are the 6 of you not familiar with coach's excuses? go back in time they all have the same excuses. winning starts at the top. concentrate on parking and nachos;)
 

levon1975 wrote:

I knew that quote would attract some "friendly fire" from a poster or two.  I can see both sides of the argument, and if I were in Ferry's shoes I might not have presented the JJ injury as an excuse in the context of the article.  To be fair though, I have said to others that with Jeremiah on the court, the Dukes would have won at least 3-4 more; UMASS, both Dayton games, and perhaps the URI game). The Dukes would be in a similar position to St Bona, at least this season, with around 18-19 wins including a victory against the Bonnies earlier this year.  A lot of folks on this board minimized the effect of the JJ injury, which was followed by the Micah Mason injury, due to the fine play of Eric James early in his time as a starter.  I thhk we have seen Eric struggle once opposing coaches studied the film and found his weaknesses.  That is what happens at this level, especially in league play where there are no secrets.  The player needs to make adjustments to counter what teams are doing to him, and I think Eric is doing that.  The URI game was his best in a while, but JJ was a veteran leader in the midst of his best season, and that cannot be replaced.
Given the investment, however and the relative size and attractiveness of the schools, Duquesne should aim even higher than the status of St Bona for a long-term goal.  I hope that is the plan.  We used to hear about the Xavier, or Butler model, then later the Dayton model. In order to achieve success in the Pittsburgh market Duquesne should aim higher than the St Bona model.

You assume Eric is struggling, he is not, but you also assume JJ would suddenly had played like Damian Saunders?  It's a far stretch to assume teams won't look at film and adjust to JJ too?  This coach Ferry, would have been dumb enough to play a third senior all 40 minutes too and further starving the underclassmen of any time and at this point in this season, you are just guessing what would have happen with JJ were in there?  Remember, Ferry is still the coach, so with JJ or Eric,  nothing is going to improve till Ferry gets fired.