.

Were do we rank in the A-10 in 3 pointers?

ghost wrote:

NapaDuke wrote:

phil95 wrote:

Acuff (45%) & JJ (39%) are both very good 3 point shooters & are being guarded as such by A-10 opponents. Easley (37%) is also quite strong in this area. Primo will have himself up past 34% by night's end. The rest of the team is miserable.

The first 2 guys I mentioned would be considered "knockdown shooters" at any level with numbers like that. To say otherwise seems like piling on.

Were do we rank in the A-10 in 3 pointers?

The Dukes rank 12th out of 14 teams. They are shooting 32.5% for the season , ahead of only Fordham and George Washington.
 

Thanks for the stat. I think as a team our 3's might be low because we don't set up plays to launch 3's as much as other teams. A lot of KD's plays are to go inside for 2's, and our 3's seem to come from individual effort. Sometimes, like tonight, Jackie is launching one or two from the parking lot early on the clock. Davidson was definitely working for open 3's tonight and getting them.