You are right about that. Pitt looked like an NBA team in comparison to Duquesne.

Lots of work to do. I think Jim Ferry is the right guy to get it done.

Hard to win shooting 31%, missing 16 3 point attempts, being outrebounded 47-32, and only having 6 FT attempts.

I feel sorry for Dr. D. Hopefully the Dukes step up against PSU WVU & Bobby Mo if not rock bottom.

Simms wrote, I wish we didn't play any games at Consol, but I understand the Athletic depts. desire to do so.  I just think it eliminates our home court advantage.

Simms, you just wrote a letter to the Duke about the lack of attendance at the games and no college BB atmosphere, which I agree with, how is that an advantage? I wish all the games would be at the CEC if it brings thousands to the games.

I also would have to disagree with the WVU game being close. IMO RE has the keys to the safe. He knows the players that played under him, their strengths and weaknesses. He knows how to go after Marhold, Abele, Johnson, Jerry Jones, Kadeem and Torres. Its a nightmare waiting to happen. I don't think they will run the score up, I don't see Ron as one to do that to the players, but he will definately be in charge of scouting the Dukes and preparing WVU for this game. Heck Huggy may as well sit on the bench and let Ron be the head coach for this one.

I think Coach Fverry said it all in his interview (link below).  We don't want to hear it but Pitt is a very good team and we are not.  We knew this year was going to be a tuff year.  I think what we need to hope for is that this team can overachieve this year, learn from games like this, and our young players develop.  Ferry has a nice base in Colter, Indiana Jones (who I thought played with a lot of heart) and Winters. Ferry needs to continue to build on this by recruiting better players.  You can't have your starting center get one rebound.  If by his 3rd year we get butt kicked like this by Pitt we never will be competitive.  Let's regroup and get the next one for now.

http://www.goduquesne.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120512aaa.html

Jeralta wrote:

This series should be suspended. It serves no good use for us to be humiliated year after year and dupe good people out of their ticket money. Worse yet it gets televised nationally so all can see us score 1 point per minute.

Agreed.  As I said, I quit caring years ago.  This has become worse than a farce, its a humiliation.  Pull the plug!

Sorry I disagree with any thought of cancelling the City Game, more importantly there are 13,000 people who bought tickets that disagree.  I don't know if some of you guys realize this, but Duquesne was picked to finish last in the A10 for good reason.  Losing to a top 10 team (in my opinion Pitt will eventually be) by 21 should not be a shocker or a cause to jump off the bridge.  How would you feel if you were a St. Joe's fan picked to finish 1st in the A10 being blown out by Creighton 80 to 59?  Listen, there is no way to change past history.  If any one finds a way let me know because there are plenty of things I would like to erase in my life.  I was one that totally disagreed with firing Ron and was disdusted by the way it was handled but it is time to move on.  I hope Ferry is the right guy to get ust to the stated goal of competing for an A10 championship and getting us finally back to the NCAA Tourney.  But Rome was not built in a day.  The goal this year should be to get to the A10 Tourney as Coach Ferry has said.  If we can do that, and recruit another very good player in addition to Watkins it will give me more hope we are on the right path.

Agree completely. Let's get past the fact that this was Pitt that we lost to. This Pitt team may be one of the very best that Jamie Dixon has had. They seem to have just about everything to compete for a national title, though I am not predicting that. Too many outstanding teams out there. In spite of getting clobbered on the boards, if just a few more threes had dropped, while still a loss, the game would have been much closer. Come on, did any of us really believe that we had a chance in this one. Let's get every win that we can and watch for the improvement of the players individually and as a team this year. See you on Saturday @ Palumbo.

I dont want the series suspended. It is the only time most of Pittsburgh pays any attention to Duquesne. Any publicity is good publicity.

Scotchngars wrote:

Simms wrote, I wish we didn't play any games at Consol, but I understand the Athletic depts. desire to do so.  I just think it eliminates our home court advantage.

Simms, you just wrote a letter to the Duke about the lack of attendance at the games and no college BB atmosphere, which I agree with, how is that an advantage? I wish all the games would be at the CEC if it brings thousands to the games.

I also would have to disagree with the WVU game being close. IMO RE has the keys to the safe. He knows the players that played under him, their strengths and weaknesses. He knows how to go after Marhold, Abele, Johnson, Jerry Jones, Kadeem and Torres. Its a nightmare waiting to happen. I don't think they will run the score up, I don't see Ron as one to do that to the players, but he will definately be in charge of scouting the Dukes and preparing WVU for this game. Heck Huggy may as well sit on the bench and let Ron be the head coach for this one.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to imply.  Consol is great, but it allows the road team to bring in a considerable amount of fans to the game.  Also, The Consol doesn't have the acoustics to truly support a great home experience, especially with the upper dark sealed off.  In fact, our record at Consol is terrible.  We don't practice there.  It's not our true home.

I realize that AJ isn't nearly as fancy, but it can be absolutely deafening and insane when the crowd show up.  My greatest memory of college is easily the Pitt and Xavier games at Palumbo.  Sure, we lost the Palumbo game to Pitt, but the atmosphere was electric.  Likewise, I'd probably say that beating Xavier at Palumbo was my favorite college moment.  Palumbo is a lot nicer with the upgrades, and I think it's a shame that no one goes to the games there.  I wish the place seated around 5,500/6000, but we don't have the fanbase to support an expansion like that anyways. In truth, I almost consider the Consol a neutral court at times.

CLK wrote:

Ironduke81 wrote:

Duq81 you are spot on Ron was & is a horrible person. The current situation is ofcourse all HIS fault! Nothing left in the cupboard. Losing 40% season ticket holders. Media decline maybe third ranked team in the city. I just am not that bright of a fan! Yeah I get it move on but I remained amazed as to his so called friends & supporters dumping him like he is was responsible for every loss.I hope the coach & new staff well but please do we have to Everhart bash all year if this team hits a bump. Oh yeah CLK I agree but the way it was handled is not the Duquesne way that's the current disconnect. Only one guy can fix that much too arrogant or cowardice I guess we'll see. I'm done Complaining & moving on but please cut the blame game on Ron there is a lot of blame to go around with this program.

Ironduke81, I have to tell you I also grow weary of the "blame the most successful coach we had in 35 year at every turn" comments.  The truth is we do not know what this season would be like if Ron had been allowed to continue.  I received an e-mail from a friend, and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing a portion as I think it makes a great point in that regard.  See below:

This comparing recruiting classes is another joke. Colter would not start for 200 other teams in the country. He would not even start or receive valuable playing time at RMU. If he did not go to Duquesne he would have ended up in LIU conference. Indiana Jones is a good player, but like Ron’s players 6-3 and not a true point guard and not a great shooter, good basketball IQ and Que is a good player, but again at 6-5 is undersized. Donovan Jack messed up going to Penn State, he would fit in more with the Dukes running style of up and down and popping out to shoot 3’s, not the bang up Penn State style. Ron’s recruits went to big time programs Oregon a top 35 RPI and California a top 25 RPI program. The guard that went to Utah is a true point guard, Colter is not. He is too small and right now not strong enough, not a great shooter. Has tremendous speed and needs to use it to finish or pass off. When I compare him to Talley – neither can shoot, Colter can finish at the rim, but Talley is better ballhandler and much better on defense. The Clark Juco kid that went to Arkansas would have been a double/double player for the Dukes.

My friend's e-mail was not meant to bash Ferry's recruits.  He acknowledges that he did the best he could given his late hire.  He was just providing to me some realistic perspective.

I am ready to move on and support Ferry, I just wish other would let the healing begin.

Actually, your friend was providing some "wishful" perspective.  Of the recruits you listed, only two were coming to Duquesne.  The Utah point, the Arkansas Juco, and the Cal players were not signing.  The Dukes had just lost Talley and TJ, and the players mentioned in the articles were not even mentioned on Rivals as being pursued by Duquesne.  I find it particularly hard to believe that the three guys mentioned were going to magically sign out of nowhere.  I agree that Moore and Jack would've been good players, but if you want to compare recruiting classes, then let's look at the facts.  RE's class consists of Jack and Moore, not the others mentioned above.  We had absolutely no point guard.  Ferry did what he could in the short amount of time mentioned. 

That said, I freaking loved Everhart.  I mean honestly, the guy was an incredible person and I felt devastated when he was fired.  He turned around an absolutely dismal program and made us respectable.  He made himself 100% available to the Red and Blue Crew and he always took the time to help us out.  He even visited me in the hospital when I became very sick during the run to the A10 finals.  I can't imagine feeling a more personal connection to a coach for any team.  It makes me sad to even think about it. 

That being said, I will continue to support Ferry and I think (and hope) he is the guy to turn us around.  I also wish RE a ton of success at WVU (unless it's against us) and Hopefully he lands a head coaching job soon.  I think he deserves it.

Simms, there were only 2 signed when Ron left, that is true, but that does not mean that these other were a work of fiction.  These guys mentioned above were very interested in DU before Ron was fired (wether my friend duq81 buys it or not). While you may not have seen them on Rivals they were indeed being recruited by Ron, and known by many close to the program as be strong leans to Duquesne (some have said in the bag).  I know posters on this board who can confirm that these guys were leaning to DU  beyond reading the Alan Robinson story when Ron was fired.  In the bag or not, the truth is we will never know the ultimate class Ron would have brought in to Duquesne this year. My point of the post above is that I agree with my friend that the things being said about Ron's recruits (or let's say alleged recruits for sake of discussion) not being as good as those brought in by Ferry is silly.

Last edited by CLK (12/06/2012 4:09 pm)

Exactly, pressure cooker. Ferry has good plays and they work if the players convert their opportunities. I thought for sure that was going to fall. It was a perfect shot and it just bounced wrongly. The shots were not falling last night and it was obvious the players were getting frustrated.

A lot of those 3 point shots were just due to the fact Tray Woodall is a beast, fast,  big  and our defenders lost him for a second. Sean Johnson looked a step slow last night on defense I thought, maybe he is not 100% yet.

Last edited by DukesDan (12/06/2012 5:20 pm)

With all due respect this is a yearly bloodbath. It must be the same feeling the Romans felt when it was gladiator vs. lion.  13,000 people lost interest at the 7 min mark into the game.