Well, people are aware that we have a coach and he brings in players. Go Dukes!

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/16434

Dukes link.

Ranked #105th and 7th in the conference:

Key Returning Players:
Mike Lewis II, Junior, Guard, 14.4 ppg
Eric Williams Jr, Sophomore, Guard, 14.3 ppg
Kellon Taylor, Junior, Forward, 3.8 ppg 

Key New Players:
Gavin Bizeau, Freshman, Forward
Sincere Carry, Freshman, Guard
Tavian Dunn-Martin, Sophomore, Guard, Transfer from Akron
James Ellis, Freshman, Center
Frankie Hughes, Sophomore, Guard, Transfer from Missouri
Amari Kelly, Freshman, Forward
Lamar Norman Jr, Freshman, Guard
Craig Randall II, Junior, Guard, Transfer from Memphis
Austin Rotroff, Freshman, Forward
Dylan Snyder, Freshman, Center
Brandon Wade, Freshman, Guard
Marcus Weathers, Sophomore, Forward, Transfer from Miami (OH)


lol he just literally listed the entire team...except poor michael hughes and got swingles last name wrong

Last edited by yak-rbc (7/26/2018 10:18 am)

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

I will be mildly disappointed if we finish the year at #105.  I'm guessing that would project out to a .500 or less conference record and less than 20 wins.  I'm estimating that a 20 win season and an above .500 record in the conference would get the Dukes landing around #75.

My guess is that he expects early troubles before the team hits it's stride. If we lose to ND, PSU, Marshall, and even Pitt, the rest of the ooc schedule is too weak to lift us before conference play. With the A10 being weaker than normal, unless we blaze through the league (12 or more wins), we'll need to win a couple of those 4 listed games, and then handle the scrubs if we want to reach the top 75, which is what it will take to be seriously considered for the NIT.
 

applecorps wrote:

Here's what we saw posted in the course of the last season about the transfers: they were kicking it in the scrimmages and had to be dispersed so as to prevent a schism and to maintain confidence among the eligible players.

I don't believe that Coach Dambrot expects to have big troubles in the early going  There are some really good players becoming eligible this year, in addition to a very promising incoming freshman group. And there are three great players returning from last year's eligible squad.

This team should win several of the "challenging" ooc games we see on the schedule, especially Pitt. This team should come out of the gate fast and only get better.


 

You've really got the rose colored, or should I say, "blue and red" colored glasses on. While I'm quite optimistic about the transfers, I'm taking more of a Missouri, "you got to show me" approach to the freshmen. Freshman bigs tend to struggle unless they're elite, which ours aren't. I'm looking at them being long term solutions rather than instant solutions. I'll be happy if a couple of them play well enough to be effective role players this year. Anything more than that will be beyond expectations. Same with Kellon Taylor. I would never call him a great player, or put him on the same level with our two stars. He fills a role, and as I've said before, if he's more than a role player, it says our freshmen are all projects, more similar to the guys we had last year, than the next level guys we're hoping for. To me, the young bigs are the key. They play at the spots where we were awful last year, and have size we haven't seen in decades. The better they are, the better the team will be.
 

ElDuque wrote:

I hear you, duq81, and I agree with you about the bigs.

Freshman guards, on the other hand, can blossom early. We picked up a kid who should have been Mr. Michigan this year, who is a proven winner and whose Dad is a coach. From everything I see, this is not only a great player but an outstanding person. So I see Wade being someone who will play significant minutes and make big contributions right away. Norman similarly looks like a skilled kid who can give us Eric Williams-like production as a freshman. And then there's Sincere Carry. This is a kid who's fought back from a serious injury which, had it not occurred, may have been a Power 5 recruit. Above all, he is a winner.

Back to the bigs. They'd have to fight for PT anyway because Hughes, Williams, and Weathers are ahead of them. They're all certainly capable of giving us what Tydus gave us last season. Coach Dambrot knows how to coach big men, and they all present different skill sets. You have a space-filling post man, a 6-9 kid who's described as having SF skills, a couple guys who look like traditional 4s. The best of the bunch is sitting out a year. But I suspect the freshman bigs will rotate in and out and give us depth, rebounding and some defense (Tydus led the A10 in blocked shots last season).

I'm really looking forward to this season.

Agree 100% with this. If one of the bigs blossoms early, so much the better. 20 wins would be great, and would set us up for a breakthrough next year. I expect that we'll be dangerous by the end of the year, maybe enough to surprise in Brooklyn.