Agree, winning gets people excited and the ladies have accomplished that at Duquesne.  It was a very nice event, and the turnout was great.  A very upbeat evening for Duquesne in general.

PistolPete wrote:

What did Charlie Sheen say....."Winning"!!!  LOL.  Mulder you point is correct.  How the over-all positive impact of a winning program is not recognized, or at least not strongly acknowledged by the Admin., seems to be puzzling.  Hopefully the new Prez can get the message through to the Spiritan Order that to get an investment, and that is how the Men's BBall should be viewed, to flourish it has to be nourished and supported (i.e. FUNDED)!!

Boise State went from a quasi-community college/ commuter school to a full blown University largely from the success of their football team.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/04/29/the-flutie-effect-how-athletic-success-boosts-college-applications/#72066e4a6ac9

Somebody send that one to harper

Mulder wrote:

To add to the comments here and in the other thread on Harper and his work improving the team and program - Listening to Mike and Mike this morning and their discussion of "the Flutie Effect" and how just being announced as in the tournament leads to significantly more interest by students in applying to the school and is very valuable from a publicity standpoint - and the equivalent cost that such PR would be if a school had to pay for that itself.  Stuff most of us on these message boards already know and argue for and something the good Fathers and administration at Duquesne seemingly have yet to realize.

I remember about 30 years ago Virginia and Clemson played a football game in Japan.  Since most Japanese were not very informed on the two colleges or football in general, when you bought your ticket, you were "assigned" a team to root for. Each team in the sold out stadium had 50% of the crowd support.  The players and coaches later said it was great. Every play was cheered like a game wining touchdown. They sold out ALL of the tee shirts and merchandise they had brought and applications from Japan to those two schools went through the roof, over 800% increase, if I recall
 

Miami U Basketball, Pitt Football (on the bad side of the equation currently), Golden State Warriors, Toronto Blue Jays, just to name some off the top of my head.

perfect example just came to me. Before Lebron Cleveland's Q arena was almost empty most nights. Then they got him, started winning, nd within 2 years there a waiting list for season tickets. Then he leaves, the team sucks, no one goes again. Then he comes back along with a number of other stars, the team is great, and once again the arena is packed and merchandise sales are high, etc.

It's even currently evident with the pens the team almost left Pittsburgh then you had the golden years of Crosby and Malkin and with the recent struggles it's been constantly reported of the drop off in fan support even though the fan base is still very large

It could even be seen with the board. We're mostly back to the usual suspects but think about how many more people were actively posting on this board when the team started out hot this year

Last edited by Duques102 (3/15/2016 12:06 pm)

Mike Ignelsi wrote:

But then the age old question: how to get those program-changers to come to Duquesne?  Or, how to recruit?    Anybody have any ideas, other than cheating?  Perhaps one of you has a 6'10" son who is highly skilled and would come to the Bluff.  Then again, would you send him to Pitt or North Carolina?   It's all about recruiting, always has been, always has been a big part of coaching genius.   Of course, first you need a program to get the kid, but the kid won't come unless you have a program.   Any ideas?

Very astute. I agree with this idea and the fact that both components are interrelated which makes it really tough for a program that has been historically bad for 40 years to get out of the situation they currently find themselves in. I think it really comes down to getting lucky and having multiple  kids pan out to be way better than expected. For example, the year Ferry left LIU, he had a kid coming in named Taurean Prince. Well now that kid is a senior at Baylor and a projected first round NBA draft pick. If he was that good coming out of high school he never would have landed at LIU.

P.S. wish that kid would have come over with Ferry and Colter!!!!!! 6-7 220 animal under the basket, extremely athletic with good hands, great defender.

You are rarely going to be able to recruit yourself out of a hole. Even DePaul can't do it, despite all of the local talent surrounding them. You have to look at UMass under Calipari to see how to do it. He took under the radar kids that fit what he wanted to do. He took early lumps, but then the team began to gel. As they began to win, he upgraded his recruiting. Here is a quote from Pat Forde about Calipari's first great team; "Calipari's greatest strength as a coach is his ability to create teams that play together. His 1992 Massachusetts team remains one of the most overachieving units The Minutes has ever seen, featuring a shooting guard with range so limited he made one 3-pointer all season (Jim McCoy), a 6-foot-3 power forward (Will Herndon), and a left-handed center who stood all of 6–7 (Harper Williams). Somehow, that collection of marginal talent went 30–5 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16."

I like the three kids Ferry has signed so far.  I know Mike has had the most perception of the best recruit, but I really think Littleson may prove to have the most impact.  I think there are a lot of Michigan schools that regret they did not lock him up early.  We will see. 

duq81 wrote:

You are rarely going to be able to recruit yourself out of a hole. Even DePaul can't do it, despite all of the local talent surrounding them. You have to look at UMass under Calipari to see how to do it. He took under the radar kids that fit what he wanted to do. He took early lumps, but then the team began to gel. As they began to win, he upgraded his recruiting. Here is a quote from Pat Forde about Calipari's first great team; "Calipari's greatest strength as a coach is his ability to create teams that play together. His 1992 Massachusetts team remains one of the most overachieving units The Minutes has ever seen, featuring a shooting guard with range so limited he made one 3-pointer all season (Jim McCoy), a 6-foot-3 power forward (Will Herndon), and a left-handed center who stood all of 6–7 (Harper Williams). Somehow, that collection of marginal talent went 30–5 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16."

 
Lou Roe was the 6-3 PF.

NapaDuke wrote:

Mid-Major, (and Duquesne is sub-Mid-Major under Ferry)  Depends on recruiting player to develop, (Like Lewis) but get hear (like under Ferry)` and are beat-up on this board before they get to their full potential?  No 5 star players coming here, not even 4 stars? So, why when Ron was winning with far less recruits, some on this board couldn't wait to get him out of here?  Really? Ferry any better?  Hell no, it's definitely worse!  So here we are?  Lewis is nothing (according to most on this board) yet he is the best you get, and if continues to develop, is that player that came here to win. The biggest hill he has to climb?  People on this blog, and that stupid coach we have now.  Two under-sized shooting guard that cause more TO than Assist, and played all 4 years of losing are not the future of this team. Lewis, James, Gill, and Robinson are! I don't want to see Derrick and Micah 40 minutes on Wed. if we do, we lose.  That's all that happens with this very dumb down approach to D-1 basketball.  Never would have seen this with Ron, nor Jamie, nor Huggins. Just dumb losing sub-D-1 basketball. And Ferry is coming back next year?? Nice move new AD !!

You act like Harper has a choice. He doesn't. Unless you, and many others, would like to cut a very large check

ElDuque wrote:

duq81 wrote:

You are rarely going to be able to recruit yourself out of a hole. Even DePaul can't do it, despite all of the local talent surrounding them. You have to look at UMass under Calipari to see how to do it. He took under the radar kids that fit what he wanted to do. He took early lumps, but then the team began to gel. As they began to win, he upgraded his recruiting. Here is a quote from Pat Forde about Calipari's first great team; "Calipari's greatest strength as a coach is his ability to create teams that play together. His 1992 Massachusetts team remains one of the most overachieving units The Minutes has ever seen, featuring a shooting guard with range so limited he made one 3-pointer all season (Jim McCoy), a 6-foot-3 power forward (Will Herndon), and a left-handed center who stood all of 6–7 (Harper Williams). Somehow, that collection of marginal talent went 30–5 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16."

 
Lou Roe was the 6-3 PF.

Welcome back. Before you know it that N.J. pg is gonna be making you proud.

Dukes2012 wrote:

NapaDuke wrote:

Mid-Major, (and Duquesne is sub-Mid-Major under Ferry)  Depends on recruiting player to develop, (Like Lewis) but get hear (like under Ferry)` and are beat-up on this board before they get to their full potential?  No 5 star players coming here, not even 4 stars? So, why when Ron was winning with far less recruits, some on this board couldn't wait to get him out of here?  Really? Ferry any better?  Hell no, it's definitely worse!  So here we are?  Lewis is nothing (according to most on this board) yet he is the best you get, and if continues to develop, is that player that came here to win. The biggest hill he has to climb?  People on this blog, and that stupid coach we have now.  Two under-sized shooting guard that cause more TO than Assist, and played all 4 years of losing are not the future of this team. Lewis, James, Gill, and Robinson are! I don't want to see Derrick and Micah 40 minutes on Wed. if we do, we lose.  That's all that happens with this very dumb down approach to D-1 basketball.  Never would have seen this with Ron, nor Jamie, nor Huggins. Just dumb losing sub-D-1 basketball. And Ferry is coming back next year?? Nice move new AD !!

You act like Harper has a choice. He doesn't. Unless you, and many others, would like to cut a very large check

Thank you! We can spout off all we want about what Harper should do. He is stuck with Ferry through next year. The problem with the guards is that the reserves stink. They'd be 10-22 if Castro was getting the minutes Napa would like to see. ED has preached for years about the superiority of NY/NJ point guards. Well, we've got one from maybe the premier program in that area. I can't wait to see what this guy can do.