NapaDuke wrote:

phil95 wrote:

I can't agree with the assessment that the Dukes had a good season. It wasn't a disaster of a season. Encouraging signs in both the player development & coaching departments are easy to recognize. I have a generally positive outlook for next season & expect that to improve during portal season.

Unfortunately,starting the season 0-6, having a 5 game losing streak in conference play that included defeats at the hands of Richmond, Fordham, & UMass, the late season meltdowns against Dayton, St. Louis, & SBU, & having 19 total losses all point in the same direction. The program had a bad season.

I agree. It was not a good season. Never start the season 0-6. It's never a good thing. It doesn't instill confidence in the players that they are winners going forward with a losing record all season.  I'd think refs are more likely to not  give you those 50-50 calls against teams with better records.  I know attendance just drops way off reducing that home court advantage. There is little chance of a decent RPI the rest of the season and in the end, the A-10 will very likely not put your players on the All- A-10 Anything over teams that won those games early on.  My opinion would be, play lesser teams the first 5 or 6 games. Do not go to some faraway place to play in some useless tourney just when you are trying to get the team up and ready for the season.  I believe it did little for the Dukes and likely waste valuable practice time. Later in OOC try to schedule some stronger teams like a Princeton, UC Irvine, or DePaul when your team is more prepared to take on better teams. To me, start slow and build up some momentum.  

Lipscomb, Hampton, South Dakota St., Milwaukee....Most of us thought that was starting against lesser opponents. Not sure where you could find more-beatable teams, nor why the program would want to try to do that.