Hughes may be the best player on the team at this point, with Eric Williams neck and neck with him. Dambrot remarked after the game that he was glad to see Hughes hit a couple shots from the block/short corner. That should give opponents something to think about when he posts up as well. Weathers seems to be serviceable but looks a little awkward at times still. His weight and strength give him the nod over Kelly and Rotroff for the time being, as both of those guys need some more experience and confidence in my opinion. Having a 6'6 Eric Williams is a bit of a luxury since you can have a smaller SF and still retain height and rebounding coverage.

My starters would be: Carry, Lewis II, Williams, Weathers, M. Hughes

Dunn Martin, Rotroff, F. Hughes, Norman Jr, and Kelly would be my 10 man rotation at this point. I don't know where Bizeau fits in but if he could beat out Kelly for that last spot. I'm not overly impressed with any of our big men except Hughes right now. Rotroff seems a bit behind the play at times but clearly has potential. I really haven't seen enough of Kelly to form an opinion either way yet. Rotroff, Bizeau and Kelly should benefit from playing with Michael Hughes in practice all year. I've been disappointed with Wade over a few games now and think he needs work.

Last edited by DukesDan (11/26/2018 9:39 am)

I would also assume, barring a few injuries at this point, that Swingle is going to be redshirted, no?

One of the things I noticed (and really do not like) about this board is that we have a group of "boo-birds" who only post negative stuff when we lose.  A few posters (not many) are quick to jump on kids after a loss when they have a bad game,but never give credit when they bounce back strong.  Case in point Eric Williams.  This kid is a super star in my book.  I know he resented some of the negativity after the ND loss,  and came back and scored 22 points (3 of 3 from three pt) 5 rebounds, 4 steals and only 1 turnover. Yet it gets barely noticed here.  One thing we all need to remember is that this is a very young team.  KD said on the post game that according to Kenpom the Dukes are something like 343 in game experience.  This team has tremendous talent and potential in my opinion.  I love our freshman class, this class WILL take us to the top of the mountain, but please keep in mind they are freshman.  KD realizes this and is trying to get them more minutes.  He said that he has some potential all-league players in this class and does not want them to get discouraged and transfer because they are not playing.  This is his challenge.       

Last edited by CLK (11/26/2018 12:07 pm)

CLK wrote:

One of the things I noticed (and really do not like) about this board is that we have a group of "boo-birds" who only post negative stuff when we lose.  A few posters (not many) are quick to jump on kids after a loss when they have a bad game,but never give credit when they bounce back strong.  Case in point Eric Williams.  This kid is a super star in my book.  I know he resented some of the negativity after the ND loss,  and came back and scored 22 points (3 of 3 from three pt) 5 rebounds, 4 steals and only 1 turnover. Yet it gets barely noticed here.  One thing we all need to remember is that this is a very young team.  KD said on the post game that according to Kenpom the Dukes are something like 343 in game experience.  This team has tremendous talent and potential in my opinion.  I love our freshman class, this class WILL take us to the top of the mountain, but please keep in mind they are freshman.  KD realizes this and is trying to get them more minutes.  He said that he has some potential all-league players in this class and does not want them to get discouraged and transfer because they are not playing.  This is his challenge.       

This is so true.  The players read the board and take note of the things we write.  EW was upset about the posts after the ND game and Mike Lewis II made a comment today.  We have to remember that these are college athletes, not professionals making millions. 

I don't think it's fair to judge many of these players right now.  The future of our program is so incredibly bright.  To think we are winning with basically an entire new team is pretty special.  What is awesome is that we can get a special performance from a different play each night.  We have never had that luxury.  As long as we keep winning, I don't care who succeeds.  Players like Wade, Bizau, Kelly, Rotroff and others are only going to get better as they age.  They are Freshmen and we aren't Duke.

No, it was on his Twitter. Doesn't necessarily mean he got back messages from here, but I doubt people are quoting him on Twitter talking trash.

He had a bad game and he hasn't had a hot start to the season. It's important, as CLK said, to be positive when it warrants and not overly critical at every bad moment.

As Simms noted, different players have stepped up every game. There have been 5 different players leading in scoring in 5 different games (if you count Rotroff's tie in the opener) and it could've been 6 if Mike Hughes had 3 more points yesterday.

ML will have his time to shine as well. And it could be unbelievably spectacular. Hope to see it Friday

CLK wrote:

One of the things I noticed (and really do not like) about this board is that we have a group of "boo-birds" who only post negative stuff when we lose.  A few posters (not many) are quick to jump on kids after a loss when they have a bad game,but never give credit when they bounce back strong.  Case in point Eric Williams.  This kid is a super star in my book.  I know he resented some of the negativity after the ND loss,  and came back and scored 22 points (3 of 3 from three pt) 5 rebounds, 4 steals and only 1 turnover. Yet it gets barely noticed here.  One thing we all need to remember is that this is a very young team.  KD said on the post game that according to Kenpom the Dukes are something like 343 in game experience.  This team has tremendous talent and potential in my opinion.  I love our freshman class, this class WILL take us to the top of the mountain, but please keep in mind they are freshman.  KD realizes this and is trying to get them more minutes.  He said that he has some potential all-league players in this class and does not want them to get discouraged and transfer because they are not playing.  This is his challenge.       

I definitely think KD wants all of the young players to play their best, but the truth is that there is competition for spots, and someone is going to lose out. We don't want players to transfer, but someone is going to have to, to make room for two new players next year. We can't exactly tell Maceo Austin; "thanks for signing, but sorry, there's no room at the inn". If you don't expect some attrition, then you shouldn't overrecruit. KD made the choice to construct his roster the way he did, and that's his choice on how to best build the program. I'm not going to knock it, as raising this dead program is a daunting task, and he ought to be able to do it his way, as long as he doesn't break any rules. That said, you have to accept that overrecruiting requires attrition. I think any new coach gets a bit of a free pass with regard to turning over his roster, but that such an approach can't continue long term, especially with guys you brought in, as it runs the risk of alienating high school, and AAU coaches who may feel that "their guys" have gotten a raw deal.
 

ElDuque wrote:

Guys, I was not being a "boo bird" when I said we can not win when Eric Williams shoots 1-11. I'm saying that he's important to the team, and when he's having an off day like that, it's hard to win. As for posting after yesterday's win, I was in transit back from Long Island during the game, and did not see the results until later yesterday.

I'm rooting for all of these kids! Go Dukes.

ElDuque, I was not implying in any way that you in that category.  We all know who the guys are (only a couple of guys) who don't know their ass from third base who only post negative comments about players and the team.  They were even Complaining about the margin of victory over teams DU beat.  Did anyone notice that DU is the only school in the A10 to have wins over two top 100 teams?  

Teams with wins over top 100 NET teams:
Duquesne (#22 Radford, #73 UIC)
Dayton (#45 Butler)
VCU (#79 Temple)
SLU (#85 Seton Hall)
 

Having seen comments about Mike Lewis maybe being "disinterested" or something, I would like to make an observation that athletes each have their own manner of approaching the stresses of a game. 

Michael Hughes, who has been very impressive, obviously thrives on getting pumped up. It shows during timeouts and so on. He has elevated the Dukes' post play well beyond where it has been for several years or more. His best work comes when he is visibly pumped.

Mike Lewis has a different approach. He keeps cool, but that in no way implies that he is not in the game. We have seen numerous games in which he has stepped up deep in the second half of tough games and brought the Dukes back. We've heard different announcers describe this as "ice water in his veins".  Now certain posters on this board are looking at this upside down.

Eric Williams generally is in that mold. In yesterday's game he only lost his cool because a guy fell down and he got called for a foul. He was practically in another zip code at the time. 

I agree with those who think we should not call out players who have an off game. Even Steph Curry has those. 

Beat Pitt!

Hilltopper wrote:

yak-rbc wrote:

DukesDan wrote:

Hughes may be the best player on the team at this point, with Eric Williams neck and neck with him. Dambrot remarked after the game that he was glad to see Hughes hit a couple shots from the block/short corner.

I've been disappointed with Wade over a few games now and think he needs work.

I'm amazed, I don't think I've seen him miss one one of these mid range corner jump shots yet. He can be a treat at times to watch operate on offense, but I don't think we can expect Hughes to light up and get 15 points often, but his disruption and rim protection underneath on D I think is what really stands out to me.

I liked what I saw from Amari for the 1st time yesterday. Lots of turnovers/fouls unfortunately, but he showed ability on offense and defense to be worth minutes. It's hard to teach that kind of length.

I'd also agree on Wade, hopefully he can learn a bit while riding some pine

Whoa doggy - nothing wrong with Wade.

Wade has yet to impress. He'll still have chances, but Dunn-Martin, and Carry have clearly been better. KD isn't going to run a 12 man rotation in league play, so he'll have to make his mark soon, lest he be relegated to mop up duty.

duq81 wrote:

Hilltopper wrote:

yak-rbc wrote:

I'm amazed, I don't think I've seen him miss one one of these mid range corner jump shots yet. He can be a treat at times to watch operate on offense, but I don't think we can expect Hughes to light up and get 15 points often, but his disruption and rim protection underneath on D I think is what really stands out to me.

I liked what I saw from Amari for the 1st time yesterday. Lots of turnovers/fouls unfortunately, but he showed ability on offense and defense to be worth minutes. It's hard to teach that kind of length.

I'd also agree on Wade, hopefully he can learn a bit while riding some pine

Whoa doggy - nothing wrong with Wade.

Wade has yet to impress. He'll still have chances, but Dunn-Martin, and Carry have clearly been better. KD isn't going to run a 12 man rotation in league play, so he'll have to make his mark soon, lest he be relegated to mop up duty.

I am not worried about Wade.  Hard to draw conclusions after only 5 games.  Some kids it takes a little longer to make the adjustment to D1, but he is a very skilled, well coached,  player who can play the 1 and 2 spots.  As for Kelly, I agree with you yak,  I always thought he would be an impact player with his ability to rebound and block shots.  Lots of raw talent on this team.  Go Dukes!

Still worried about Mike Lewis.  He's in a slump in all phases of his game and his lack of success is likely due to his lack of continuity in the lineup.  Last year he picked the team up against key opponents -- actually  got hot a number of times.   I think the team needs him to contribute.

I think Mike Lewis is playing more of a team oriented game than he did in previous years, because the team has more options and more firepower.  That is a good thing, but makes it hard to adjust for a guy like Mike, who had the green light to shoot in prior years, because we simply had so few options for scoring.  I think he will have games this year where we need his scoring, and his long-range capability. 

I wouldn't discount the knee still hampering him to some extent, because he was very explosive to the basket in his freshman  season; but since the knee injury he's played mostly a perimeter game.  I don't know if it is a chronic condition, or something that will heal with time.  I think everyone likes Mike, and would like to see him regain his earlier form.  He still has a beautiful jump shot, that I feel is going to splash the net every time he shoots it!