Men's basketball did not finish with a winning record, it finished .500. Take away the DII opponent and we finished under .500.

Much more is expected. And much more has to happen before I get excited.

Football and WBB were the headlines this year. The playoff game against W&M, a shootout at their field, would have been an amazing win since we were such big underdogs. WBB winning an NCAA Tournament game (big for me since I know so many Seton Hall grads) was the biggest athletic highlight for DU in decades.

The eye test in that game also passed. UConn certainly had dominant talent, but we traded body blows like a Frazier-Ali brawl. Anyone seeing the Dukes that night had to be impressed.

102 Please take this in a non confrontational way but in reality men's basketball and to a lesser extent women's pay the bills and drive the A-10 bus. Men's football is a totally different conference. Until we move out of the perennial cellar of the A-10 in hoops I believe we are looked at as a poor step child. I certainly don't want to diminish anyone's accomplishments. IMHO that's the harsh reality.

CLK wrote:

The Dome wrote:

102 Please take this in a non confrontational way but in reality men's basketball and to a lesser extent women's pay the bills and drive the A-10 bus. Men's football is a totally different conference. Until we move out of the perennial cellar of the A-10 in hoops I believe we are looked at as a poor step child. I certainly don't want to diminish anyone's accomplishments. IMHO that's the harsh reality.

I agree Dome.  Men's basketball pays the athletic bills for just about all the A10 schools. Until DU Mens hoops gets it act together both on the court and in the classroom the pressure to boot DU will only grow regardless of the accomplishments of the other sports.  That is not a knock on the other DU programs but I believe is the sad reality of where we are. 
 

You really think there's any movement to boot schools out of the A-10 right now? I certainly don't. And if they were, it likely won't be a school from a large media market. Based on economics, you gotta think SBU would be the first school to go.

I doubt there is a "Dump Duquesne" movement also but I can see where such ideas come from. A few years ago the A-10 office said it was going to scrutinize OOC schedules in Men's Basketball to boost the league RPI to get more teams in the NCAA. I don't know if it is actually doing this,  but our RPI isn't helping the league.

The Dome wrote:

102 Please take this in a non confrontational way but in reality men's basketball and to a lesser extent women's pay the bills and drive the A-10 bus. Men's football is a totally different conference. Until we move out of the perennial cellar of the A-10 in hoops I believe we are looked at as a poor step child. I certainly don't want to diminish anyone's accomplishments. IMHO that's the harsh reality.

Dome don't take this in a confrontational way but no s***t basketball is what pays the bills, and actually it's just men's not women's that does. I'm pretty sure everybody and their brother is aware of that very obvious fact. Also I am aware the football team is in a different conference because the A10 doesn't have football, but we are one of the most successful football programs in recent years of the A10 teams that do have football. Despite all of this, those rankings are made to reflect the strength of the school's athletic programs as a whole from a success standpoint, not which program makes the school the most money. Not that it needs mentioning but the money generated by the "big revenue" sports in the A10 in infinitely smaller than money generated by schools in BCS conferences. 

 

Duques102 wrote:

The Dome wrote:

102 Please take this in a non confrontational way but in reality men's basketball and to a lesser extent women's pay the bills and drive the A-10 bus. Men's football is a totally different conference. Until we move out of the perennial cellar of the A-10 in hoops I believe we are looked at as a poor step child. I certainly don't want to diminish anyone's accomplishments. IMHO that's the harsh reality.

Dome don't take this in a confrontational way but no s***t basketball is what pays the bills, and actually it's just men's not women's that does. I'm pretty sure everybody and their brother is aware of that very obvious fact. Also I am aware the football team is in a different conference because the A10 doesn't have football, but we are one of the most successful football programs in recent years of the A10 teams that do have football. Despite all of this, those rankings are made to reflect the strength of the school's athletic programs as a whole from a success standpoint, not which program makes the school the most money. Not that it needs mentioning but the money generated by the "big revenue" sports in the A10 in infinitely smaller than money generated by schools in BCS conferences. 

 

The point is though, that no one in the A10 cares about our football program. It doesn't benefit the league one iota. Outside of Men's hoops, only Women's hoops carries any weight, and we'd have to become a first rate power (Top 20 every year, and deep runs in the NCAAs) in order for that to even begin to offset our ineptitude on the men's side.
 

While we're on the subject, I have been told by a very credible source that we have been told by the A10 to get our act together or we will be asked to leave. I have nothing further on this, no definitions, no guidelines on what must be done, etc. I can only guess that if this is true, and I have strong reason to believe that it is, we are being asked to make a stronger commitment to Men's BB, financially, facilities, etc. Don't really know specifics. This is certainly a hot topic to discuss. I heard about this about a month ago but didn't say anything until the topic came up here.   

Westender wrote:

While we're on the subject, I have been told by a very credible source that we have been told by the A10 to get our act together or we will be asked to leave. I have nothing further on this, no definitions, no guidelines on what must be done, etc. I can only guess that if this is true, and I have strong reason to believe that it is, we are being asked to make a stronger commitment to Men's BB, financially, facilities, etc. Don't really know specifics. This is certainly a hot topic to discuss. I heard about this about a month ago but didn't say anything until the topic came up here.   

 
So who do we thank? Dr. Dougherty? Amodio?

Our OOC schedule couldn't get any easier. We schedule cupcakes. The problem with that is no one wants to pay to see Duquesne play fledgling D1 programs from Buxtahuty.

Of course if Ferry were doing a better job developing and retaining players we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Mulder wrote:

I have been quiet for some time but I feel obligated now to comment that I received my doctorate in Fermentation Sciences at Buxtahuty.State after getting my masters in Bowling Industry Management & Technology there and believe it is only a matter of time before the Buxtahuty State Organists challenge for the Final Four and, dare I say it, the National Championship.

And yes, of course I'm serious.  See ------ no emoticons/emojis.  Just our mascot.

A lot of funny stuff going on here. A lot. Thanks!