Postgame was an honest reality check, I will give KD that.

Regarding Mike B, as one of my old acquaintances in the scouting community used to tell me, " The more he plays the worse he looks".

Classic talk of don't expose him, play him in small doses. 

Yeah, he's raw, needs time, and coaching attention going forward.   Should get him to hang with the OL from the football team in the offseason, lift with them(not as much obviously, but chest and legs), eat meals with them(gain 20 lbs of power), play some 2 on 2 with them, learn to take a bump and give a bump.   And to throw down dunks like that Osi kid from Bona.   Come back next year and just crush things.
He's gonna close out the season getting a lot of playing time.

I just watched Dambrot's Press Conference from yesterday.
My lowly opinion:  He was the most open he has been all year.  Will he win next year, I have no idea, but no subject was rejected.  If you haven't had a chance, watch it.  The only thing I thought he "could" have expanded on was when he said he thought they would be pretty good and they are not.  I would like to know what made him think that this was his best team ever.  I am not saying that in anger...I would love to know what he was seeing.

All other subjects were touched on and KUDOS to the sports folks who asked the questions.  They were hard questions and Dambrot was open.
 

indygjm wrote:

CLK wrote:

It looks like Dambrot and staff will be back next year. If anyone heard the pregame interview Dambrot acknowledged that this team does not have the talent to compete and that he will be rebuilding again for next year. He said that his and staff are in a full rebuilding mode.

I repeat a comment I made earlier - 'how in the world did he misjudge the talent on this team so badly - calling it the best he had since his coming to Duquesne?'  He's right.  He needs to be in a full rebuilding mode.  But I don't have any confidence he can produce any better than last year - unless he shakes up his staff.  How do you compete in the A10 without a decent #5?   Last season, there was a focus on getting knock down 3-point shooters and point guards, and we still need them!  Ayers is streaky and Easley's shot is too flat.  We don't have a true power forward, and no one seems capable of catching the ball in traffic near the hoop.  Even Williams has trouble.  How many times has he turned the ball over on passes this year?  The offensive sets are poor - stand still, pass the ball, the first guy open - put up a 30-foot shot.  One of the better offensive plays tonight was Bekelja's no look behind the back pass to Easly for a wide-open look.  The defense was better tonight.  But I still see players who will not take a charge.  

KD gets paid a substantial sum for coaching this team and I'm sure his recruiting budget was increased when he took over.  He has no excuse, particularly if he doesn't address the talent for next year.  If he is having trouble evaluating players, get some new blood in there to help.

Sorry for venting... 1-13 does that to me.
 

I think this happened for two reasons:

1. KD had never utilized the transfer portal to this extent before. We had a couple transfers come in over the years that were solid contributors. The resumes of the transfers we had coming in were great on paper. Guys with 1,000 - 2,000 points, ready to swing up to the next level (or easley - played low, went high, back to middle). At face value, it could be easy to think "wow this worked for 1 or 2 players, why couldn't it work for these 4 or 5." Obviously as a high paid coach you don't just get to take a shot in the dark and hope it works out, but that seems to be what happened.

2. I can't remember the last time Duquesne had a truly dominant big other than Michael Hughes. I don't know if they are hard to come by at this level or what but it seems that Dambrot may have tried to go against his "inside-out" play style by recruiting a bunch of "small ball" players as that is the way a lot of teams are headed. Probably bet on Williams & Gunn banging around in the paint creating mismatches on slow bigs. 

These are just my observations as to how we went from "most talented team" to the dumpster fire that we are now.

The transfer portal is a great tool, but I strongly believe you have to have a pre-existing foundation built for it to truly benefit you. 
 

DuqHasBeen:

This is not a shot at you but rather, something I have been meaning to comment on for a long time.

Mike Hughes was, in no consistent way, a dominant big & there is way too much revisionist history being peddled by KD when he says how big & strong his big guys were during the previous 3 seasons. 11 & 7, with only 13 double-doubles in 77 games, & no conference awards makes you a good A-10 big but nothing more.

He had an excellent FG percentage but was a garbage 3PT & FT shooter. His FG percentage & 3PT percentage went down each year. He was a very good shot blocker & steal man for a center but also had a negative assist-to-turnover ration & fouled out the same amount of times he had a double-double. He led his team in technical fouls all 3 seasons & the conference once.

At 6'8", he was every bit as undersized as Tre Williams is now. The difference is that he had Weathers, (and for 1 year) Steele, Carry, & TDM playing next to him. Mike was referred to as an undersized center on a regular basis & was smaller than the opposing center more times than not. 

His on-court behavior caused he & his teammates to get no love from the conference refs. He was past his 23rd birthday when he played his last game as a Duke but, he acted like a 19 year-old.

In retrospect,  I would say that Mike had the ability & physical attributes to be an All-Conference player once or twice but that the lack of systemic discipline & high-end developmental coaching coupled with his own basketball immaturity prevented that from being the case. Based on his performance at FGCU this season, I would say the same is true for TDM.

Last edited by phil95 (2/24/2022 3:53 pm)

phil95 wrote:

DuqHasBeen:

This is not a shot at you but rather, something I have been meaning to comment on for a long time.

Mike Hughes was, in no consistent way, a dominant big & there is way too much revisionist history being peddled by KD when he says how big & strong his big guys were during the previous 3 seasons. 11 & 7, with only 13 double-doubles in 77 games, & no conference awards makes you a good A-10 big but nothing more.

He had an excellent FG percentage but was a garbage 3PT & FT shooter. His FG percentage & 3PT percentage went down each year. He was a very good shot blocker & steal man for a center but also had a negative assist-to-turnover ration & fouled out the same amount of times he had a double-double. He led his team in technical fouls all 3 seasons & the conference once.

At 6'8", he was every bit as undersized as Tre Williams is now. The difference is that he had Weathers, (and for 1 year) Steele, Carry, & TDM playing next to him. Mike was referred to as an undersized center on a regular basis & was smaller than the opposing center more times than not. 

His on-court behavior caused he & his teammates to get no love from the conference refs. He was past his 23rd birthday when he played his last game as a Duke but, he acted like a 19 year-old.

In retrospect,  I would say that Mike had the ability & physical attributes to be an All-Conference player once or twice but that the lack of systemic discipline & high-end developmental coaching coupled with his own basketball immaturity prevented that from being the case. Based on his performance at FGCU this season, I would say the same is true for TDM.

Spot on. If we had a 6'11' center along with him, then maybe, or most likely, he would have been All-Conf.
 

NapaDuke wrote:

townsonkid wrote:

Yeah, he's raw, needs time, and coaching attention going forward.   Should get him to hang with the OL from the football team in the offseason, lift with them(not as much obviously, but chest and legs), eat meals with them(gain 20 lbs of power), play some 2 on 2 with them, learn to take a bump and give a bump.   And to throw down dunks like that Osi kid from Bona.   Come back next year and just crush things.
He's gonna close out the season getting a lot of playing time.

I was thinking the same thing last night watching him. He does affect the paint on defense, but is timid on offense. I was telling a friend last night that if I were coach, I'd have him in practice 1 on 2 or 2 on 2 in the paint on offense every practice, every night. He is too tall and to mobile not to either split the D and dunk, or have a soft hook over everyone. He is so tall he can stand in the paint jump up and deflect 3's on there way to the hoop. You can't teach tall, but you can teach them what to do with it.

He is what KD thinks his approach to offense is. The inside game, and he is the cornerstone to that plan. Start in the middle, then work out from there. Just maybe all the parts are there next year if they develop Hima.