Welcome to SHOO-SHOO, RAH-RAH! The Duquesne Dukes Basketball Fan Message Board!
One of America's Great Message Boards - Any Inappropriate Posts Will Be Deleted!
On the plus side: Great list: I think my favorite moment was watching on line way back in the early season when they just gelled as a unit and utterly pounded Penn State. a local team that we usually lose to. Hey, they aren't Indiana or Wisconsin, but they are a Big Ten team. I really thought we may have been on to something special and a much improved team. We turned out to be a little improved team and that was not enough. Agree with all of this. That said, I'm sort of glad that Colter, and Mason are gone. I think we leaned on them way too much. If Ferry is ever going to bring anything to the table, we're going to find out next year. We're not loaded, but the cupboard isn't bare either. We don't know what the schedule will be, so it's hard to put a number on it, but with us plugging in many new parts, 8 wins in league play, and no bad losses ooc might convince me that we should give him a sixth year. This would be especially so if it were the non seniors who stood out. Anything less than this, and we'll be in a position to show him the door. With a new AD, and President, I think they'd be willing to eat the last two years of his contract. Not many schools will eat 3 years, but it's not uncommon for coaches to be fired with 2 years left. Tarin Smith is the key. If he comes in, and proceeds to be the all around "floor general", setting up his teammates, looking for the open man, but being enough of a scoring threat that teams can't sag off of him, plus playing some D, we might actually be better than we were this year. If Tarin Smith makes himself the go to guy, and is always looking for his shot first, we'll be looking for a coach this time next year. Duq81, I totally agree. While I love DC's attitude and story, I'm ready for a new point guard. However, I suspect that we will miss Micah quite a bit. That kid was instant offense and became a very good all around player. That said, with a decent coaching job, I actually think next year's team could really surprise people, assuming that tarin smith is who we think he is. We will likely return gill, James, sanders, Robinson, steel, Jackson, and Lewis, all of which will be a year more experienced. Throw in what looks like 3 really talented freshmen, and you could have a team that could potentially finish in the middle of the pack in the A10. It's all going to hinge on the point guard position though in my opinion Nice Thread. Most promising: Ferry stating, with season ended, he will now go into personal evaluation mode, a reflection on his season of coaching. Second most promising: though Jeremiah, Micah and Derrick provided great leadership in their own right for 2015/16, 2016/17 will look nothing like 2015/16. Ferry gets a second chance to set the table. I like the core of this team coming back, find a point guard, and play some sort of pressure defense and this team could become something. It's up to Ferry to coach at this level. The players are here, let's see some coaching. Don't forget there will be at least one other guy coming in with Powells departure.... I like the core of this team coming back, find a point guard, and play some sort of pressure defense and this team could become something. It's up to Ferry to coach at this level. The players are here, let's see some coaching. Napa, I look at the returning players (not counting Smith) and don't see any player except for Gill that would start on any other A10 team based on their play this year. These guys need to work hard on their game over the summer, and like you say we need to see some coaching and development of these players by Ferry and staff. That is why I think Littleson and Mike may work their way into starting roles and Mike Lewis earning minutes with his ball handling ability. If I am Ferry and I am fighting for my job I would surely want my players fighting to earn playing time (no givens). Also like 102 has pointed out there could possibly be one or two more guys in the mix. I like the core of this team coming back, find a point guard, and play some sort of pressure defense and this team could become something. It's up to Ferry to coach at this level. The players are here, let's see some coaching. Napa, I look at the returning players (not counting Smith) and don't see any player except for Gill that would start on any other A10 team based on their play this year. These guys need to work hard on their game over the summer, and like you say we need to see some coaching and development of these players by Ferry and staff. That is why I think Littleson and Mike may work their way into starting roles and Mike Lewis earning minutes with his ball handling ability. If I am Ferry and I am fighting for my job I would surely want my players fighting to earn playing time (no givens). Also like 102 has pointed out there could possibly be one or two more guys in the mix. I like the core of this team coming back, find a point guard, and play some sort of pressure defense and this team could become something. It's up to Ferry to coach at this level. The players are here, let's see some coaching. Napa, I look at the returning players (not counting Smith) and don't see any player except for Gill that would start on any other A10 team based on their play this year. These guys need to work hard on their game over the summer, and like you say we need to see some coaching and development of these players by Ferry and staff. That is why I think Littleson and Mike may work their way into starting roles and Mike Lewis earning minutes with his ball handling ability. If I am Ferry and I am fighting for my job I would surely want my players fighting to earn playing time (no givens). Also like 102 has pointed out there could possibly be one or two more guys in the mix. I like the core of this team coming back, find a point guard, and play some sort of pressure defense and this team could become something. It's up to Ferry to coach at this level. The players are here, let's see some coaching. Napa, I look at the returning players (not counting Smith) and don't see any player except for Gill that would start on any other A10 team based on their play this year. These guys need to work hard on their game over the summer, and like you say we need to see some coaching and development of these players by Ferry and staff. That is why I think Littleson and Mike may work their way into starting roles and Mike Lewis earning minutes with his ball handling ability. If I am Ferry and I am fighting for my job I would surely want my players fighting to earn playing time (no givens). Also like 102 has pointed out there could possibly be one or two more guys in the mix. Just throwing this out there. I was reading that article that's on some other thread on how Mike was snubbed for that all Canada team or whatever. The services up there have him as the number 3 overall prospect coming out of all of Canada, which has now become the newest, hottest, talent rich recruiting pool to get guys. They also listed him as one of three legit NBA prospects coming out of Canada for his class. This assessment was made by the most reputable recruiting site up there, north pool hoops or whatever. That is what really got my attention. We have gotten guys that were borderline high major recruits but never a guy with that label. When someone says NBA prospect about an 18 year old you know there is some serious talent there. You know, it could be the quality of this class that as much as anything, saved Ferry's behind. I'm sure the AD has talked to people in the know, and maybe they've told him that these kids are the real deal. Recruits usually bail when a coaching change is made, but kids already in the program usually will give the new coach at least the first year. Jimmy Ferry was never in trouble. Never. Not for a $1.8M second.
CONGRATULATIONS COACH DRU JOYCE III
Offline
The season in review
We won 17 games.
We won 10 non-conference games against a fairly weak schedule, so we didn't lose a bunch of games we should have won.
We beat Penn State and Robert Morris in the non-con portion of the schedule, so we didn't have to deal with the perception of being the area's worst team again.
To that point, we really didn't lose any non-con games that we should have won. No head scratchers.
Colter and Mason finished with more than 1,000 points each.
We saw incremental improvement from Lewis, Gill, and James. Flashes from Sanders, Jackson, Steele. Robinson looked better.
When Gill attacked the basket, he showed he could be a dominant player.
Jeremiah Jones, before his injury, played like a senior. Big improvement over his first three years.
We played in a postseason tournament.
We won a postseason tournament game.
We had a cool assortment of game unis, although I don't think we utilized the throwbacks enough.
We celebrated the 100th season of DU basketball, despite oft-bad administration and back-to-back dumpster fires in the AD office.
Mason was voted third team all conference.
We survived a harrowing blizzard experience and turned it into good publicity for the program.
We appear to have recruited three good incoming freshmen.
On the other hand:
We lost 17 games.
We were horrid on defense.
We kept reverting back to "first guy across midcourt, SHOOT!" on offense (despite having only one shooter on the team).
We could be pressed, but we couldn't press.
Any time our guards were double teamed, they coughed up the ball.
We finished 11th in the Atlantic 10 (10 teams ahead of us, Jimmy).
We lost 10 conference games in a row, several in the waning moments.
Colter and Mason played nearly 40 minutes a game, took the majority of the team's shots, accounted for most of the team's points, oft times looked tired in crunch time (see above: losing several games in waning moments).
TySean Powell was suspended to start the year, came back to become our best frontcourt player, and left the team before the season was over.
Jeremiah Jones was unfortunately injured so severely that he lost most of his senior year.
While Lewis showed improvement, our style of offense (see above) never allowed him to get to the next level, especially on offense.
When Gill did his DC impersonation, he shot poorly and hurt us on the offensive glass.
Sanders, I'd guess, was banged up/dinged/injured part to most of the year.
While Robinson showed improvement, Ferry never let him off the bench.
While Steele and Jackson can shoot, neither can dribble.
Rene Castro was somewhere between Tra'Vaughn White and Jordan Stephens this year.
The parade out the door of Ferry's most-hyped recruits every year continues. Powell, Watkins, Winters, Ridenour, Stephens, White ... and with us continuing to try to fill vacancies for next year, I'm guessing someone else will go.
By no means are these lists exhaustive. Just trying to put some perspective on things. While Jimmy Ferry wants to make it sound like this was some kind of memorable, special year filled with highlights, I personally felt it was terribly frustrating and disappointing. I think we left a bunch of conference wins on the table. I disagree with the notion that this team "deserved" to be in the post season. With Colter, Mason and Jones being graduated, what am I supposed to hang my hat on next year? I look forward to Tarin Smith, but there are no parts around him.
I know I was off on my 10-win prediction this year (although I was SPOT ON on everything else I said). Maybe my 10-win prediction was just a year premature.
Offline
Re: The season in review
My second favorite moment was the tourney in Florida, where they exceeded our expectations. Losing their only game to Pepperdine on an off night and beating two roughly equivelant teams, one after blowing a big lead but pulling it out in the end, but still.
Vicimus Atlanticum decem
Offline
Re: The season in review
Online!
Re: The season in review
Offline
Re: The season in review
After only one year, it is said Tim Miles recruited over his PG Tarin Smith at Nebraska. At Duquesne the arrow points to Mike Lewis as the future at PG.
Offline
Re: The season in review
Offline
Re: The season in review
Offline
Re: The season in review
NapaDuke wrote:
Offline
Re: The season in review
CLK wrote:NapaDuke wrote:
Eric showed a lot of potential and got a lot of minutes for a second year player. One more year of developing and maybe some muscle, he could be something.
Offline
Re: The season in review
CLK wrote:NapaDuke wrote:
Littleson might be the only true 2 on the team next year unless steel improves his handle and James his shot and handle. Hope Mike looks as good when he gets here as he does on tape. Looks like a SF to me.
Offline
Re: The season in review
WashPaRick wrote:CLK wrote:NapaDuke wrote:
Littleson might be the only true 2 on the team next year unless steel improves his handle and James his shot and handle. Hope Mike looks as good when he gets here as he does on tape. Looks like a SF to me.
Offline
Re: The season in review
Offline
Re: The season in review
•
Thread Starter
1 of 1