Haven't been following too closely this year, but watched today, kind of wished I hadn't. Wasn't just that they blew a big lead, they were clearly the better team for three-quarters of the game only to disintegrate in the last 5 minutes. After watching today, I understand all the criticism on this board of Rozier or should I say the decision to play Rozier as much as Dru does. On defense, he was a mismatch that Bonaventure constantly sought out, especially down the stretch. On offense, he was almost completely ineffectual. Kind of like watching them play 4-on-5. He wasn't the only problem today, the guard play in general was kind of poor. Halfcourt sets mostly brutal. If this team can't force turnovers and get easy buckets in transition, it's resigned to chucking up 3s and hoping they go in. I can see there are some talented pieces here (Edwards, Wilborn, Hronsky, Necas, etc), but you lose 19 games in a season, you're just not very good. 2-5 against the bottom-6 teams in the conference, seven non-conference losses to low-to-mid-major teams, four of them at home. Good riddance to a bad season. 

I would have expected in the second half to set plays to drive the lane into their bigs that had 4 fouls and yet we hug around the perimeter. Corbett, Eli, Edwards and even Hronsky could have drove right to the hoop and get them out of the game since St.B. only plays 6 players. To me it seemed we stop being aggressive on offense second half. 

NapaDuke wrote:

I would have expected in the second half to set plays to drive the lane into their bigs that had 4 fouls and yet we hug around the perimeter. Corbett, Eli, Edwards and even Hronsky could have drove right to the hoop and get them out of the game since St.B. only plays 6 players. To me it seemed we stop being aggressive on offense second half. 

 
I don't disagree, but even without an aggressive gameplan, this team still managed to turn it over 18 times. That's a lot. About six more than the season average. According to the play-by-play sheet, 13 of those turnovers were in the second half. Credit to Bonaventure's defense, but the lack of a true A10 caliber point guard on this roster is pretty telling. Speaking of which, they were outscored by 9 points in Kareem's 24 minutes. 

KenOTR73 wrote:

I was in attendance today. Too much blame on the coaching staff here. We missed the front end of two 1 and 1's late. We had two open dunks where the player elected to go for a lay-in instead and blew it. We had 13 more TO's than them. It was by far the most physical game that I saw this year. Schmidt is notorious for that. That forced us to use more than normal substitutions. Dinkins had to score and play point guard. He can't do that for 40 minutes. I agree that Rozier did not have a good game. But he had to spell Dinkins. The same with Wilborn and Dixon. Dixon and a pretty bad leg injury in the first half but coach had to use him. Not having DiMichele for most of the season really had a negative impact. So wrap that all together. Let's see what happens with the Portal. We definitely need a superior point guard that we look to score 8 to 10 points. We need a 6'10" center at 230 to 240 pounds not 215. 
Relax the next four months. See you in July..

 
If Dixon had a bad leg injury, what happened to Barre?  He pretty much disappeared in the last few games.

KenOTR73 wrote:

I was in attendance today. Too much blame on the coaching staff here. We missed the front end of two 1 and 1's late. We had two open dunks where the player elected to go for a lay-in instead and blew it. We had 13 more TO's than them. It was by far the most physical game that I saw this year. Schmidt is notorious for that. That forced us to use more than normal substitutions. Dinkins had to score and play point guard. He can't do that for 40 minutes. I agree that Rozier did not have a good game. But he had to spell Dinkins. The same with Wilborn and Dixon. Dixon and a pretty bad leg injury in the first half but coach had to use him. Not having DiMichele for most of the season really had a negative impact. So wrap that all together. Let's see what happens with the Portal. We definitely need a superior point guard that we look to score 8 to 10 points. We need a 6'10" center at 230 to 240 pounds not 215. 

Relax the next four months. See you in July..

Dukes will have Williams a stud from Furman who was enable to play this year. If he and DiMichele were healthy we'd be talking about a repeat. Bring those guys and Edwards, Wilborn, Crawford, Necas, Hronsky, Dixon, Barre, and Hall back, and possibly Dinkins, damn this team would be lights out. 
 

I have faith in Coach Joyce.After all this was his first year as a head coach.Experience does matter. I firmly believe his upside is huge. Check out Mackalls article in he Trib. Coach Joyce comments about Edwards pretty cool. Free agency will keep this board very interesting. Go Dukes.

Hoping the Bonnies get stomped today

Watched the post game presser. Dru is a good man. He cares for his players and I believe can be successful.  There are some lessons to learn here. Hope the Dukes can come back stronger.

Yesterday was tough and it is always hard to rationalize what happens when you lose a big lead in the second half and then lose the game.

A lot of thoughts went through my head, the critical point was the missed free throws.  St. Bonaventure captured the momentum and they attacked us on offense and defense.  We did not react well and when our shots weren't falling, we panicked.  

The natural tendency is to look for someone to blame and in this case, I don't think there is anyone to blame, as much as it was a case where we were overtaken by the momentum that St. Bonaventure had and we ended up not being able to handle the pressure.  When the other team is making a hard push, forcing turnovers and hitting big shots that they were missing all game, it puts a lot of pressure on you to make shots.  I think if some our shots fall, we make free throws, etc., we get out of there with the win.  It didn't happen and now we reflect on what might have been.  

To say that Schmidt outcoached Dru is faulty logic, when you consider for the first 30 mins. we were running a clinic, with great offense and defense.  So you can't say that we were outcoached, because we weren't.  Yes, we could have made some adjustments relying more on perimeter passing instead of dribble penetration where they kept picking our pockets, but the reality is, we didn't execute.  Not blaming the coaches or the players, just facing the reality that we struggled to make baskets at the end.

I think we had a good season.  We had a first-year head coach take over and there were going to be a lot of challenges in getting the team chemistry solidified and then figuring out how to overcome injuries.  Losing DiMichele was huge as he was a steady force on offense and defense.  But that also gave some players opportunities to shine, namely Max and Cam.  

I am anxious to see how Dru fills out the roster for next year as we will likely have some players leave through the portal, but getting some good talent to complement what will come back should set us up for a successful season next year.  I am very optimistic about the future and expect the players to work on improving their individual skills, because the success you have as a player and as a team, is often dictated by what is done in the off-season and the progress made.

I too am excited by the prospect of having Alex Williams play next season. 5th year seniors coming from programs that did some while also having personal success don't usually end up on the Bluff. My enthusiasm for him is also driven by his adult-strong build & 3pt shooting prowess. He should check some boxes that definitely need to be checked.

However, your having called him a "stud" made me wonder if you expect him to be good enough to make an all-league team next season. What do you think his ceiling might be?

Rayrich wrote:

KenOTR73 wrote:

I was in attendance today. Too much blame on the coaching staff here. We missed the front end of two 1 and 1's late. We had two open dunks where the player elected to go for a lay-in instead and blew it. We had 13 more TO's than them. It was by far the most physical game that I saw this year. Schmidt is notorious for that. That forced us to use more than normal substitutions. Dinkins had to score and play point guard. He can't do that for 40 minutes. I agree that Rozier did not have a good game. But he had to spell Dinkins. The same with Wilborn and Dixon. Dixon and a pretty bad leg injury in the first half but coach had to use him. Not having DiMichele for most of the season really had a negative impact. So wrap that all together. Let's see what happens with the Portal. We definitely need a superior point guard that we look to score 8 to 10 points. We need a 6'10" center at 230 to 240 pounds not 215. 

Relax the next four months. See you in July..

Dukes will have Williams a stud from Furman who was enable to play this year. If he and DiMichele were healthy we'd be talking about a repeat. Bring those guys and Edwards, Wilborn, Crawford, Necas, Hronsky, Dixon, Barre, and Hall back, and possibly Dinkins, damn this team would be lights out. 
 

I'd like for Dinkins to return but to play only shooting guard. I'd like to land a seasoned pg through the portal. If not, then I'm hoping Aekins can have a Sincere Carry type of freshman season.

phil95 wrote:

I too am excited by the prospect of having Alex Williams play next season. 5th year seniors coming from programs that did some while also having personal success don't usually end up on the Bluff. My enthusiasm for him is also driven by his adult-strong build & 3pt shooting prowess. He should check some boxes that definitely need to be checked.

However, your having called him a "stud" made me wonder if you expect him to be good enough to make an all-league team next season. What do you think his ceiling might be?

Doubt it too much depth on the team, plus Dukes rarely make all conference. Don't even think Jimmy made any of the first three teams just all defensive his last year which was a joke. Williams 6'5 235 from Dayton no less could have a huge impact with all that's coming back unless we lose too many to the portal which is possible these days.

Rayrich wrote:

KenOTR73 wrote:

I was in attendance today. Too much blame on the coaching staff here. We missed the front end of two 1 and 1's late. We had two open dunks where the player elected to go for a lay-in instead and blew it. We had 13 more TO's than them. It was by far the most physical game that I saw this year. Schmidt is notorious for that. That forced us to use more than normal substitutions. Dinkins had to score and play point guard. He can't do that for 40 minutes. I agree that Rozier did not have a good game. But he had to spell Dinkins. The same with Wilborn and Dixon. Dixon and a pretty bad leg injury in the first half but coach had to use him. Not having DiMichele for most of the season really had a negative impact. So wrap that all together. Let's see what happens with the Portal. We definitely need a superior point guard that we look to score 8 to 10 points. We need a 6'10" center at 230 to 240 pounds not 215. 

Relax the next four months. See you in July..

Dukes will have Williams a stud from Furman who was enable to play this year. If he and DiMichele were healthy we'd be talking about a repeat. Bring those guys and Edwards, Wilborn, Crawford, Necas, Hronsky, Dixon, Barre, and Hall back, and possibly Dinkins, damn this team would be lights out.