The '07-'08 team was definitely the most talented team we had in my era as a fan. Yet it was the following year's team--after James and Mensah moved on and Achara, Jackson and Tucker graduated--that was the most successful Dukes team I ever saw.

Don't look now but Kellen Taylor's in the transfer portal as well. 

My man KT and rooting for him wherever he goes! Pretty good receiver for Duquesne but I doubt that he will get a futures contract with an NFL team but I wish him well! I think he could help a lower level D1 team for a year with the right fit!

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

My man KT and rooting for him wherever he goes! Pretty good receiver for Duquesne but I doubt that he will get a futures contract with an NFL team but I wish him well! I think he could help a lower level D1 team for a year with the right fit!

He is quite the athlete.  He started all 16 games for Albany (American East) conference this past year, averaging 32 minutes a game.  9.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG which led the team.  I think there may be a few schools that would be attracted to his experience and skill set. 
 

Thanks for sharing Phoenix and Levon and I hope I'm wrong about futures contract for KT. I know originally he was thinking that way too but I had no idea about his Albany hoops numbers and maybe he will get a look based upon athleticism alone with more good hoops numbers!

Econ69 wrote:

I wonder my KT choose basketball.
With his size and athletic ability, he could have
developed into a tight end and a shot at the NFL.

He had an extra year of eligibility available for basketball and chose to go to Albany as a grad transfer, why not get a grad degree for playing a sport you enjoy. Now he's getting an extra year of eligibility just because he played this year and every player gets one. Now that's some college career.
 

WashPaRick wrote:

Fats Russell in the portal.

Along with A10 ROY from GMU, Kolek

Given that there are 4 A-10 teams in the 16 Team NIT Field (St. Louis, Dayton, Davidson and Richmond) Perhaps the ONLY reason that THEY haven't had any listings in the Portal is THAT.

When players like Russell and Kolak pop up it becomes MORE Obvious (as was the case with Carry and Norman)  Playing time doesn't seem to matter any more or is NOT a 100% reliable indicator of who might be leaving.  Certainly NO shortage of minutes played for some of the early Pitt departures (Toney & Xavier)

For THAT reason - I'd like for Mike and Marcus to return - glad TDM came back without trying to figure out if a player might leave because someone else returned and THAT might affect his playing time.  Could be a whole other reason for a departure

Last edited by SkepticAl (3/17/2021 10:46 pm)

Jackdoc13 wrote:

duq81 wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

Not being argumentative or disagreeable, but I have a few different thoughts from you and duq81 on the topic.
1. I think you have to give guys a couple years under the best circumstances to develop. This was a really crappy year for the Dukes: multiple COVID stops, two starters leave mid-year, etc. Rick Suder would've never been thought of as a "proven scorer" after his freshman year, and he turned out to be one of the best shooters in DU history.
2. Coach threw four freshmen into the fire and I think they all showed they're going to be players. Chad Baker was close to 10 ppg on a senior-dominated team and shot 40% from 3 and 80% from the line. When the season starts, other teams will be keying on him because they will think of him as a proven scorer. I think Okani, Acuff and Harris will all bring their games up a notch, especially if we give them a good PG and a post player who can fill the middle defensively the way Michael Hughes has.
3. Pipkins-Price-Bosnic-Price was a talented quartet, but not much behind them and they certainly didn't win many as a team.
4. Rice's second year (Moon-Atkins-Arnold-BB-Dixon). Talk about a guy not being "proven:" Fred Moon was a 5th year player who had done nothing for four years then stepped up and shot 60% from the field and gave us some rebounding. But Moon didn't do a lot of scoring. That all came from BB (15ppg), Arnold (15ppg) and Atkins (10ppg, whose season was slowed down by a bout of mono. BB and Bruce both lost about 5 ppg off their averages from the previous year. Losing John Moore that year to injury was also a killer. 

 

The guys we have may turn out great, but we knew how loaded that 79-80 team was from the door, The collapse after starting 10-1 was just horrible. That 2007-08 team had enough talent to dance as well. Shawn James, Kieron, AJax, Bill Clark, Damian Saunders, Gary Tucker, Reggie Jackson. That's easily the best roster since the second Rice team, maybe since 1970-71.

How do you think the 2010-11 team stacks up in this convo? I was a student 07-11 and always felt that team was the best. Bill Clark and Saunders with full experience, TJ McConnell a freshman with NBA talent becoming noticeable, and BJ Monterio and Sean Johnson solid contributors. Hated that late season collapse, always felt they should have gone dancing, finished ranked 55 on Kenpom

That was year two for me, saw that team destroy a top 20 ranked temple in the Palumbo and I was hooked. No doubt the conference was stronger top to bottom back then. Not that it’s bad now but you have what are now upper half big East teams in the conference at that point.

Loved watching Bill Clark, that dude was smooth.

levon1975 wrote:

Jackdoc13 wrote:

duq81 wrote:

The guys we have may turn out great, but we knew how loaded that 79-80 team was from the door, The collapse after starting 10-1 was just horrible. That 2007-08 team had enough talent to dance as well. Shawn James, Kieron, AJax, Bill Clark, Damian Saunders, Gary Tucker, Reggie Jackson. That's easily the best roster since the second Rice team, maybe since 1970-71.

How do you think the 2010-11 team stacks up in this convo? I was a student 07-11 and always felt that team was the best. Bill Clark and Saunders with full experience, TJ McConnell a freshman with NBA talent becoming noticeable, and BJ Monterio and Sean Johnson solid contributors. Hated that late season collapse, always felt they should have gone dancing, finished ranked 55 on Kenpom

Jackdoc on the Rice Team with BB, Bruce and Doug they also had 7'0 freshman Ricky Tunstall who was a house and played ahead of Freddie Moon who was very thin.  I saw them cruise past a solid Villanova team at the Palestra that year, even without Bruce, who got tossed for an elbow about two minutes into the game.  That team was LOADED and had more talent than any team that we saw at Duquesne since the 80's with Ron's early teams also very talented and the only group that could challenge the Rice team.  

I do believe Basketball weekly had that team in the top 25 for a week. Then they sort of semi-collapsed. Arnold got kicked out or left. That may have been the year BB got hung in effigy at WVU. Atkins had some big time battles with Sam Clancy

1111 Vickroy wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

Jackdoc13 wrote:

How do you think the 2010-11 team stacks up in this convo? I was a student 07-11 and always felt that team was the best. Bill Clark and Saunders with full experience, TJ McConnell a freshman with NBA talent becoming noticeable, and BJ Monterio and Sean Johnson solid contributors. Hated that late season collapse, always felt they should have gone dancing, finished ranked 55 on Kenpom

Jackdoc on the Rice Team with BB, Bruce and Doug they also had 7'0 freshman Ricky Tunstall who was a house and played ahead of Freddie Moon who was very thin.  I saw them cruise past a solid Villanova team at the Palestra that year, even without Bruce, who got tossed for an elbow about two minutes into the game.  That team was LOADED and had more talent than any team that we saw at Duquesne since the 80's with Ron's early teams also very talented and the only group that could challenge the Rice team.  

I do believe Basketball weekly had that team in the top 25 for a week. Then they sort of semi-collapsed. Arnold got kicked out or left. That may have been the year BB got hung in effigy at WVU. Atkins had some big time battles with Sam Clancy

Yes to all of that, and for levon, Tunstall was not the starter. Moon was.

Pretty sure he was part of what would have been ferry’s last class. Athletic 6’8” wing that can shoot and defend, single handedly dominating this game. 6 pts 3 rebs and 1 ast halfway through the first.

Michael Weathers has an out of the ordinary stat line for a 6' 3" PG. His overall FG% is quite good & he is a good FT shooter on 5+ attempts per game but, his 3pt shooting is poor on low volume. His averages for blocks & rebounds are strong for his stature & position. His assist numbers are pretty good but that is offset by a poor A/TO ratio. Are the turnovers are a bit easier to swallow given his heavy minutes load & 2.2  steals per game?

I don't have any reason to believe that he & his brother are going to team-up on The Bluff next season but, if they do, I'm not sure how many of the team's current needs would be met by Michael.  I suppose a proven scorer whose presence guarantees the return of this season's most productive player is definitely a worthwhile risk.