The Dukes made some changes and played three decent quarters but were out scored 29-9 in the third period. Agree wholeheartedly that the defense is the worst we have had this century. Started Omogrosso, Bazelak, Kalin, Lass and Sole. Only bench player that gave any spark was Bovell but she simply adds good defense. The loss comes down to giving up over 20+ offensive rebounds and tentative third quarter offense. Two things about the offense when it goes stagnant - 1) Every player dribbles, then passes, dribbles, then passes even in the post. Simply move the ball. NO DRIBBLES. As they attempted to win the game, they did not dribble and shots came, cutting an 11 point lead to 1. Please, NO DRIBBLES unless going to the hoop for a score or for a dish for an open shot. 2) Show some poise when a drive or pass is taken away. There are too many panicked passes, travels.

One of the few teams that is smaller than the Dukes and they get 20+ offensive rebounds???? Effort was lacking on the defensive boards.

Questionable coaching decisions in the last minute of play. Did not give a foul early enough. Did not call timeout with 24 seconds left to set up a play. Could have gone for two early at this time. Ball tipped out with 4 seconds left and did not get a three off, ending game with a drive to the hoop???? Also, the third quarter combinations on the floor were very questionable. Two Senior starters and one Redshirt Junior starter from last year have really regressed.

Offensively, Chas and Kadri kept them in the game scoring wise and deserve credit. Amanda played well. Libby was decent. Halle gives hustle, effort and defense. These five made a nice run to almost pull the game out.

11-11 record. We are all in shock.

I do have to agree our defense is pathetic.  They should play zone and very little man to man, but switch it up some.   As to weather Chassidy has overachieved or regressed, I will tell you I went to see her when she was a freshman in high school at a playoff game against a very tough team.  She hit 8 3 pointers and had close to 40 points. I followed her ever since.   She averaged 30 points in high school and was Pennsylvania Player of the year her junior and senior year.   She holds the WPIAL ALL TIME 3 POINT RECORD and was I believe 4th ALL TIME in the WPIAL in scoring.  Also carried her team to TWO STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS on her back.  So no she did not overachieve, she's extremely competitive.  That's just whats expected.   I have followed so many of these local girls and have truly enjoyed watching them.  Conor was the leader on her team and carried them,  and Amanda was the team leader at Pine Richland.   Both great players I have enjoyed following.

As far as the team this year, I believe he took it out of the seniors hands early, and that caused a trickling effect.  Kadri,, Chas and Julianna were his top girls.  Most of  the season he didn't play Julianna and Chas much in the games, He was frustrated and lost trust in his seniors.  He played sophomore guards with not much experience and scoring and lost many games.  Juliana and Chass are not playing the minutes they played last year, almost the entire game last year, with 25 wins.  

Listen, scorers have to score,   They are not going to have perfect games, but Chas and Juliana have a scorers mentality.   He should have stuck with his game plan of last year and played his top 3 girls most of the game.  You go with your experience and leaders.  This probably caused frustration on the team.

The game last night we should have shot a 3 at the end, not sure what happened there.  Third quarter killed us.   They shot 29 times to our 9 shots in the third quarter.  Rebounding killed Duquesne.  Timeouts should have been called.   So many things to do differently, coaching.  

Libby is a  good player but is playing way too much, we need scorers in the game.  Sometimes I watch the game and he has only one person on the floor who can truly score the ball.  Julianna sometimes makes mistakes but she can hit 8 shots in 8 minutes.   She can hit shots at crucial moments.   

Hopefully we can get some big wins, but he has to play the people who can score the ball.  If Juliana is holding the ball to long, CORRECT IT.  Play your best FIVE girls.  Scorers got to shoot.  They need to get some fire on defense.  He must have Chas, Juliana and Kadri in all game to have a chance.  

Can't blame the girls on this year, Coaching made some bad decisions.  Wish the Team and Coaches all the best moving into the late part of our season.  I believe we have the talent, the coaches have to believe also and pass it onto the players.  GOOD LUCK THE REST OF THE SEASON... WE NEED TO PLAY WITH FIRE!!!   Coach Burt will figure it out, he always does.





 

Johnnycoach:  I was able to watch the two State Championship games that Chassidy played in and won - she played well in both of them.

At that time I was hopeful she could become a ROLE PLAYER at Duquesne -  Despite the senior season she is having -  I think there is the possibility of having her number retired -  What greater compliment can I pay her.

While you can NEVER have too many shooters -  In her high school career at one point or another she probably played against 10 players who were Div 1 Caliber over the four years -  At DU - JUST ABOUT  EVERY PLAYER ON EVERY TEAM SHE PLAYS AGAINST IS A DIV 1 PLAYER (coaches do make recruiting mistakes)-  What she excels at is "catch and shoot"  - AND SHE HAS A VERY LOW RELEASE POINT!!!  So you're talking undersized - with a low release.  At the start of the season Julianna was getting a fair share of the minutes -  I checked some numbers lately and at that time she was shooting 24% from 3 point range -  so probably understandable to see the minutes drop (although NOT getting in at all in the second half is a little extreme - maybe she was not 100% physically.

TIME TO SHOCK THE WORLD - BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF DAYTON!!  Remember a few years ago - St Louis was one of (if not ) the best team in the A-10 at the time -  DU had them by like 20 at the half - Chas hit one from the other side of half court to end the first half - and it was BLOW OUT CITY!!!~

I watched the game.  This team has been accused of playing selfishly this year but I thought that they at least played together.  Sometimes when you lose, you gotta give the other team credit for doing something right.  UMASS played a lot better defensively in the second half & were able to go on a big run in the third quarter.  OK, the whole third quarter was a big UMASS run, but you get what I mean.

Interesting to me was the distribution of minutes.  Chassidy, Lass, Libby, & Amanda were out there just about the entire game.  I think that Dan has decided that they are "his team" right now.  I'll be interested to see how minutes are distributed tomorrow.