I see 4 "should" wins at home and "3" should wins away.  If they have another cupcake schedule for OOC they could have a similar record to last year.

http://www.a10talk.com/5-reasons-duquesne-could-make-the-2017-ncaa-tournament/

While this team has a decent talent level overall, I see almost no chance of this happening. I think playing in any postseason tournament next year would be seen as a success

Duques102 wrote:

This is pretty favorable in my opinion. I think we could legitimately take two games from all the pairings except Dayton and maybe GWU but still could after they are losing Larson, Garino, and Mcdonald. Fordham and Saint Louis are still both solidly rebuilding. We always play Bonnies tough home and away and they lost alot of offensive firepower as well. On top of that we get URI St. Joe's, and VCU, three of the traditionally stronger teams at home, so that gives us a punchers chance with the big boys. GMU should be an away win, Richmod probably a toss up but we can never seem to win there. Davidson away will be tough and so will La Salle with all of their BCS transfers that will be eligible next year.

Fordham is way ahead of SLU. They actually reached the postseason last year, and will be a tough game.
 

ElDuque wrote:

Write this down, gentlemen.

For Duquesne to have a successful season next year (winning record + A-10 tourney success + postseason), we need:
1. Tarin Smith to live up to scouting reports.
2. More defense and rebounding than we've seen in four years.
3. An offense that doesn't live and die with guys with bad shooting percentages hoisting threes.

Although I haven't expressed a lot of confidence about next season, I was starting to warm up to the idea until Sanders got stupid with the cell phone thing. I think he's the best rebounder on our roster, and I was/am counting on big things from him.

On the other hand, Eric James taking that big next step combined with the GS guys replicating their numbers from last year would certainly cover a lot of warts. The trick, of course, is outscoring the opponent, so whether you're winning 70-54 or 113-105, it's all good.

You do realize our rebounding numbers and 2 pt fg% defensive numbers are much better the last 3 years than they were previous to that? The real issue with Ferry defense is all about the 3 point line. I think we have been in somewhere near the bottom 10th percentile (316-351 in d1 rankings) for his entire regime. Possibly because all of the guards he's recruited have been undersized? Maybe (probably) he can't teach defense. I wouldn't be shocked if the rebounding and 2pt fg% has improved because of John Rhoades tutelage, and nothing to do with Ferry, those guys are being coached by Rhoades.

That to me has been one of the most frustrating factors about Ferry's teams that has carried over year to year, awful, awful, awful perimeter defense. As we've seen with the success of the Golden State Warriors, 3 pt shooting can set teams apart, and we are always at the very bottom of college basketball in 3pt fg% allowed, so in that sense we always shoot ourselves in the foot before the game even starts. Pair that with the quick 3's, stupid turnovers, and constant need to push the pace even when we shouldn't or don't have too, Ferry has lost so many games that could have gone the other way. That is my biggest beef with his teams. Stop being an idiot and just coach the team the way situations dictate you coach them, not how you "got to two NCAA berths out of the NEC". No one cares at this level.
 

ElDuque wrote:

Except for Lewis we're going to be young at the 4-5 spots. A big part of defense and rebounding at those positions comes with experience.

Agree on the perimeter defense. Combination of size mis-matches and effort, I guess.

Besides Gill leaving every other post is returning with an extra year of experience plus we added Abrahamson, who actually had more experience than Gill because of having to sit out between transferring from Northwestern, but nowhere near as many rebounds (3.9 a game). And now I'm also remembering Powell. Idk, I don't hate the front court, but I do agree guys like Robinson and Sanders are going to have to step up like they have never done to this point, but as we saw at the end of the season Robinson looks ready to fill that role. Who you think starts the 4? My guess would be Abrahamson to start the year but Robinson or Sanders to take the spot by the end of the season, depending upon who steps up.

It is nice to have 6'8' Robinson, 6'8" Sanders, 6'8" Abrahmson, 6'8" Mike and 6'11" Lewis going into next year. They are all true 6'8" too, not those "6'8" guys that are really 6'6" we've had in the past. Isiah Watkins comes to mind.