Despite the turnovers, the Hawks have been for the most part competitive.  The Richmond blowout and win over Georgetown stand out.  Four of their five conference losses were double digit so although not a walk in the park, we simply must start beating teams like this.  No more Fordhams.  With all due respect to Funk, Obinna concerns me much more.

Thanks for the “scouting report”, Phil, good stuff!

I am far too far too fat to sneak anywhere these days.

Absolutely nothing has carried over from the second half of the Bona game. That is very frustrating.
No Bekelja?
 

Nice start to the second half.

Why in the world does Okani stand outside the three point line every offensive possession he's out there? Shouldn't he setting a pick once in a while or even cut thrugh the lane. These offensive sets are downright embarrassing. Where is the coaching?

Let the excuses begin...
 

This was St Joes third game in five days. They play basically five guys the entire game. I never want to hear the excuse on this board that we are playing too many minutes. Put the blame where it belongs, on the coach. His offensive sets are terrible. The coach lets the players come down on offense and go one on one without passing to their teammates. He is supposedly a defensive coach, I don’t see it at all. He likes to play inside out, never witnessed it yet. You can’t play in the A10 without a center. At best Dambrot is a good MAC coach. He is so far out of his league in this conference it is not even funny. We at year five of the Dambrot era are relegated to the bottom of the league. Another thing, Dambrot came into the A10 at it’s lowest point and still could not make any improvements.

Wildwood13 wrote:

This was St Joes third game in five days. They play basically five guys the entire game. I never want to hear the excuse on this board that we are playing too many minutes. Put the blame where it belongs, on the coach. His offensive sets are terrible. The coach lets the players come down on offense and go one on one without passing to their teammates. He is supposedly a defensive coach, I don’t see it at all. He likes to play inside out, never witnessed it yet. You can’t play in the A10 without a center. At best Dambrot is a good MAC coach. He is so far out of his league in this conference it is not even funny. We at year five of the Dambrot era are relegated to the bottom of the league. Another thing, Dambrot came into the A10 at it’s lowest point and still could not make any improvements.

Not even an MAC caliber coach at this point. Embarrassing to watch the offensive sets and defense. WAY WAY WAY too much one on one play in the offensive end. Rotroff is my favorite Duke by far. Can see the massive drop ff when he's not playing. If there was anytime to play Larson and Bekelja it's been in recent games. They disappeared all the sudden. I mean KD was in love with these guys especially Bekelja. Every post game conference last year he went on and on about him. CRAZY. Time to throw in towel with this pathetic regime.

 

Out of everything, here is what bothers me. In Dambrots OWN WORDS, at the beginning of the season he said that this was his best team ever. He said it- not you- not the sports reporters- not the announcers-Keith Dambrot said it. What a poor judge of players he has been this year. That is scary.

How can we count on a coach to recruit/coach players when he says at the beginning of the season that this is his best team ever. Wow!!!

Ironduke81 wrote:

phil95 wrote:

Very nice start to the second half.

 

Coach Dambrot had some bad luck. After all his top defensive player who started the second half got beat 3 times. Secondly, bad luck T. Williams who would not jump on a loose ball & could not catch a cold in regard to perfect passes. Forget Hima after all he is a shot blocker, rebounder & yes young. Makes one mistake sits the entire second half. Getting tired with the old school coaching or lack thereof. This team is going nowhere this year. Coach up Hima & please no Captain Hook. Trey Williams at best a bench player 3 for power 5 school. 4 for A10. Absolutely not a 5. Duquesne needs a center for the future. Let the kid play.

Hima should have been getting minutes all along. His mistakes of inexperience are directly attributable to giving the early, non-con minutes to Larson. ("One of the best players on the team.")

I just don't get the criticism for Tre. Both games before this, he was very good. Tonight, he seemed to have poor focus.

The team needs more size. I couldn't agree more. But, Tre is better than at least half of the starting A-10 centers & he has 2 more years of eligibility. He is not the problem.

Among other things, this team needs a reliable backup to Tre & a true power forward.

Easley has rebounded admirably all year but, he is really a biggish A-10 3. He can't handle the rotations on to bigs when Tre helps control dribble penetration.

Primo isn't being held accoutable for his waxing & waning defensive effort or forcing of shots.

The teams limitations are limitless ( talent level when compared to other a-10 schools , in game situational basketball , careless play , offensive scheme , defensive intensity / awareness , etc ... ). Good points by all the posters in this thread.

The main issue however, and it was apparent very early on was the poor roster construction going into the season. You need 8 consistent players to be successful on a nightly basis.

EVERYTHING ( good health , player development in the offseason ) would have had to fall into place to get to the 8 number on this years team given the group of 13 that started out.

This did not occur, so the team is in effect , dead in the water at this time with limited hopes moving forward barring some "Bolt from the Blue ".

Sad but true.