Duquesne Dukes Fan Forum » 4 months before the season, what are your expectations?

duq81 · 7/06/2018 11:36 am

Without a summer league, there's not much going on now, so I want to take an early look at expectations for the upcoming season. My expectations are to win between 18-20 games, with 9 or 10 wins in league play. Anything over 20 wins would leave me ecstatic, as I see this as a two year process since we have no seniors (anything less than the bubble in 2020 is unacceptable). 14 to 17 wins would be mildly disappointing, since we won 16 games last year. Barring a series of catastrophic injuries, less than 14 wins would be a failure, and would leave me with major doubts going forward.

Duques102 · 7/06/2018 11:50 am

Put me down for 20. The OOC is much tougher, and based on coaches and players lost from the league I will venture to guess the conference will be down slightly. Absolutely can’t wait to see what this season holds and I am optimistic.

20 wins, top 6 in the conference, AND NIT bid. Heard it here first.

CLK · 7/06/2018 2:09 pm

The biggest asset we have is Coach Dambrot. I love this guy. His strong will to win, knowledge of the game, and his ability to get the most out of his players is what makes this team dangerous. I look at what he did last year in resurrecting Castro & Robinson, elevating Smith's game, and using a walk on effectively. In my opinion this years team gives him way more, and better options, than he had last year in a league that is no where near as strong as last year. Off the cuff I would say that anywhere between 20 to 22 wins are possible. Go Dukes!

duq81 · 7/06/2018 2:28 pm

CLK wrote:
The biggest asset we have is Coach Dambrot. I love this guy. His strong will to win, knowledge of the game, and his ability to get the most out of his players is what makes this team dangerous. I look at what he did last year in resurrecting Castro & Robinson, elevating Smith's game, and using a walk on effectively. In my opinion this years team gives him way more, and better options, than he had last year in a league that is no where near as strong as last year. Off the cuff I would say that anywhere between 20 to 22 wins are possible. Go Dukes!

I think there is no team as strong as last year's URI team, but I think the league will be much deeper than last year. Thus, while there are no games that I will mark as a loss from the door, there are many more land mines than last season.

Duques102 wrote:
Put me down for 20. The OOC is much tougher, and based on coaches and players lost from the league I will venture to guess the conference will be down slightly. Absolutely can’t wait to see what this season holds and I am optimistic.

20 wins, top 6 in the conference, AND NIT bid. Heard it here first.

The difference in the schedule is basically 2 games. ND and Penn State are substantially better than any team we played ooc last year. Marshall? About the same as the teams we played in Vegas, solid, but nothing really special. I guess Pitt will be somewhat better, as last year's team was about as bad as a P5 team can be, but of course we lost to them anyway so we can only go up there. I expect we'll be dogs vs ND and PSU, about even vs Pitt, and favored over anyone else we play at home.

Duques102 · 7/06/2018 3:06 pm

duq81 wrote:
CLK wrote:
The biggest asset we have is Coach Dambrot. I love this guy. His strong will to win, knowledge of the game, and his ability to get the most out of his players is what makes this team dangerous. I look at what he did last year in resurrecting Castro & Robinson, elevating Smith's game, and using a walk on effectively. In my opinion this years team gives him way more, and better options, than he had last year in a league that is no where near as strong as last year. Off the cuff I would say that anywhere between 20 to 22 wins are possible. Go Dukes!
I think there is no team as strong as last year's URI team, but I think the league will be much deeper than last year. Thus, while there are no games that I will mark as a loss from the door, there are many more land mines than last season.

Duques102 wrote:
Put me down for 20. The OOC is much tougher, and based on coaches and players lost from the league I will venture to guess the conference will be down slightly. Absolutely can’t wait to see what this season holds and I am optimistic.

20 wins, top 6 in the conference, AND NIT bid. Heard it here first.
The difference in the schedule is basically 2 games. ND and Penn State are substantially better than any team we played ooc last year. Marshall? About the same as the teams we played in Vegas, solid, but nothing really special. I guess Pitt will be somewhat better, as last year's team was about as bad as a P5 team can be, but of course we lost to them anyway so we can only go up there. I expect we'll be dogs vs ND and PSU, about even vs Pitt, and favored over anyone else we play at home.

Uh CLK ND was in NIT and is a perennial NCAA team. Penn state won the NIT last year and should be decent this year as well. Marshall beat a 4 seed Wichita state team in the first round of the tourney last year and returned everyone. Pitt will be improved. Radford won the play in game and played in the first round of the tourney. I don’t even know who else we play but I would argue that OOC schedule is much better than “2 games”.

Two NIT teams and two tourney teams? I cant remember 1 OOC team from last year that would compare?

duq81 · 7/06/2018 3:35 pm

Radford is ranked 131 in the Top 144 for this upcoming season. Last year San Fran finished with an RPI of 139, and S. Ill was #100. I'd say that's pretty comparable. If Marshall has their entire team back, then they should be pretty good, but last year they were #87, otherwise ND and PSU are the big upgrades. If Carr had returned, PSU would be Top 25.

So. Ill. would look nice on the schedule this year. They're bringing back 5 of their top 6 scorers from a team that finished second behind Loyola.

Duques102 · 7/06/2018 3:55 pm

duq81 wrote:
Radford is ranked 131 in the Top 144 for this upcoming season. Last year San Fran finished with an RPI of 139, and S. Ill was #100. I'd say that's pretty comparable. If Marshall has their entire team back, then they should be pretty good, but last year they were #87, otherwise ND and PSU are the big upgrades. If Carr had returned, PSU would be Top 25.

So. Ill. would look nice on the schedule this year. They're bringing back 5 of their top 6 scorers from a team that finished second behind Loyola.

San Fran played in the CBI. Again, say what you want about the play in game but Radford played two tourney games. Marshall had a huge upset in the tourney, huge. We didn’t play anything close to this year’s Penn State team last year and Pitt will be better. Add ND to the mix. If we are all honest, this is not even an argument and I’m done on the subject.

ElDuque · 7/06/2018 4:15 pm

Pitt will finish last in the ACC.

Dead. Last.

Duques102 · 7/06/2018 4:19 pm

ElDuque wrote:
Pitt will finish last in the ACC.

Dead. Last.

Perhaps but I bet they win ONE game. Saying that as a Pitt hater btw.

CLK · 7/06/2018 5:13 pm

Duques102 wrote:
duq81 wrote:
CLK wrote:
The biggest asset we have is Coach Dambrot. I love this guy. His strong will to win, knowledge of the game, and his ability to get the most out of his players is what makes this team dangerous. I look at what he did last year in resurrecting Castro & Robinson, elevating Smith's game, and using a walk on effectively. In my opinion this years team gives him way more, and better options, than he had last year in a league that is no where near as strong as last year. Off the cuff I would say that anywhere between 20 to 22 wins are possible. Go Dukes!
I think there is no team as strong as last year's URI team, but I think the league will be much deeper than last year. Thus, while there are no games that I will mark as a loss from the door, there are many more land mines than last season.

Duques102 wrote:
Put me down for 20. The OOC is much tougher, and based on coaches and players lost from the league I will venture to guess the conference will be down slightly. Absolutely can’t wait to see what this season holds and I am optimistic.

20 wins, top 6 in the conference, AND NIT bid. Heard it here first.
The difference in the schedule is basically 2 games. ND and Penn State are substantially better than any team we played ooc last year. Marshall? About the same as the teams we played in Vegas, solid, but nothing really special. I guess Pitt will be somewhat better, as last year's team was about as bad as a P5 team can be, but of course we lost to them anyway so we can only go up there. I expect we'll be dogs vs ND and PSU, about even vs Pitt, and favored over anyone else we play at home.

Uh CLK ND was in NIT and is a perennial NCAA team. Penn state won the NIT last year and should be decent this year as well. Marshall beat a 4 seed Wichita state team in the first round of the tourney last year and returned everyone. Pitt will be improved. Radford won the play in game and played in the first round of the tourney. I don’t even know who else we play but I would argue that OOC schedule is much better than “2 games”.

Two NIT teams and two tourney teams? I cant remember 1 OOC team from last year that would compare?

Duques102, I think you meant to reply to duq81, although I don't disagree with duq81 comments. A lot of things have to go right but KD has a much stronger core group of 7 or 8 players going into this season than he did last year, and a lot more young freshman talent.

Duques102 · 7/06/2018 8:36 pm

Correct sorry about the cornfusion guys.

FAM · 7/06/2018 9:24 pm

We are better, but the schedule is more difficult. Also, it will take a little time for these guys to learn each other's styles. I will go with 18 wins.

Judge Jack McVay Jr · 7/06/2018 9:43 pm

Agree FAM and also agree with CLK on Coach Dambrot and I think 19 wins! I think we beat Pitt and Penn State and lose at South Bend. Truly don't know what to think regarding A10 this year but I think we will be stronger in conference and not fade down the stretch

ElDuque · 7/07/2018 6:45 am

Duques102 wrote:
ElDuque wrote:
Pitt will finish last in the ACC.

Dead. Last.
Perhaps but I bet they win ONE game. Saying that as a Pitt hater btw.

The men or the women?

VBC · 7/07/2018 8:28 am

I'm thinking 20 as a minimum this year. Less than that and I think Keith will be disappointed. I would not be surprised by a very strong team this year that could find itself on the bubble in March.

townsonkid · 7/09/2018 9:43 am

My expectations are above .500 and wins over a few quality teams, maybe Pitt, PSU, a couple nice road wins in conference and to hold court at home(that should actually get us close to 20 wins). A post season bid, I dont care if its CBI, this year would be the time to invest in post season play, because I think in the coming years, this team has a real shot for NIT or maybe a, dare I say, NCAA bid.

duq81 · 7/09/2018 10:05 am

townsonkid wrote:
My expectations are above .500 and wins over a few quality teams, maybe Pitt, PSU, a couple nice road wins in conference and to hold court at home(that should actually get us close to 20 wins). A post season bid, I dont care if its CBI, this year would be the time to invest in post season play, because I think in the coming years, this team has a real shot for NIT or maybe a, dare I say, NCAA bid.

Well, KD wouldn't have come here if he thought the NIT was the goal, so I hope you're right.

scduke · 7/09/2018 11:07 am

Agree with 81. Remember KD said one reason he came here was that he was offended by some people at Akron who thought he lost his competitive fire.
My expectations are that he can keep this team together and have them play well together. If he can do that, the success will take care of itself.

townsonkid · 7/09/2018 1:09 pm

Never said NIT was the goal, but it could very well be a step along the road to get to that goal.

scduke · 7/09/2018 4:54 pm

In all fairness, you did say "NCAA" in your post so I stand corrected. We do need to start thinking big.

PhoenixRising2 · 7/12/2018 4:33 pm

Battle of the bigs when Marshall comes to Palumbo.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2018-07-12/after-big-ncaa-tournament-win-marshall-basketball-has-whole

rosceaux · 7/15/2018 1:19 pm

PhoenixRising2 wrote:
Battle of the bigs when Marshall comes to Palumbo.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2018-07-12/after-big-ncaa-tournament-win-marshall-basketball-has-whole

From Pheonix's link:

"So, how does the Herd make itself a name early? Win at least two of the four biggest non-conference games at Virginia, Maryland, Texas A&M and Duquesne."

When was the last time we were regarded as one of the four biggest non-conference games for a team that played in and beat a #4 seed in the previous season's NCAA tournament? This is a hallmark of an improved OOC schedule and perception of what we can do this year.

Judge Jack McVay Jr · 7/15/2018 1:32 pm

Agree with you Rosceaux and slowly but surely this program is coming back! As to scheduling generally I think that the A10 should consider adopting a schedule system to enhance conference success too as is being done by some of the other mid majors like All American conference. Both FBS football and NCAA basketball tournament are still too Power 5 driven and biased

duq81 · 7/15/2018 2:04 pm

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:
Agree with you Rosceaux and slowly but surely this program is coming back! As to scheduling generally I think that the A10 should consider adopting a schedule system to enhance conference success too as is being done by some of the other mid majors like All American conference. Both FBS football and NCAA basketball tournament are still too Power 5 driven and biased

The A10 doesn't accept the "mid major" label, and neither should we. The MAAC is a mid major. The A10 is a high major, which is the level below the P5.

Judge Jack McVay Jr · 7/15/2018 2:15 pm

I know Duq81 that A10 doesn't accept that label but its still not Power 5 and that's who is controlling the NCAA at both FBS football playoffs and basketball tournament selection . The system in both sports are biased against non Power 5s.