Not particularly good news. Wonder if this has been in the works for a while. Wish him well. I would imagine that it didn't appear likely that both he and Primo would be together next year. Really need someone to run the point and neither JJ nor Primo seemed suited to that task at least this past season.

Not very surprising with the many backcourt players the staff is talking to in the lead up to the spring signing period. You just knew the winds of change where blowing - they may not be finished with backcourt departures.

While Jackie is a talented offensive player he does not fit the coach Dambrot mold.

He struggles with man to man defense and defensive concepts in general and seemed unwilling to play the inside out game ( feed the post and then look for a potential 3 point shot ) that the coach espouses.

Hopefully , for Jackies sake , he finds a team that will allow him to play to his strengths.

If we were only able to keep one I was leaning toward Primo but when Jackie's averaging 20 for Georgetown or Virginia Tech next year I might have second thoughts.

Wish JJ the best. Right  Coach right program he should  have a successful CB career. Not to call out current players BUT if the lower end is not told to leave we have a problem Houston.

Not too surprised. I think he fits a fast pace team better then a set half court KD style team. But it leaves some room to find a point guard in the off season. And this team needs a point guard.

Look for 2 more transfers.

Box & One wrote:

We are at 2 now (Okani & JJ) … I am thinking the over under is 7 transfers.

I think it will be under 7

im guessing 3 more transfer

UNLV his next stop per his twitter.

Last edited by townsonkid (4/09/2022 2:46 pm)

Yet another gut punch. One of the few players I had hoped we would keep, but not surprised to see him go and figured he would for awhile given how his minutes and role on the team was handled throughout the season. 

I get that in this landscape guys will transfer every year, but seeing guys like Baker, Williams, and now Johnson transfer out recently after a falling out with Dambrot and ending up at a higher level when Dambrot acts like he can’t work with these guys is unacceptable to me. Losing Carry mid season is also not a good look, another guy who played great all year and almost led his team to a tourney bid.

The roster turnover rate has been insanely high, especially with the guys who are the better players on the roster every year, also unacceptable to me. Something has to change with this dynamic or this program will not be successful. Large enough sample size now to say maybe the players aren’t the only part of the equation here.

Not to mention starting out the year saying this was your best team ever and also saying your probably 6’6” PF is the best center you’ve ever had, and then going on to criticize your players week in and week out with no mention of these hyperbolic statements that he made.

I did not like how Johnson was handled at all. He was the most talented player we have got in a long long time. Sorry, you find a way to make it work with a guy like that, especially when your getting your ass kicked every night anyway.

UNLV, which has won a freaking national title, has made 4 Final Fours, 5 Elite Eights, 10 trips to the Sweet 16, and has made the tournament 6 times in the last 15 years jumped on Johnson right away. He was a super talented guy who would have been playing for a top 25 program had he been 2 inches taller, and he liked Duquesne enough a year ago to come here. How does it go so wrong for him in one season here? UNACCEPTABLE

Things need to change in a big way next year. I was a season ticket holder for years before moving to the west coast, and this season I stopped watching like 3-4 games into conference play. Something that seemed inconceivable to me even through the leanest years.

No more excuses. Bring in lots of talent this off-season and do a 180 next year on the court or say thanks for the memories. It feels as if we are at that point for me.

Last edited by Duques102 (4/11/2022 2:58 pm)

CLK wrote:

Interesting article on Jackie Johnson from the Las Vegas Sun.

https://twitter.com/MikeGrimala/status/1526954556269072385?s=20&t=V3QBL2N8sDgD4xxph7C-xQ

No mention of JJ’s detailed break-down assist stats per game.
Interesting to leave out that stat for a point guard, unless it is implied that JJ would not be a starter & operate as a combo PP/SG off the bench.

Curious if the author offers this observation based on his own analysis or from a source …

“… Johnson was a gunner last year, there’s no two ways about it. Some of that could be blamed on the situation at Duquesne, where chaos reigned and the team appeared to be largely uncoached. It doesn’t have to be a fatal flaw moving forward, but it’s an aspect of his game that Kruger and his staff may have to work with Johnson on improving.”

That quote caught my eye as well.  I can understand how, after watching as many videos as the writer did, concluded that: "chaos reigned and the team appeared to be largely uncoached".   Last season there was an unhealthy competition between Spears and Johnson. When they were both on the court they were not giving up the ball, especially to each other no matter what the coach told them to do.  They each wanted to outscore the other, no natter what the coach wanted. We all remember the monumental collapses of this team in crunch time watching them trying to be heroes taking bad shots.  Dambrot in many of his post game interviews addressed this, but was in a box because he ho other player that could run the point.  He tried Ayers but that didn't work. I am not saying that Dambrot was not ultimately responsible, because he recruited these guys, but as stated above these two guys bear some of the responsibility for the train wreck.  Having now transferred using up their free pass I suspect that they will become more coachable.  It will be interesting to see how they respond.  More interesting to me is how the Dukes will play next season with several seasoned transfers who can play the point and have impressive assists stats.  

 

Anybody onto recruiting a center?