City Duke you are right, more people need to respond to the best start to finish performance of the year.  The D was outstanding as Iron D noted and the intensity was there until the final horn.  That being said, IMO a critical factor was that early on and then throughout the game we made our 2' shots.  No team will shoot that well from the 3 game to game and when you don't have that you need to score other ways.  Think about if Williams, Reece and Rotroff made a lot of their close-in shots against Fordham - different result.  I felt good when Tre was making all of his early on as he gets the best low post position and uses his bulk very effectively.  He makes a high percentage of his attempts around the rim and that can offset average shooting from the 3, especially if you play D the whole game.  Equally impressive was we how we effectively attacked their zone when they tried that.  All in all a very impressive and needed win.  Keep it up at home and we could very well go on a roll.  Go Dukes!!

Phoenix.  Why was Barre “not available “.  Illness?

1111 Vickroy wrote:

Just a little even keel. This team is really streaky. I think this is where coaching plays a part. Can the get a little consistent?

This team is streaky because one game, the Dukes run in transition, push the pace, spreading the opponents defense and are able to hit more open 3's, all from their superior speed. Then, the next game, strangely, the Dukes become a slow half-court team, forcing the ball inside to our bigs causing no points and easy rebounds for their opponents and thus, a very low scoring effort? Nearly every loss, except Richmond, the Dukes tried to play a  half-court, in-side game and pretty much lost.Not their strength.  The St. Joes game and this GW game should be the game plan the rest of the way. The Dukes are very fast in transition with a deep bench to keep up the pace, likely the best in the A-10.

I’ve been telling you guys how important Q McGriff is to the success of this team!  We haven’t seen a player with his size and versatility at Duquesne in quite a while!  Hoping Quincy can stay healthy the rest of the year.  If so, this team can make things interesting.

the professor1108 wrote:

Great effort and result yesterday.  Rebounding is a key to getting out in transition.  I'm pretty sure that the games in which Duquesne didn't run, they were being handled on the boards.  If you're not rebounding, it's tough to run.
From what I've seen, this conference is up for grabs.  as I am typing this note, I just heard Mike Decourcey on the Fan.  He said that KD is the best coach that Duquesne has had since Red Manning.  He also said that Duquesne has as good a chance as anyone in the A-10 to win the tournament and go the tournament.   I, for one, will sit back and enjoy the next few weeks.  This is way better that what we've experienced in a long time.  
 

Transition baskets yesterday were mainly from steals and turnovers, and the will to beat them up the court. GW launched 3's that, when they missed, bounce farther out than bigs under the basket. We didn't out-rebound GW, but forced them to keep pace with us. Their announcer, who knows their team well kept saying GW doesn't have the deep bench DU has and can't keep up with that pace. As far as KD the best since Manning, only if can win in the A-10 this year with this much talent. Then yes. I think that's actually in reach right now.

I am ecstatic about that performance from tip to buzzer. Q needed a game like that badly. Now we just need Duquesne's fan culture to develop to the point the student section standing and loud all 40 minutes even down 30. I was under the impression Dixon didn't get in the game because he was injured like Dambrot mentioned in a press conference until he got up to play with 2 minutes left. How about Williams 2-2 from 3? Teams are going to have to start guarding him out there and Dambrot has mentioned that would open up the offense for more penetration if he was pulling defenders out.

Styles1229 wrote:

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

Barre was not available to play yesterday.

Also, Q’s dad confirmed that Q had COVID; reason for missing the last 3 games. So much for the doghouse theory.

https://twitter.com/thenillawyer/status/1622036528787775489

Maybe...

Haha yes maybe. Or maybe they got McGriff’s dad to lie on twitter. Long live the conspiracy theories. Too funny!

PistolPete wrote:

City Duke you are right, more people need to respond to the best start to finish performance of the year.  The D was outstanding as Iron D noted and the intensity was there until the final horn.  That being said, IMO a critical factor was that early on and then throughout the game we made our 2' shots.  No team will shoot that well from the 3 game to game and when you don't have that you need to score other ways.  Think about if Williams, Reece and Rotroff made a lot of their close-in shots against Fordham - different result.  I felt good when Tre was making all of his early on as he gets the best low post position and uses his bulk very effectively.  He makes a high percentage of his attempts around the rim and that can offset average shooting from the 3, especially if you play D the whole game.  Equally impressive was we how we effectively attacked their zone when they tried that.  All in all a very impressive and needed win.  Keep it up at home and we could very well go on a roll.  Go Dukes!!

Two observations. More 3's hit on the run than flat footed as the shot clock runs down. You stat folks can check that, but it's right. Second, This game was designed to run. Every transition began with a running pass up court, (way faster than dribble up court) plus the push pass up court was by design, since the up court player was in position way before the transition occurred. That is clearly a designed play, and it put GW on their butts from the start. You very likely can't stop a team that is this good at transition. It's fast, it's confusion, and it leaves our shooters with the momentum to land 3's.. But you mentioned, if our bigs landed inside against Fordham it would have been different, but they can't. Not ever, not all season. That is the weakest part of this team and no good coach would continue to give their opponent that apparent advantage. Our bigs, are clearly more effective when we spread the opponents defense.Tre's good game today was because we were winning in transition, not half court. Not the other way around. Every team in this league has enough game film to more than neutralize our inside game that doesn't work. Two road wins against St. Joes and GW pretty much make it apparent that this team, likely,  moves faster than anyone else in the A-10

City Duke I’ll accept part of the challenge as to where are all your friends. I’m glad you totally buy into McGriff being “healthy again.” There is absolutely no guarantee that he will see significant minutes in the near future. I also like how you miss the fact that Dixon was “healthy enough” to play 2 minutes at mop up time. 

We should all pull back from our expectations considering the Dukes shot a near impossible to repeat 53%from 3. Eliminate the four 3’s taken by Reece and it’s 61%.  They also had an incredible 22 assists 10 of which came from Dae Dae and Reece not our point guards.

The problems are still there, we get far too many points from 3, we go to the foul line far to infrequently and when we get there we are 254th (KenPom) in percentage. We are 344th, 14th in the league in allowing offensive rebounds. 

Let’s hold back on the parade and remember this was ONE game. 

Rewatched the game and man, Dae Dae had some incredible passes for assists.

Phoenix:

I have the Dukes playing Geo Mason. Bonaventure, St. Joe's, Davidson and U Mass at home and LaSalle and St. Louis away.  Am I wrong with the schedule I have?