So, you don't want to hear about covid? How so? That's the main issue here, isn't it? It would be incorrect to say all teams are living through this, assuming you essentially mean they've all been affected by it. I would respectfully disagree that all teams have NOT been affected. In fact, the majority of teams have not been paused, therefore, those players are in tip-top shape. The issue here is this Duquesne team is a shell of what it's supposed to be. The players are nowhere near in game shape. That was evident last night, thus leading to many of the problems you point out. Call it an excuse, because it is. But it's a very valid one. If you can't breathe properly, how can you run up and down the floor for 40 minutes with a team that has no similar issues. No offense intended on this post, but this team went an entire month without the benefit of even practicing at times. Almost every player on the roster was inflicted. The mess they're in didn't happen overnight, so I don't see it getting better any quicker.

While I agree with most of your thoughts Wildwood, I have to disagree on two. First of all, the scheduling wasn't the reason for our improved record. We've always played a bunch of cupcakes, but we used to lose a fair share of them. I also think that philosophy has changed. At this point we are trying to bring in better teams, it's just not easy as a team that has been in the dumps for 40 years. Second, I think the defense has been good. I would still like it to be better, especially for a coach who prides himself on his team's defense as you point out. If you look at pretty much any metric the Dukes' defense has been good since Dambrot arrived though . Even last night we held Davidson to 10 points below their season average, an average put up against pretty good competition too. 

As for the great Covid debate, every team has had to deal with isolation. Every team has had to deal with testing. Not every team missed a month of practice. It won't be a valid excuse all season long, but at this point I think it still is. We're 11 days out from having an extended layoff, that's not even halfway through a normal training camp.

We should be better than we have been, and Saturday will tell us a lot. We know what we have in the veterans, and the youngsters have been better than expected. I think we have the players in place. We just need to gel and get our legs back under us. Unfortunately at this point it pretty much is win the tournament or bust. I think we can.

Wildwood you raise some good points, especially about player retention.  Now that being said I would argue the first 2 years of the recruiting cycle you are going to take more risks than normal to see if you can catch lighting in a bottle so to speak with a given recruiting risk/player.  That however doesn't apply to the transfers that KD brought with him as he knew, or should have known, what he had there and you are right this is now his team 100%.  I am a bit calmer now and am willing to see what happens the next couple of weeks.  More practices and a Fordham game Saturday should help, even though they just beat the Flyers, and then the schedule gets tougher - we'll see.  I would also say I have seen players get better, particularly Marcus and somewhat Kelly (pre-injury) and Hughes when he stays out of foul trouble.  SC just hasn't been consistent enough and I think the verdict is still out on Maceo given the family tragedy last year coupled with the fact that we haven't played enough this year to make a fair assessment of Mace and the team overall if we are being honest.  I agree with whoever said on the other thread today to just play Maceo at the 2 for a few games and let's see what he can do.  TDM is better off the bench and I do still believe Murph should continue to get more minutes.  So my proposition is let's see where we are by the end of the month and at that point if we haven't had any games cancelled and we've been able to practice consistently then we can make a fair and unemotional (LOL as I know I am a big offender of letting my emotions get the best of me) evaluation of where this team is. Pistol out!!!

Wildwood13 wrote:

Luckymcd, regarding the out of conference schedule; it has been considerably easier. I will list games in OOC, their Ken Prom year end rating and list rivalry games and top two opponents as well as OOC record.  In Ferry’s last two years, he played Penn State (140) Pitt (37) Robert Morris (303) and Ga Tech (51) going 11-5 OOC and the following year Penn State (87) Pitt (79) Robert Morris (266) and Kentucky (4) going 7-7. In Dambrots first year Pitt (227) Robert Morris (266) San Fran (158) Lamar (203) going 9-5. The following year Penn State (43) Pitt (97) Notre Dame (101) going 9-5. And last year, no rivalry games and the two best teams were Marshall (143) who we lost to by 22 points  and Radford (186) and going 10-2. You make the call

Indiana St. was the best team we played ooc they were 105.
 

Wildwood13 wrote:

I did overlook Indiana St, but they finished the year at 122. Hope you are on the mend Duq 81.

Are you using the official ranking, which is NET, or kenpom?