Hope Ritter's ok should of heard from him by now.

Your pointguard must be able to hit free throws.

This game reminded me of the Danny Nee coached teams during my college years. It was hard to watch. I would say this game and the Marshall game last year were the two worst in the last few years. I don't get it. We brought back every starter from last year's good team and added some nice pieces. No one on the team can shoot.

Last edited by S.R.M. (1/05/2021 8:55 pm)

I'm really worried about Sincere. I'd say Weathers has been our best player the past couple seasons, but Carry has been the most important. We all had valid concerns about him being on the court too much because we couldn't find him minutes to rest. This season we finally have the depth to give him that rest, but he is looking more tired than he was in the past. I have no doubt he'll find his legs, I just hope it's not too late in the season. He's certainly not the only one who looks to be feeling the effects of illness and lack of practice, but this team goes as far as he takes it.

Last edited by luckymcd (1/05/2021 9:08 pm)

townsonkid wrote:

I turned that garbage off to watch Wolf Blitzer.   THATS how bad they are.    When does hockey start?

I turned it off also. Couldn't watch. Chalk this one up to stupidity - stupid shots, stupid passes, stupid, stupid,  stupid. Pathetic.

I understand the concerns on offense but I’m concerned with the points we are giving up. Especially to GW the last game. Coach is smarter than me but he needs to figure out who to play when. Again, the A10 tournament will determine where we go but better to get there with wins before March instead of losses. Again, I think he is getting out coached because he doesn’t know who to play when.
Go Dukes.

This is why you can't lose to George Washington.

rittersdiner wrote:

This team stinks, especially the guards, They can't makeshots from the free throw line. They turn the ball over on stupid plays, We are headed for a sub-.500 conference season. 

He was bound to show up  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ734u4bFQA
 

And further, Ritters point about guard play is valid - look at the other guards in this league and then look at what our guards do.  I don't know, but I haven't seen any type of game changing player recruited by KD, you know like Lofton and Osamni at St. Bona - of all places!!!  

PistolPete wrote:

And further, Ritters point about guard play is valid - look at the other guards in this league and then look at what our guards do.  I don't know, but I haven't seen any type of game changing player recruited by KD, you know like Lofton and Osamni at St. Bona - of all places!!!  

Carry was up and down last year. He lacks consistency. This year so far, he really has been down.I expect him to pick up his game. He more than held his own against Lofton last year. When he plays his best he is a terrific talent

I think the Dukes should be very happy that their games bs Saint Louis and Richmond were postponed. We likely would be 1-4 in conference right now. Still have tome to turn this disaster of a season around.

Phil I think you make a very valid point.  I would bet that not many of the fat ass old fans on this board have experienced Covid, including myself.  Not to mention the isolation these student athletes have experienced..   What I saw was a very tired, mentally worn down team in that second half. The spirit was willing, but the body could not respond.  At this point Harper's decision to give up our home game against GW and play 3 games in 4 days with a team coming off Covid seems to be a very bad one.  I believe the worst days are behind this team and the players (if the coaches do not let them get down on themselves) will get stronger and better.  However, I am not that positive about the coaching.  Sadly, I agree with your comments about Dambrot.  I would rank him among the bottom of the League's Coaches in game day coaching.  

DennisC91 wrote:

A disheartening performance for sure, I'm just not sure how much we can judge this team right now given the circumstances. A month-long layoff, Covid infecting most of the team (we don't really know how sick anyone got), then back-to-back games and three in four days. We win the first game handily against a subpar opponent despite not playing that great, then come out pretty flat in the second game, give up a 44-point first half, claw our way back in the second half then fail to salt the game away in the closing seconds. In the third game, we start strong, especially with our defensive coverage and intensity, then fall apart from late in the first half through the second half. Tough to maintain the defensive intensity when you're missing every shot and fatigued. Certainly lots of red flags, but I'd like to see us get into more of a regular season rhythm before I write this team off as hopelessly under-talented, unathletic or poorly coached.

One question I have from watching the game last night. The commentator at one point, I think early in the second half, criticized the Dukes' shot selection, said they were taking too many jump shots and not "pounding the ball inside." As this board has long called for the "pound it inside" strategy across the various Duquesne coaching regimes, I'm curious to know what you all thought of that. I saw a lot of out-of-control drives to the basket that led to wild, off-balance close-in shots that didn't have a prayer of going in. The perimeter game may not have been there, but the inside game wasn't there either. The play sheet has us at 6-for-19 on 2-point jumpers and 2-for-11 on layups to go with 6-for-21 on 3-pointers. Incidentally, a Marcus Weathers dunk at the 7:16 mark was the only 2-point bucket the Dukes made in the second half. That's pretty incredible. Considering how bad their attempts at going to the basket looked, I'm not sure the pound-it-inside strategy was the answer last night. Nothing was working, just a dreadful offensive performance all around.

Dennis91's point about the casual fan's lack of specific knowledge as to who was sick, how sick, how long, etc... is an important one when trying to judge what is going on with the conditioning/coaching. If even 2 or 3 key guys were moderately ill for a couple of weeks or if they are experiencing lingering effects, that would be a major contributor to some of the concerning play. This is doubly true when accounting for the 3 games in 4 days schedule.

I am quick to look at other programs that have had serious COVID struggles but are now fairing better than the Dukes & rushing to judgment. (SBU is a good example.) I resolve to take more of a wait & see attitude for a few more games.

One thing that sticks in my craw is that nobody thought after watching the first GW game that there was an urgent, chronic conditioning problem. This makes me question the player's attitude & guts.

Hell, even Lamar's departure could have put folks in a bad place.

I think that one of the goals of this offensive system is to assertively send the ball inside to hunt efficient low-post attempts and then work the ball back out to shooters in motion if the desired low-post shots are not available. Last night's offensive stagnation & the excellent technique of the Davidson bigs blew up this concept & led to some hero ball shot selection & desperation drives to the basket.