Here's Zac's article from Pittsburgh Sports Now on the A10 Media Day, which he attended in Brooklyn.  He also was the Dukes' media member who cast a vote (BTW, he had the Dukes finishing 6th).  The article has Zac's Preseason Poll and his votes for all league players.  Nice job by Zac, which we have come to expect from him and PSN.
https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2019/10/24/duquesne-mbb-picked-eighth-in-a-10-preseason-poll/
 

Every time the league's coaches, and media pick us low, we do better. When they pick us high, we flop. I'm glad they don't think much of us.

levon1975 wrote:

It’s disappointing that we prepare to enter yet another season short handed in terms of numbers; but especially at the 4 and five spots; our longtime nemesis. I hear all good things about Steele; but he can’t play 40 minutes and right now it seems that we have no backup. Mike Hughes it seems will never escape his problems with stress fractures; so when Steele sits; we become a high school team in terms of size. That is the script we‘ve seen far too often; and it is hard to watch. Given the seriousness of their injuries and the time frame for recovery, I’m not expecting Kelly or Rotroff to play significant rolls until January again leaving us with one healthy big. Chances are that the Dukes will again struggle to rebound and defend when Steele is not on the court.

You're forgetting Ellis. He may be raw, but he's a 7 footer. He may have to play. His development may eventually determine if we become just a solid team over the next few years, or a serious powerhouse, so it's not a terrible thing if he gets some minutes early in his career.
 

levon1975 wrote:

It’s disappointing that we prepare to enter yet another season short handed in terms of numbers; but especially at the 4 and five spots; our longtime nemesis. I hear all good things about Steele; but he can’t play 40 minutes and right now it seems that we have no backup. Mike Hughes it seems will never escape his problems with stress fractures; so when Steele sits; we become a high school team in terms of size. That is the script we‘ve seen far too often; and it is hard to watch. Given the seriousness of their injuries and the time frame for recovery, I’m not expecting Kelly or Rotroff to play significant rolls until January again leaving us with one healthy big. Chances are that the Dukes will again struggle to rebound and defend when Steele is not on the court.

I hope you are wrong, I think Steele will be solid in the A10, Hughes should be okay, his injuries will nag him, but hopefully he wont be required to be the only big this year, Ellis has to play, and be decent, at least until Rotroff is back, and I think he will be back sooner than January.   Kelly will likely be around January.   I thought I saw a clip/pic with Rotroff practicing with the team around the Bahamas trip.   these are young teenagers/20 y/o, those repairs can make them stronger, and the recovery time is not that of a NFL player, and even they are ready within a year.   I see 4 bigs ready to roll, and a 5th coming in january.   Now, can they produce.....thats the question.

I hope they come out vs Princeton, playing quick and running the court for quick buckets, force Princeton to run a lot.

duq81 wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

It’s disappointing that we prepare to enter yet another season short handed in terms of numbers; but especially at the 4 and five spots; our longtime nemesis. I hear all good things about Steele; but he can’t play 40 minutes and right now it seems that we have no backup. Mike Hughes it seems will never escape his problems with stress fractures; so when Steele sits; we become a high school team in terms of size. That is the script we‘ve seen far too often; and it is hard to watch. Given the seriousness of their injuries and the time frame for recovery, I’m not expecting Kelly or Rotroff to play significant rolls until January again leaving us with one healthy big. Chances are that the Dukes will again struggle to rebound and defend when Steele is not on the court.

You're forgetting Ellis. He may be raw, but he's a 7 footer. He may have to play. His development may eventually determine if we become just a solid team over the next few years, or a serious powerhouse, so it's not a terrible thing if he gets some minutes early in his career.
 

No, ‘81 I didn’t  forget Ellis; but his name was not even mentioned as an option by KD in the interview; so I concluded that he is still too raw to be expected to make a significant contribution at this point.  I’d love to hear that KD is just sandbagging on Ellis; and keeping expectations minimal; but you’ve been around long enough to know that the former is more likely than the latter; so that was my rationale for leaving Ellis out of the conversation.  Let’s hope He proves me wrong!

levon1975 wrote:

townsonkid wrote:

we got some love in an A10 write up....Grant KellyA-10 Champ: VCUThe only Atlantic 10 team nationally ranked in the preseason top 25, it’s tough to pick against the Rams this year. With a talented and deep roster, I think VCU edges Dayton by a game to win the A-10 regular season title. 

A-10 Sleeper: DuquesnePicked to finish 8th in the preseason poll, Duquesne is arguably the most undervalued A-10 team. Showing steady improvement under head coach Keith Dambrot, the Dukes seem primed to continue their climb. While making a run at the top four will be unlikely this year, I could easily see Duquesne finishing 5th or 6th in the A-10. 

My A-10 Hot Take: Ibi Watson will compete for A-10 Player of the YearA redshirt junior transfer from Michigan, Ibi Watson might be the best player that no one outside of Dayton is talking about. A 6’5″ guard, Watson can do a little bit of everything; including shooting the three ball very well. I would not be surprised to see Watson make an A-10 All-Conference Team at the end of the season.

Towson,
Thanks for the info; just one wird of caution on VCU; as KD mentioned in the Weiss interview; they are not the same team without Marcus Evans their superb PG.  Evans unfortunately has a long history of rather serious injuries; and is not a good bet to play an entire season.  Without Evans; Dayton or Davidson could easily wind up the Champion.  We saw what happened to them in the A-10 Tourney when they lost Evans.  They weren’t close to the same team and lost.

Duquesne winning the A10 Championship?


This is our problem as fans. Go one step at a time, like previous mentioned. We are limited on bigs and we do not know how it will play out. Let’s start with Princeton and go 1 I mean ONE day at a time. You guys don’t understand this team is new just like the last two teams we had. There’s not much carry over yet for us to predict things like that.

I go back to intangibles and things you can't predict. Julius Caesar referred to it "fortune."Injuries and player development, look back at Aaron Jackson, how he grew. Mike Hughes, in my opinion, is underrated. He could be that guy. I can see him being one of the top players in the conference.

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

Zac also posted a lengthy video interview with Coach Dambrot.  It's worth a watch.
https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2019/10/24/duquesne-coach-keith-dambrot-at-atlantic-10-media-day/
 

The first 5 or 6 minutes of this interview really deflated my enthusiasm for the upcoming season. KD's comments about player health, Weathers possibly not being ready to play big minutes, & their not being able to go all out in practice because there are too few bodies strike me as the setup for poor results.

I see 10 able-bodied players active on this roster that were/are all billed as having legitimate A-10 level talent or better. Combined with the 2 walk-ons, that is plenty of folks to have competitive, high-intensity practices. There aren't 2 dozen NCAA Division I programs that play 10 guys on a nightly basis & this team isn't likely to be one of them in 2019-20. In a month, that number of A-10 level players is likely to rise to 12. The poor-mouthing on this subject, in particular, is too much for me.

Weathers played almost 27 minutes a game last year. He had more gas in the tank at the end of games than anybody but EW & many of those games were when there were no other viable big people beyond he & MHughes. He got in 25 minutes a game as a freshman at Miami. He's 22 years old. Steele is here to eat a bunch of similar minutes. When, in KD's opinion, might Marcus be ready?

The culture has changed or it hasn't. The talent level of the most important players is high enough or it isn't. There are 10-12 legit A-10 players for 2019-20 or there are not. These players can apply the basketball smarts & effort it takes to execute the defensive scheme or they can't. I usually enjoy the coach's candor when talking about players & expectations. This didn't sound like a guy urging his charges to embody a championship mentality.

He was less whiney over the last 8 or 10 minutes. His goals for Sincere are really exciting.