KD is way too polite to say one of his players is/was a stiff.  Hima fit that mold unfortunately.  Look at his stats at Syracuse and you will see an almost exact duplicate of his competency/incompetency level of last year.  He's gone!  Forget him and wish him the best.  But, don't belabor the point  and criticize  coach KD for not using a player who made absolutely no difference in the plus side of Duquesne's record last year.  I think if he had stayed, he'd most likely  be behind Barre and Dixon for play time. The progression of both of the current freshman big men-Dixon and Barre- should speak volumes as to KD's ability to coach up a player.

Last edited by grammudder (1/06/2023 11:50 am)

Styles1229 wrote:

grammudder wrote:

KD is way too polite to say one of his players is/was a stiff.  Hima fit that mold unfortunately.  Look at his stats at Syracuse and you will see an almost exact duplicate of his competency/incompetency level of last year.  He's gone!  Forget him and wish him the best.  But, don't belabor the point  and criticize  coach KD for not using a player who made absolutely no difference in the plus side of Duquesne's record last year.  I think if he had stayed, he'd most likely  be behind Barre and Dixon for play time. The progression of both of the current freshman big men-Dixon and Barre- should speak volumes as to KD's ability to coach up a player.

All I will say to this is: KD is a lot things both good and bad but "too polite" is not one of them.  

I could link about 20 videos where Keith blames himself for the performance of last years team.  That said, move on and hopefully we can agree that objectively, last year was an outlier season for Dambrot.  

I also want to point out that I think the Hiring of Dru Joyce III was brilliant and that he will really help us going forward.  If you watch the games he is EXTREMELY engaged.

Simms wrote:

Styles1229 wrote:

grammudder wrote:

KD is way too polite to say one of his players is/was a stiff.  Hima fit that mold unfortunately.  Look at his stats at Syracuse and you will see an almost exact duplicate of his competency/incompetency level of last year.  He's gone!  Forget him and wish him the best.  But, don't belabor the point  and criticize  coach KD for not using a player who made absolutely no difference in the plus side of Duquesne's record last year.  I think if he had stayed, he'd most likely  be behind Barre and Dixon for play time. The progression of both of the current freshman big men-Dixon and Barre- should speak volumes as to KD's ability to coach up a player.

All I will say to this is: KD is a lot things both good and bad but "too polite" is not one of them.  

I could link about 20 videos where Keith blames himself for the performance of last years team.  That said, move on and hopefully we can agree that objectively, last year was an outlier season for Dambrot.  

I also want to point out that I think the Hiring of Dru Joyce III was brilliant and that he will really help us going forward.  If you watch the games he is EXTREMELY engaged.

Final word on this from me:  There is a way to blame yourself in the media and mean it and there is a way to blame yourself while obviously pointing the finger elsewhere (Ben Roethlisberger was regularly guilty of the latter.)  I think you can tell which way I think KD is blaming himself.  

I love the Dru Joyce hire solely for it's obvious recruiting benefits.  If he's great on the bench and in the huddles, which I will take your word that he is, that's all the better!
 

grammudder wrote:

KD is way too polite to say one of his players is/was a stiff.  Hima fit that mold unfortunately.  Look at his stats at Syracuse and you will see an almost exact duplicate of his competency/incompetency level of last year.  He's gone!  Forget him and wish him the best.  But, don't belabor the point  and criticize  coach KD for not using a player who made absolutely no difference in the plus side of Duquesne's record last year.  I think if he had stayed, he'd most likely  be behind Barre and Dixon for play time. The progression of both of the current freshman big men-Dixon and Barre- should speak volumes as to KD's ability to coach up a player.

Your joking right? Hima is averaging approx. 10 minutes a game at Syracuse as a Soph.? He is in every game?  Want to pick on a dud that left DU. Then find one. Hima is in every game for a Power 5 team? Look it up. I just did. Austin gets as much time for DU as Hima for Syracuse?  So what was your point? KD couldn't or wouldn't play him so what? As for KD's freshman, they are nearly not off the bench at this point in conf. play?  So again, tell me how our freshmen did in the last game or how well KD coached them up? Dixon, zero, Barre 7 junk minutes? Hima? Really? Between Hima's time in games for Syracuse, and our freshman, I'd rather be Hima? Let's move on.

Last edited by NapaDuke (1/06/2023 8:40 pm)

Simms wrote:

Styles1229 wrote:

grammudder wrote:

KD is way too polite to say one of his players is/was a stiff.  Hima fit that mold unfortunately.  Look at his stats at Syracuse and you will see an almost exact duplicate of his competency/incompetency level of last year.  He's gone!  Forget him and wish him the best.  But, don't belabor the point  and criticize  coach KD for not using a player who made absolutely no difference in the plus side of Duquesne's record last year.  I think if he had stayed, he'd most likely  be behind Barre and Dixon for play time. The progression of both of the current freshman big men-Dixon and Barre- should speak volumes as to KD's ability to coach up a player.

All I will say to this is: KD is a lot things both good and bad but "too polite" is not one of them.  

I could link about 20 videos where Keith blames himself for the performance of last years team.  That said, move on and hopefully we can agree that objectively, last year was an outlier season for Dambrot.  

I also want to point out that I think the Hiring of Dru Joyce III was brilliant and that he will really help us going forward.  If you watch the games he is EXTREMELY engaged.

Ditto on Dru Joyce III.  Daily coaching with the kids, this was a good move.

grammudder wrote:

Your joking right? Hima is averaging approx. 10 minutes a game at Syracuse as a Soph.? He is in every game?  Want to pick on a dud that left DU. Then find one. Hima is in every game for a Power 5 team? Look it up. I just did. Austin doesn't get as much time for DU as Hima for Syracuse?  So what was your point? KD couldn't or wouldn't play him? As for KD's freshman, they are nearly not off the bench at this point in conf. play?  So again, tell me how our freshmen did in the last game or how well KD coached them up? Dixon, zero, Barre 7 junk minutes? Hima? Really? Between Hima's time in games for Syracuse, and our freshman, I'd rather be Hima?

If you really believe this, then ditch Comcast's ESPN Plus for the 
ACC channel and their conference games.  With all his minutes more than 
Austin, Hima is still averaging a whopping 1.7 pts per game. WOW!  Look it up. I did.  My point is simple.  Duquesne lost nothing when Hima left. What did a power 5 school get.  1.7 pts per game. Again, I say WOW!

Austin, a 6th year player. Hima a soph at a power 5 school.  Who has potential going forward? Austin in the last game 11 minutes, but came in and just with his size in the paint, changed VCU's offense. Hima at 7 foot, likely the same or more, but Hima's a soph. Talk all you want about Hima has no potential, but time will tell. Let's move on. Dumb subject here anyways. And hey, I watch ACC games too, and on occasion, like next week, go to the Pete and watch Pitt on court too. This years team is so great, a Hima wouldn't have mattered either way, and KD just had too many problems last year to use him or not. Again, picking on Hima as a dud here is irrelevant.

Styles1229 wrote:

townsonkid wrote:

Cant keep looking at last year, too depressing, just want to look at this year and the future.   Keeping Dixon, Barre and Hronsky here, so when Reece, Rotroff and Gunn are gone, we have guys with experience and skills ready to take their place.   Would be nice to have a team built on a solid foundation.

It would be great and I hope it happens but there seems to be no way to predict how the portal will be utilized and by whom.  You play a guy a lot and he looks good so he moves on to a higher profile school.  You don't play him enough and he moves on because he wants to play more.  Or a player in the portal is more attractive to the coaching staff than what they have so they show a kid the door to make room for the new kid.  I'm done thinking about the future - too much heartbreak.  Could have 8 to 10 different players next year.  All we have any more  is the season.  And I like the way this one is shaping up.  
 

Ditto.

For the Mounir Hima fan club...   Looks to me that he is having negligible impact offensively; anchoring the center of a 2-3 zone has allowed him to get a few more blocks.  He certainly isn't filling up the stat sheet in any way in conference play.  Per game stats are down almost across the board from his freshman year on the Bluff.  Long way to go in his career; hopefully he will further develop his game.  I wish him well, but the Dukes (and I) don't miss him one bit.
Mounir Hima College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com


 

luckymcd wrote:

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

Per game stats are down almost across the board from his freshman year on the Bluff.  Long way to go in his career; hopefully he will further develop his game.  I wish him well, but the Dukes (and I) don't miss him one bit.
Mounir Hima College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
 

If you want to claim the Dukes don’t miss him because his role has been filled you certainly can make that argument. Claiming we don’t miss him because his numbers in the Big East are less than they were in the A-10 is a tough argument to make though. I’d say Barre has a similar game, but is further along. Also if he struggled to find playing time last year I doubt there’d be any more this year with our depth in the frontcourt. Still I am of the belief that you can never have too much talent, and he definitely has that, even if it is raw. So I do still wish he was here, even if I wouldn’t go as far as to say I miss him. On the other hand, with the way he was treated in his time as a Duke and the opportunity to go to Syracuse I can’t fault his decision and wish him the best.

Amen, I hope!

This thread is insanely strange. How about VCU routing Davidson today? Makes me even happier about this win.