I thought Hughes picked it up at the end but the refs really were allowing VCU to do a lot of pushing n shoving inside defensively. After Weathers played so strong against st. Louis this was disappointing.  Also, all the missed bunnies...gotta get URI wednesday night...damn shame we lost with that nice grad, alumni present, etc.

Duquesne and its success go directly through Sincere Carry.You guys are taking todays loss better than I 
am . He is a amazing talent and you just agonize what this injury means for the rest of season.I think the Dukes were going to take a huge step forward but you wonder if knee is going to mess everything up.
 If  Carry plays Dukes win this game today, no question .

rittersdiner wrote:

Eric Williams really let the team down today.
Can't play Weathers sustained minutes until he consistently makes free throws.
Front court defense was atrocious in second half. 
why didn't wee play more zone in the second half? Coaching blunder.

 
I thought based upon the circumstances & the lack of production from the big 3 Coach Dambrot coached a hell of a game. The young players who stepped up confirms the bright future of this program. This guy gets it my friends.

Hate to use names but when carry is out u have to find deprh. Tdm deserves kudos, 5'7 n coglioni like a bull. Hes a tough sucker but...If they play again with Carry on a neutral court I like iur chances

Unfortunately it's going to take some time. It's just disappointing that a nice crowd was drawn and there was media tension including Mark Madden and Paul zeise but we didn't get the win

Weathers was the only big to not be in foul trouble in the first 30 minutes. Offensively, no he didn't have a good game and he shot awfully from the line. But in conference play he was something like 81% coming in, AND he still had 4 blocks, and he was able to play minutes when everyone else was riding pine with fouls.

FWIW; Williams had the top Gym Gem on espn last night.  5 plays from the day, his reverse dunk was #1.  He beat out some pretty nice plays.   It was #4 on top 10 plays.  Some nice PR for the Dukes at least.

Last edited by townsonkid (1/27/2019 11:00 am)

rittersdiner wrote:

Eric Williams really let the team down today.
Can't play Weathers sustained minutes until he consistently makes free throws.
Front court defense was atrocious in second half. 
why didn't wee play more zone in the second half? Coaching blunder.

 
Eric has had better games and will in the future but he let nobody down.   

Who else do you put in for Weathers?  He was something like 10 for 12 FT last game and had 4 blocks.

VCU had a strong frontcourt of upperclassmen and we needed him in there.

They stopped playing Bizeau from the arc inward but I don’t know why.

TDM played a hell of a game but ran out of gas.  I never saw him miss 2 FT.

Last edited by coffee (1/27/2019 9:02 am)

The SLU game showed that the Dukes need more Bigs who can play the physical game.  I know some think that is a coaching issue or players attitude but I think it is a bit more.  Bizeau is unlikely to ever be a physical player.  Kevin Love or Channing Frye are not physical players abut are effective players and I doubt that either would be effective if they tried to play the physical game.  Kelly seems like he can be one of those guys but not this year....he does not know how to play physical without fouling. There is no way you want him on the floor down the stretch of a close game at this point.  He will be a very good player once he figures it out. Next year they will have Swingle who will be able to deliver 5-15 minutes a game of physical inside play as well as Kelly who should understand the game better.  If Ellis can add 10-15 minutes a game the Dukes will be strong inside and can play without being so concerned with fouls, play harder because they have others to come in when they are tired, allow KD to mix and match based on opponents and who is playing well.  I can see times you will see 3 bigs out there because Weathers, Kelly and Ellis are athletic enough to cover the 3 when you are trying to shut down teams at end of games.  Until then....it will be a constant struggle.  But this struggle will be great learning experience to the team this year.  

3 other things stick out from the last 2 games.  Carry makes unforced errors and Williams plays out of control. Weathers needs to learn to control the ball in traffic and gain control in traffic.  Most of these issues will go away with experience and another off-season.  With additional help next year, Weathers and Hughes will play fewer minutes which should allow them to be fresher and shoot better.

Also...it was really impressive that the Dukes closed the gap to 2 points with less that 1 minutes to play with a chance to win against VCU.  That was with Weathers having a poor offensive game, Williams not shooting well, and without Carry.  There is no quit in this team and that relentless attitude will help them down the road. This is a young and inexperience team and it is impressive that their will cannot be broken even with the circumstances yesterday.

They had 2.5 days rest after the game on Wednesday.  They have 4.5 days rest after Saturday's game.  I think they come out strong against RI.  A victory will be huge.

Last edited by Dsnyder15 (1/27/2019 11:03 am)

This is the KIND of game when the team could have used Carry -  It's not just that VCU "presses" people - it's the kind of athletes that they use to do it -  While it was tough to expect the 3 point shooting (which started out 8-11) would continue -  Was also tough to anticipate the team would miss the next 11 -  having the chance to win (or go to overtime at the end was as much as we could hope for - this time the other team just made a few more plays (and free throws) than the Dukes did.

Kudos to the crowd (and I know VCU brought a decent amount) - there were five of them in two rows in front of me and next to me - they were HIGHLY respectful - the appluaded Norman before the game (which might be expected) but also clapped for the Nelson Twins, John Moore etc and ( I DOUBT if they knew who THEY were)other than former players.

Purchased my ticket a little early -  was walking to the game and saw some of those scalpers/sellers with the "I NEED TICKETS" signs - turned to the guy next to me and said "When was the last time you saw something like THAT at a DU game? "  Answered my own question -  'NEVER"

Hopefully if the team can continue playing well - we can get the "casual fan" who comes 1-2 times per year up to 4-5,  and get MORE casual fans in and that could swell the attendence.   Kudos to the Student section as well -  15 minutes before the game looked kind of empty - but by the time it started was quite full and they were engaged.

BEAT RHODE ISLAND!!