The Big East is well aware of us. We were even discussed on the BE message board. When Duquesne becomes a dominant program in the A10, the BE will give us a hard look, not a moment before. They already have a welfare case in DePaul that they're unhappy with, and Chicago crushes Pittsburgh as a desirable market.
St. Joe's will never be added to the BE. Nor will any school located in a market they already serve. They have no interest in duplicating markets. This is why the Big Ten had no interest in Pitt, although I think Pitt is a better fit in the ACC, which lacks the huge schools present in the Big Ten.
Xavier blocked Dayton from consideration.
DU and SLU check the most boxes for the BE, but they're happy at 10 members, and they won't add any teams unless the product on the floor is top notch. Neither team is close to that right now.
The improvements to Palumbo won't sway the BE, as they'll likely want most league games to be played at PPG.
No BE team plays league games in a 4,000 seat gym. That's a mid major look, and the BE is very much aware, and concerned that the P5 would like to push them into the mid major box.

 

Very good points.

I'll only add this - If Pitt doesn't screw up ( lose Capel and replace him with a big downgrade for example ) I can't see Duquesne really competing with Pitt on a real consistent basis.  The football gap / influence ( Power 5 vs. FCS )  is just too great.

ghost wrote:

Very good points.

I'll only add this - If Pitt doesn't screw up ( lose Capel and replace him with a big downgrade for example ) I can't see Duquesne really competing with Pitt on a real consistent basis.  The football gap / influence ( Power 5 vs. FCS )  is just too great.

With the current setup, the Dukes can't dominate Pitt unless they're bad. That said, you do want to be good enough that you can beat them semi occasionally.
 

Ifky 07 wrote:

Wow - overreaction Saturday. It was a bad game against a rival. This team will still win more than they won last year. Which will put us close to 20 wins. Year 3 will be even better. And year 4. This coach and administration has done nothing to make me think otherwise.

The biggest surprise of the season is the absence of Mike Lewis. If he played this year like he did the last 2....well, Duquesne could very well be undefeated.

To quote Aaron Rodgers, relax.

Woah, Woah, Woah!  This is a message board!  Leave your rationale thoughts behind (perhaps on Dblock of Towers)

Yes phildog

I go back to the Xaxier theory, why not? I was on campus today. Its a great place with a great history,  n yes deep down a great basketball tradition.

phil95 wrote:

6 or 7 years of always being one of the top 3 teams in the A-10 would definitely make our Dukes competetive with Pitt. 9 years out of 10 the best 3 teams in the A-10 are better than the 2-4 worst teams in the ACC. 

This is an achievable goal & would have the Dukes winning 40% of the games with Pitt. The seperation is just not that great.

I believe I made the same point yesterday on the other thread. Pitt plays in a Top Four conference. We don't. Until we are consistently in the Top 4 of the A 10, we don't have a prayer of consistently beating them.
 

You guys do realize, this was not your usual Pitt team from the last forty years. This team did not win an ACC game last year 0-18 and 8-24 overall. Capel was named coach in March of 2018. Therefore he did not get recruiting until almost after the recruiting season was over. He then beats us handily by 21 and really by 29 because the Dukes went up 8 at the 18:20 mark of the first half. What is going to happen when he gets the players he recruits for a few years. Don't get me wrong, I want to see the Dukes do well before I go for that dirt nap, but you have to be realistic. As far as being in the top quadrant of the A 10, that is not going to get us dancing. The A10 is presently rated as the TWELFTH best conference, not too many conferences get two bids from this low of a rated conference. If you have a good year and don't win your conference tournament you are very much in trouble.

Wildwood13 wrote:

You guys do realize, this was not your usual Pitt team from the last forty years. This team did not win an ACC game last year 0-18 and 8-24 overall. Capel was named coach in March of 2018. Therefore he did not get recruiting until almost after the recruiting season was over. He then beats us handily by 21 and really by 29 because the Dukes went up 8 at the 18:20 mark of the first half. What is going to happen when he gets the players he recruits for a few years. Don't get me wrong, I want to see the Dukes do well before I go for that dirt nap, but you have to be realistic. As far as being in the top quadrant of the A 10, that is not going to get us dancing. The A10 is presently rated as the TWELFTH best conference, not too many conferences get two bids from this low of a rated conference. If you have a good year and don't win your conference tournament you are very much in trouble.

The A10 has had one bid years before, but has always bounced back. It was pretty bad from around 2005, to 2010, but we've been pretty steady as a 3 bid league since then, with highs of 5 and 6 bids. This is a rebuilding year for a lot of programs.