I am passionate about the Dukes as are all the people on this board but they need to get 3500 folks in those seats
each game to make this fieldhouse project be a success and improve the perception that Duquesne is moving in a
positive direction.

Virtually no social media coverage of open house scrimmages with men and women last Thursday.   

I heard a rumor (unconfirmed) they don’t have enough people for a pep band.   

We all know the more things change the more they stay the same.   It should not come as any great shock to any one.

You go to Daytons arena and you get a sense of their glorious history.Not so at at the Coop.No pictures
of the 55 NIT team,Norm Nixon,the sweet 16 team from the 68-69 team. Nothing.

A83 wrote:

Virtually no social media coverage of open house scrimmages with men and women last Thursday.   

I heard a rumor (unconfirmed) they don’t have enough people for a pep band.   

We all know the more things change the more they stay the same.   It should not come as any great shock to any one.

I went to the scrimmage and walked up the club level(not the suite level) to buy a beer. I was kicked out by Bryan Colonna because he said they were trying to simulate game day operations and no non-club level people were permitted.  I actually split tickets with people but he doesn't know that so he wanted to be rude. He and I got into it outside the club level.  It was perhaps the most disappointed I've ever been in Duquesne. Mr. Colonna was very rude but it won't stop me from being supportive of the team and Coach Dambrot. 

There were 75 people...maybe...in attendance at the arena.  I actually invited someone who wanted to buy tickets.

Last edited by WEB (10/26/2021 12:44 pm)

I make no excuses for the DU media people but the school is down
over 900 students from 2019 to 2021 according to the Trib.
That equals millions in loss income.
That could have something to do with what happened at the scrimmage.
Colonna could have taken a big pay 

It's such an easy fix too.  This is a University with thousands of students more versed in Social media and creating online content than a lot of people they could/would hire?!?  Just create an intern position with total access to the team and let them run with it.  My 14 year old daughter could do it it well.  Imagine what a student, interested in online marketing, with access could do.  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube - daily content with minimal effort and no cost to the school.  The players would have fun with it because it would be another student running it and the fans would have the access they crave.  What is the disconnect here?

In approximately Two weeks, Duquesne is playing its season opener  in their new facility without restrictions. I don’t care what they have to do, including giving out tickets on a PAT bus, but the media and athletic department should be working hard on getting a full house. Heck, give out tickets to the Catholic Schools in the area. But if this game doesn’t have just about every seat filled it’s on them.
Go Dukes!!

I bought 2 tickets mid court 1week ago.Before I called I figured on getting tickets in  red seats upper tier.Same old Duquesne?I guess so.

The students, the students.  The AD should take matters in hand, as was just done at UCLA for football.  Give away a damn car, a free tuition,  a date with Brittany Spears.  Forget that last bit. Do something though.  Be proactive.

I'm with Mike, but let's not forget that this is a perennial loser. What results are there to entice new fans? last year was an anomaly. Sincere Carry was a back breaker. Who wants to come other than the diehards that are commenting on this board? Plus we are still doing with the COVID issues. You gotta win to get people to come plain n simple

Vickroy/Dough… you are correct… the attendance over the years has been terrible because the Dukes have been terrible. I have echoed your words often. But with that said, we do have a “new” facility at the beginning of a “new” year with numerous new players. We don’t know how they will do. The University President and AD are competent and caring. The same with the coach. Something that has not improved, but is within their realm, is the athletic/ media department as a whole. Hey, if we lose the majority of our first five games I don’t blame folks for saying Same old Duquesne. But we have an opportunity to begin a new era and yes time will tell. But for this first game… they need to get folks in those seats. Thanks for posting and I really don’t know if I know any of the other posters… we just all care about the same thing. Again, Please keep posting. Go Dukes!

Duques102 wrote:

I guess my feelings on this will go a little against the grain as to what seems to be the consensus feeling regarding marketing/promotion of the basketball program.

Do we have an A1 marketing and promotions team as it relates to coverage of the day-to-day operations? No. Did we hire a coach with a resume and a bigger name and pay him big time money? Yes. Did the school invest $45mm+ to make Palumbo light years better than it previously was and now an advantage as it relates to recruiting and visibility of the program both within the conference and beyond? Yes. Do we have a more than competent AD in place who has made a lot of this happen in conjunction with a University president who sees the value successful athletics programs can bring to the other areas of the university? Absolutely yes. To me, at this point everything is in place for this program to be successful, for the first time since I got to Duquesne.

With that being the case what are we really talking about? Twitter videos and redundant articles about practice? How can you continue to write and come up with new content about guys we have never seen play or play together? I also don’t understand the feeling of entitlement that this program SHOULD be covered. There is a hell of alot going on in the Pittsburgh sports world at the moment, including Pitt having the first relevant season in a decade with a QB that is a legit Heisman candidate. Regardless of the Steelers performance on the field, everything going on with the team on and off the field has resulted in the Steelers being discussed probably more than ever in the local media. Outside of our bubble, we are viewed as having been irrelevant for 35+ years. The hype will come when the team really starts performing.

Overall point is winning and results on the court are now going to be the catalyst to get us from where we are to where we want to be. I truly believe we will have full attendance, full student participation, and full pep band participation when the team gets on a meaningful run (and certainly could be this year). We have all seen momentum build during pockets of seasons over the years. I think about winning streaks during TJ’s freshman season and the recent unbeaten streak. We were being discussed on Sportscenter as one of the last unbeatens and we were receiving AP votes for crying out loud. Attendance was also much better during periods of on the court success and media coverage was robust.

As most of us saw, it always seems as if when that momentum would start to build, we would fall off and be written off as “the same old Duquesne”. Last seasons roster regression and .500 results probably had a similar effect on some of the momentum Dambrot had undoubtedly built over his first couple seasons under way less than ideal circumstances regarding home facilities.

I really do think everything is in place from an infrastructure and coaching perspective for the program. I am hopeful and encouraged about the roster and what they could do, but we still need to see something on the court to really know what we have. No Twitter video or practice article is going to tell us that anyway. I think we know about as much as we can about the new guys. The rest will play out this fall.

People will be interested in attending games and consuming content on the team when they are successful. The interest will surely bring about the media coverage when it is warranted. Not long until there will be plenty to see and talk about related to Duquesne Basketball! I’m proud of the massive strides the program has made over the past 5 years and can’t wait to see what the season holds!

Very well put. Couldn't agree more with this post.