It's especially nice when your point guard can beat a team shooting or passing. That's what AJax did. We'll be as good as Smith is.

While I agree ED that Saunders, Billy Clark and even TJ came through at times, my premise is and was that we have not had that leader who came through in crunch time all the time except for Ajax. Aaron seemingly always came through in big games.  I still haven't forgiven TJ for taking the gas pipe in the game versus St. Joe's in Atlantic City, losing it for the Dukes in regulation and in O.T.  I had RE's first row seats and was up close and  personal for that game.  I also firmly believe he quit on RE in his second year.   Jason Duty couldn't hit a shot to save his soul when it was necessary in the game against Pitt when we have them by their nads-lost it in O.T. again.  Damien would have been an all-american if he ever learned to go right and use his right hand.  Always went to the left.  Billy Clark was just erratic.   To his credit he never took a play off in is four years at Duquesne.  A good to very good player offensively and average defensively (too many silly fouls) -absolutely yes.  A consistent leader-no.  DC and Micah played their hearts out but both had limitations, especially on D.    Again, I have been wrong before.  

Last edited by grammudder (6/06/2016 9:02 pm)

It's not a question of right or wrong Grammudder. These are college kids and they're going to fail on occasion. Even AJax missed a layup against Virginia Tech that would have given us another round in the NIT. The question is whether you are willing to put the ball in the kid's hands at the end of the game. With the ones I mentioned, no doubt for me. Even if they miss.

Some guys are naturally clutch without being superstars. My favorite example will always be Thurman Munson, whose lifetime BA and slugging percentage belie the fact that in his time he was baseball's most dangerous hitter when the game was on the line. Yet universally people would tell you that Bench and Fisk were the best catchers of that era.

We won't know about any of these kids until the games start. If you asked me to make an uneducated guess, I'd say Smith, James and the two incoming seniors are most likely to be trusted in crunch time.