FAM wrote:

This is probably going to sound negative; maybe it is negative.  I am a season tix holder and we all got info on an event Monday night in which we can watch a practice (sounds ok).  In that we get a used jersey (sorry, unless it is Norm NIxons I don't want one).  We got information on Flash prizes (if we are signed up) and some other things.  Because of the terrible season last year and looks like we are picked last again this year I just don't feel like going.  I gather that many others don't either.  I doubt if there would be 200 people there.  I still paid for my tix but just can't get excited about another losing season.  Need counseling Bball help!!!!

Who cares where we got picked? St. Joe's was picked to win last year, did they? When Pitt had their breakthrough year back in 2002, they were expected to finish in the bottom half of the BE. Instead, they won 29 games. Not saying that we'll do that, but we do have some peices now. Keep your chin up.

Relax and enjoy - I'm going and I'm looking forward to seeing what the new guys look like, to hear what Ferry has to say and to listen to questions from old alums like me whose only interest is in beating Pitt. 

By the way I don't think the jerseys are free.

Send me the jersey. I'll send you my address and the cost of postage.

xlopjoe wrote:

Ferry had a pretty nice recruiting class. I can't help but think that they'll be vastly improved over last year's team. Yeah, they're young but the talent level went up a notch or so between March and now.

I also like that the new players are not all freshmen. There is talent in every class now. That's important if you want to sustain success. Plugging in a bunch of freshmen, and letting them start for four years may give you a pretty good team when they're seniors, but having five seniors starting usually results in the coach jumping ship after the season, and the program cratering. This happened to Drake a few years back.

I posted my version of what I saw at practive tonight on the yuku board.  For some reason I can't cut and paste it to this board.  Electronically challenged!  Anyway, the night was very much worthwhile.  Gill, Robinson and Watkins sat out in sweats because of "minor" injuries-told there was absolutely nothing to fret about.  Dominique McKoy opened eyes wide.  He is a legitimate 4 to couple with Soko and whovever else Ferry may want to use with three bigs.  Starters were, White, Colter, McKoy, Soko and Jeremiah Jones.  Second team was Lewis, Mason, Fochia, Ridenouer and Jerry Jones.  Drills and scrimmage wre spirited.  The team is faster, bigger and stronger at all positions and in all phases.  6'9, 6'8 and 6'7 1/2 sat out this practice and from what I saw in the summer there is no dobut those three will represent 60 minutes of game time at the 3, 4 and 5 spots.  The Dukes will be that deep.  Food was very good.  Jimmy John subs and Duquesne Light and wine plus soda served.  Old game uniform shirts, pants and warmups from past years were sold.  I bought two game warm-ups @$25.  It was what I expected and more.  I was satisfied watching a practice as practice usually happens.  No glitz.  No newspapers. No cameras.  Just hard working kids. As I closed in the other blog, there is light at the end of the Duquesne tunnel and it isn't an oncoming train.!!!

Last edited by grammudder (10/14/2013 8:30 pm)

First I want to thank Grammy for his comments. I appreciate your first hand account.

I received an e-mail from a good friend who attended Monday night's event and had a different view of the event.  He is a long time season ticket holder.  I asked him if I could post parts of his private e-mail to and he agreed, recognizing that some may not agree.  So below in no particular order are his comments.

First of all a very lame event – Duquesne PR does not create any excitement. Our illustrious AD was on the floor in the corner for about 10 minutes, never came up to the crowd to shake hands or talk to people and thank people.   Amodio not once came up to the crowd – what is wrong with shaking people’s hands and thanking them for their support as season ticket holders. He is afraid to face the public. There might have been 100 to 125 people there, but there still was a lot of tickets not being picked up. The old man were watching practice and their wives were in the President suite eating food.

Now about the practice – yes disappointing to see 6-9, 6-8 and 6-6 kid in sweats. We talked about this before and I hope not, but I am beginning to think Watkins will be a bust. From Coach Ferry he is the most injured. Yes, the team has better ball handlers this year and should be a better shooting team. White was 4 for 5 from the three range and the Jones’ boys and Mason where nailing 3’s also. This team will live and die by the 3’s. I was impressed with Mason, his overall basketball IQ and the ability for Ridenouer to penetrate, but was unable to finish.

Now the problem, still a very small team with two 5-10 guards and a 6-3 wing man. They played a 2-3 zone with the two small guards out front and walk on like Nick Fochia is drilling the 3’s. Good teams are going to exploit the 3’s with the small guards and small wing man in Indiana Jones.

Ovie had a taped wrist and was okay, but people were raving about him being an All A-10 team member. I did not see that Monday night, again it is early. Ovie and McKoy were chucking up 3’s reminiscent of Damian which I did not like. Here is the big disagreement – McKoy did not show me much and is not a true physical four man. He was going up against a 6-4 walk-on who was getting just as many rebounds as McKoy. One thing I will agree on is both Coach Ferry and Coach Nash were on his butt, play hard attack the rim, on the break go straight to the rim. Ovie will be okay this year, but it is one and done. I think McCoy will struggle in A-10 play this year, but will be okay next year, but again one and done.

Ridenhouer took Colter to the hole all night. Colter’s on ball defense has not improved. Colter did run the team without taking many shots, we will see what happens comes game time.

Jerry Jones who I believe is a key this year and probably our best defender will be the odd man out and follow in Sean Johnson’s footsteps. I would like to see us start both Jones’ with White, but that will never happen. You could play a 1-3-1 with Jerry Jones on the top and White running the baseline. It is early and the non-conference schedule is easy, besides Pitt, WVU, Penn State and RMU, so we will see, but could be a very long year again. He definitely has to get Robinson and Gill back. Lewis as we know is definitely a project – jerry Jones drove to the hoop and dished a perfect pass to Lewis for a dunk and he could not catch it. He did block Ovie at the rim once. 

It was pretty lame again and besides more ball handlers and shooting I didn’t see much. It is early and I remember Aaron’s senior year watching the red and blue scrimmage and saying it could be a long season and your brother said they would win 17 games and they won more than 17 games. Ferry said at the end Monday, now we can play my game up-tempo and dictate tempo. I am saying to myself, you have to rebound to get out on the break and you dictate tempo by pressuring the ball and giving up a few easy baskets for the opportunity to wear down other teams with less depth. Sitting back in a 2-3 zone is not going to dictate tempo.  Again very early.

Last edited by CLK (10/16/2013 11:47 am)

I'm sure everyone wanted to see all of the freshmen play, but illness and injuries intervened.  I think you are reading a bit too much into this event.  It was a very low key intrasquad scrimmage that meant little in terms of the progress of the team, or the individual players.  As a coach you just want to fulfill the obligation to the season ticket holders, and not get anyone hurt.  Since Ovie was already dinged up a bit, I doubt he could have been expected to put on a dunking show for the crowd. 

The zone is one of the defenses that must be taught along with the man, half-court traps, three-quarter press, and full court defense.  Every team should be familiar with playing zone, as you will not match up to everyone in your "man" defense.  This was not the time or the place to critically evaluate the team. 
Why not wait until they start keeping score, before we count these guys out?

I went to the Florida State version this past Saturday. They started by spotlighting the players as they were announced. They then had a 3 point contest with every player participating. A 12 minute scrimmage followed with what looked like the starters against the bench. Finished up with a dunking contest with local celebrities and their star freshman QB judging. It all lasted about an hour. Seemed to be a couple thousand in the building. Wouldn't mind seeing the Dukes do something like this. Crowd was into it.

Grammy, my friend was one of the 100 or so season ticket holders who still cared enough about the program (like you) to show up. His comments about Amodio was his observation (not expectation)about the man charged with the goal of increasing alumi support, who he saw did not even care enough to shake people’s hands and thank them for their support as season ticket holders. Most people who frequent this board know how I feel about Amodio, so I will not get into that now.  Perhaps I should not have posted that particular comment, but unless you saw something different I'll take it that it was an accurate observation.

With respect to the team, time will tell how these guys perform.  I have said this before, I expect to have a winning season (or close to a winning season).  All but Jerry Jones are coach Ferry recruits.  A losing season and a last place finish will be a major disappointment to me.
 

Last edited by CLK (10/16/2013 6:17 pm)

Mulder I do not think he was trying to be negative towards the team, but just giving me an honest assessment of what he saw.  I do not want to say too much about him, but trust me with his experience he knows basketball.  There were a mixture of good and bad things in what he saw, and he provided a different view than the other comments I read. That is why I asked if I could share his comments.  He did not get to see the summer league games, and therefore his comments are based only on what he saw at the practice.  Will Colter's on the ball defense prove to be an issue?  Will the us playing three small guards in a 2-3 zone be exploited?  Ron had some success with small quick guards but he used a pressing defense.  Not saying the switching defense was not exploited at times with miss matches, but still had winning seasons.  Will Robinson, Watkins & Gill provide some rebounding help and give us good minutes?  These are all legit questions, and hence his qualifying statement "it is very early".