A83 wrote:

Ironduke81 wrote:

CLK wrote:

Really A83, you are happy of about this loss and your gadfly prediction?  
 

 
Hey CLK I opened a betting account on Fan Duel I'm down 1win 2 loses. Why because every game you predict a 20 point win😂👍 I do agree with your A83 comment. Very disturbing if indeed you are a Duquesne fan.

Yep I’m the problem.   I do the coaching and recruiting.   I run the camera that people complain about.   I’m the color announcer that people don’t like.   I ordered the mini basketballs that didn’t show up for the season opener.   It’s me.

My sincere apologies again.

 
A83 if they can't whip up on North Eastern I would agree "Houston We have Problem". Until then keep moving forward& look for the bright spots. After all we have been watching this disaster for 40 years. I am at this stage numb to the failures at the bluff. I do like this team. Last years team was an embarrassment to the University  with all the technicals, whining & Complaining.

Jackie Johnson sensational but everybody else looked ordinary.This looks like a difficult year for the Dukes.
Its difficult to watch because the talent isnt good enough and you keep hoping and hoping for something better and you think back to all the buffoonery by the administration over the years.Its a never ending
nightmare for those who remember better days.,playing Villanova and beating them.

A lot of the problems seem to stem from lack of chemistry, players not playing together and getting to know each other's moves, an issue I raised as one of my doubts about this mass exodus of players every year, and I was routinely put down for being so negative, but oh well.
Hey, they lost by three points to a team who is ranked a bit higher and was slightly favored. This isn't like our usual "Oh My God, we lost to NJIT or some Ivy League School ranked in the 200s or 300s".
People have complained about our usual patty cake OOC, so they made it tougher. Now the team has to work even harder!
 

Last edited by Tejas_Duke (11/15/2021 11:08 pm)

Coach postgame:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D91g6g238

Tejas_Duke wrote:

A lot of the problems seem to stem from lack of chemistry, players not playing together and getting to know each other's moves, an issue I raised as one of my doubts about this mass exodus of players every year, and I was routinely put down for being so negative, but oh well.
Hey, they lost by three points to a team who is ranked a bit higher and was slightly favored. This isn't like our usual "Oh My God, we lost to NJIT or some Ivy League School ranked in the 200s or 300s".
People have complained about our usual patty cake OOC, so they made it tougher. Now the team has to work even harder!
 

Exactly, and also agree with Duq102 and FAM. If Dukes had made 2 more shots we'd be talking about having crushed them on the boards and JJ and Okani coming alive.  I won't dispute any of the comments on the offensive sets, but we have the 5th least returning minutes from last season.  It's a tough OOC schedule and it was never going to be easy replacing Hughes and Weathers.  Give it time. Go Dukes

Ironduke81 wrote:

A83 wrote:

Ironduke81 wrote:

 
Hey CLK I opened a betting account on Fan Duel I'm down 1win 2 loses. Why because every game you predict a 20 point win😂👍 I do agree with your A83 comment. Very disturbing if indeed you are a Duquesne fan.

Yep I’m the problem. I do the coaching and recruiting. I run the camera that people complain about. I’m the color announcer that people don’t like. I ordered the mini basketballs that didn’t show up for the season opener. It’s me.

My sincere apologies again.

 
A83 if they can't whip up on North Eastern I would agree "Houston We have Problem". Until then keep moving forward& look for the bright spots. After all we have been watching this disaster for 40 years. I am at this stage numb to the failures at the bluff. I do like this team. Last years team was an embarrassment to the University with all the technicals, whining & Complaining.

I am not sure why everyone thinks Northeastern is some type of push-over.  They were picked 2nd in the same league which has Hofstra at 5th.  They have had a rough start but played 2 teams expected to be competing for first place in their respective leagues.  Sadly, I don't think Vegas will even have us favored. 

Wildwood13 wrote:

The coaching was horrible !!!!! There are no offensive sets, it is all one on one moves.  Unfortunately Duquesne really doesn’t recruit that type of ball player nor should we expect it. The offensive stands around and just watches the person who has the ball. The few high screens they try to set are ridiculously executed. On setting them and coming off of them. No set plays after timeouts. His usage of timeouts borderline on idiotic. Mcknees had to tell him to get Jackie Johnson in the game. If Johnson doesn’t go off tonight we lose by 20 points. Weber State is not that good of a team, their bigs missed several layups and the guards shot plenty of air balls. I can only take one positive out of this game and they played solid defense in the first half. The second half the defense was fair at best, giving up 40 points in a close game on their home court. The reason why their three point shooting percentage is so bad is because the ball and player movement is unacceptable. Not to mention no ball screens  or off the ball back screens. 

I am aware there are a lot of Dambrot supporters on this board. I am one that has not been a big fan of his since he came to town. But this guy has been given everything imaginable from the administration, from a million dollar salary, to his high paid assistants, to a newly renovated field house, to a psychologist to turn their heads into winners, a brand person, new logos and D and the easiest non conference schedule to make it appear that they are good to sell all of the above. I know it’s only three games, but this is year 5 with a whole new team. The students came out, but they will disappear shortly. By year five the coach should have been ready for the opening of the renovated gymnasium with guns a blazing. 

I think you nailed it.

There was lot to digest from that game last night.  First off, Jackie Johnson was amazing and  almost single-handedly pulled out a win for the Dukes.  He is an electric talent, and will get better.  There are a couple of challenges with Jackie's game.  Obviously, a team that played very big at guard like Weber, makes it hard for him to match -up on defense; thus the offense-defense substitutions that cost a few timeouts.  The coaches also need to find a way for Jackie to be able to play freely and score, but keep the other four players involved.  I think it hurt them down the stretch that they spent too much time watching Jackie and not enough time reacting to his offensive play.  and getting involved.  He will learn that not every drive to the hoop must result in him taking it all the way to the rim.  When he beats his man but they help with other defenders, he will be able to find the open man.  I don't have a big problem as some may have with his long-range bombs as long as the percentages justify them; but the team needs to be able to score in the low blocks as well.  So far that has been lacking. 
 
The defense as some have commented was good in the first half; but the Weber coach Randy Rahe did a nice job attacking our defense with hard drives to the basket in the 2nd half and the defense didn't hold up.  Guys were out of position resulting in reaching and a lot of fouls.  The disparity in fouls in the second-half had a huge impact on the outcome as Duquesne was in the double-bonus with around eight minutes left.  Many of the fouls were legitimate, but as usual some were questionable.  I don't think the defense ever re-grouped and found it's footing again in the second-half, and that needs to happen when a team finds a weakness and exploits it after halftime.  There has to be an adjustment to counteract the offense.  I thought Weber used their physicality advantage more in the second-half and the Dukes just didn't respond.  
Primo came up against a very good and mature guard in Koby McEwan a well-traveled guard from Toronto via Marquette and Utah St. I think it got into Primo's head a bit and instead of reacting to the challenge it seemed he just became passive.  Hopefully, he will react differently the next time he runs into another talented guard like McEwan.  
The turnovers by Duquesne were crippling, especially when the game was in the balance.  Weber did play a little tougher on defense in the 2nd half, but I wouldn't call it an extremely aggressing defense compared to some the Dukes will face in the A-10; so 20 turnovers was a staggering number against this opponent. I think Weber was a well-coached team that never lost their poise even when they fell behind late in the first half.  The Dukes were in a position to open up a much larger lead that 9 points before the half but missed foul shots and missed opportunities prevented the lead from swelling to maybe 13-15 at the half.  Good teams learn how to start and close-out halves and the Dukes need to get much better doing both.  
 

Does DU buy back tickets?  New building is nice, but I dont want to watch that product.   Exciting as JJ and Primo are, there is too much garbage on the floor.

Gotta figure they are on vacation now, jerking around, taking selfies, chasing dames, acting like 5 year olds, I'm jealous, but what will happen?   Maybe being away from home helps them bond.   Good teams usually do, so I expect nothing.

Larson and Mike B played a combined 28 minutes, had 1 missed shot.   We lost by 4.   Rationing minutes in game 3 is pathetic.

A83, I am on your side.   :-)))

kcc173 wrote:

A83 - you totally fly in the face of what a fan is.  You are what is known as a front runner.  Don’t bore us with how much money you have “thrown away” and how many years you have done so.  There are a lot of frustrated people on the board who are justifiably unhappy with the first three games.  They vent and vent and then end it with “go dukes!”.  Many of them have stuck with Duquesne for a good portion of their life - 55 years in my case and many with more than that.  Sports is fun, exhilarating, entertaining and a test of loyalty while at the same time disappointing, frustrating, and trying on our patience.  We all go through all of that.  Duquesne has treated me to a lot of enjoyment whether on a court, football field, or whatever.  I don’t ask anyone to not be critical as I was ready to throw things at the TV myself.  But in the end I am a Duke.  Period.

Thanks.  I hope to do better in the future.  GO DUKES!!!

There are positives to be seen but I couldn’t agree more with the excess minutes given to Bejelka and Larson. Hard to play effective offense when 2-3 players on the court offer absolutely no threat. Dambrot’s overemphasizes man to man defense to the point of restricting his offense. His failure to even consider a zone has been costly in the last two games. Your team is being shred by drives to the hoop that have teams shooting very high percentages (55% overall and 57% from 2). EVERY coach is bending on playing some zone.

Allowing Johnson and Spears to basically play one on one basketball in the second half shut down the participation by the others on the court. Johnson is a product of  the “basketball academies” that feature lots of individual play and shoot at will. Is he a talent, sure but can he be turned into a team player? That remains to be seen. In 24 minutes of playing time he had “0” assists. The team had 20 turnovers and 9 assists. Not good basketball.

Last edited by The Dome (11/16/2021 11:32 am)

How do you compare Jackie Johnson to Willie Somerset.?Never saw Somerset only in pictures ,both
very muscular and Johnson plays with a attitude,not afraid of the moment,like his mindset.Both could shoot the rock.///????????

Well, Keith did warn us in one of the season preview stories that things might be ugly in the early going and he's citing chemistry and being not really sure what he's got as the main issues that have cost them two very winnable games. But man, 19 points from the starting five? That's incredible. I wonder when the last time Duquesne got such little production from its starters? Roster completely overhauled but the ugly offense we saw for most of last year remains. 

I thought Jackie Johnson was all in all pretty awesome and I'm disappointed to see the criticism of him on this board after his 27-point performance failed to bail the team out of its doldrums. He was the only one with a pulse on offense. Oh sure, it would be great if he was creating offense for his teammates instead of beating defenders to the rim for layups and making 25-30-foot 3-pointers, but is there a player on this roster who's doing that? Is there one capable of doing that? So is that chemistry, coaching or the reality that we're Duquesne and we can only get players who are talented but not especially complete or multi-dimensional in their games? The rest has to come from coaching and development. And when that happens, the player can just bail on the program whenever it suits him and seek his fortunes elsewhere, won't even have to sit out a year. So yeah, I kind of understand the frustration level right now. Those of you saying you can't fix a 40-year problem in five years, great, but please understand this program reboot cycle may be more feature than bug going forward.

The upcoming tournament will hopefully help with the obvious chemistry issues. Afraid I don't have too much else to go on right now.