From the better late than never department:

The Dukes' wins over George Washington and George Mason were just our 18th and 19th ever conference wins by at least 23 points. It was only the third time ever we won consecutive conference games by at least 23 points and the first time in 31 years.

Phil, both the media and Dambrot pretty openly discuss how last year was a nightmare. Matter of fact, more than I care to read/listen to to be honest. Last year is in the past, and this year’s team is almost completely different personnel wise, so the comparisons do nothing but make us relive a horrendous season and dampen the mood of the absolutely awesome season we are currently enjoying.

Wishing for the media to highlight last year’s shortcomings in the midst of four game win streak is a strange request.

CityDuke wrote:

Phil, both the media and Dambrot pretty openly discuss how last year was a nightmare. Matter of fact, more than I care to read/listen to to be honest. Last year is in the past, and this year’s team is almost completely different personnel wise, so the comparisons do nothing but make us relive a horrendous season and dampen the mood of the absolutely awesome season we are currently enjoying.

Wishing for the media to highlight last year’s shortcomings in the midst of four game win streak is a strange request.

No, they don't & no they have not. You will notice that last season is almost always referred to as a nightmare FOR KD rather than a nightmare at least partly caused by KD. It is like there was no cause that could possibly be linked to this coach.

No, I am not wishing for anyone at the school or in the media to speak some version of the truth during these prosperous times. However, I have been waiting about 11 months for someone to do so instead blowing a bunch of smoke with these puff pieces while board posters refer to them as great articles. KD gutted his roster, please, players have been running for the exits in embarrassing numbers since his first offseason. Facts are facts.

I have no doubt he showed his previous pet, Bekelja, the door; he only brought him in to keep Sin on the team. How many times did we listen to KD's malarkey about what a good player Bekelja would be while all the fans knew him to be a great kid but not even close to being an A-10 talent? I also have no doubt that KD & staff had no chance of keeping Hima around because they screwed up his redshirt freshman season so badly. KD whined all last season about the injuries in the frontcourt while keeping the only available player on the roster with high-major measurements & some talent glued to the bench for the first 20 games.

I really don't care that Hima and Bekelja in particular are gone. I do care that this coach seems to think players are disposable items. And don't give me those portal/Covid excuses. All of this started long before those were factors.  

Coach Dambrot has taken almost no personal responsibility for last year's grand failure & the article/journalist in question just shat upon a bunch 18-22 year-olds by labeling them "near impossible to coach".

Are you cool with falsely degrading all of those young men when we all know, because coach told us and, in some cases, continues to tell us that many of them them were great kids? Do you think that KD will be on the record in tomorrow's paper defending the character of Hima, Bekelja, Larson, Williams, Rotroff, Acuff, Easely, JJ, & Gunn? Those are 9 of last year's 12 rotational players. Throw in Barba, who didn't really play, and that leaves Ayers, Primo, & Okani; all of which were referred to as good guys or very coachable by KD at one time or another.

How about you post an article or a sizable, sincere quote from KD that demonstrates the head coach was, in any way, responsible for one of the worst years in school history?

I noticed that both you & Coffee both breezed right over this paragraph in my post:
=20px"The results of the remaining league games for Fordham & DU should decide the A-10 Coach of the Year award. It may actually be decided by the head to head matchup on the last day of the regular season. Both Urgo & KD are awesome candidates for this honor. It would be rally great for the program for KD to win. I really hope he does. He & his staff have earned it." =20pxMy apologies for dampening your mood with my constant negativity.

Can you please point out where I made any comparison of last year's team or season to this year's in my post on this article? You can't because, I didn't.

It is generally your style when replying to posts you don't care for to introduce falsehoods rather than follow-up with any facts that might contradict another poster's position because you can't stop yourself from celebrating all things KD, at all times. Before that last sentence, I have never commented as to how you should feel about this or that. Tonight marks the 2nd time in 2 weeks & about the 10th time overall that you have done that to me. How about you cut that out & will do the same?

18-8 with losses to 5 teams with KenPom ratings between 136-204, having no wins over teams with KenPom ratings lower than 84, & battling it out for 4th place with 5 games to go doesn't qualify, for me, as an "absolutely awesome season". II think it only seems that way when compared to the program's 45 years of of futility. I am certainly hoping for great things over the next few weeks.

I am seriously pumped for the recent success. Being relevant & having something to cheer for in late February is a rare pleasure. I think that the right players are here to be a top 70ish team. I am pulling hard for a coach I really dislike to be A-10 COY. I am also girding myself for a bit more Dukes heartache because that is who I am.
The truth of the matter is the coach & his team have been [size=150]very[/size] good for only about 4.5 games. Before that, the coach, because players have never stayed, has been mediocre for 5.5 years.
I don't care what your opinion is about those 2 statements because you rarely post anything that is discussion worthy given your propensity only to treat all team, athletic department, & coaching moves as positive. That's worship not analytical posting. I prefer to read & write discussion prompting posts that cover both the good & bad about this program. I like it when another poster makes me change my mind or posts something I was ignorant of.

City Duke, this season’s record is nice on appearance. But face facts, this is the worst season ever for the Atlantic 10. The six years Dambrot coached here have been the worse six years of the Atlantic Tens existence. Please name me the highest ranked team he has beaten this year and in his entire tenure at Duquesne. Do you not realize that the out of conference schedule has been its weakest in the Dambrot years with over 80% of those games played at home. Couple that with the fact the A-10 has been at its lowest during his tenure and never has a coach received this kind of support from an administration. I am happy for the turnaround but I also face facts that are smacking me in the face. I as many on this board like the players on this team as I previously stated, but I remain skeptical of how good they and the coach are because compare our best two wins against our losses to some terrible teams.

See, pitt fans get to celebrate and have dreams of a final 4, but Duquesne is still a joke and hasnt accomplished anything, must not lose again to have a shot at a NIT bid.  I hate that!   But thats the way it is.   Pitt and Duquesne are doing the exact same things, different levels, P5 vs Mid major.   Both stunk last year, both coaches were on hot seats, both rebuilt roster with a lot of portal help, both are winning in 2023.  One team is loved around the city and covered like 1968 UCLA, the other has no street cred or buzz.  I'm not saying we have turned the corner and are an A10 powerhouse, but it sure is nice to see this kind of life in the program in mid February.   I hope these guys now have reason to stay here, develop and become an A10 power.  I have been disappointed at times this year with coach and some players, but I can also aknowledge this is a lot better than previous years, and can really still be something great, TBD.  I never thought playing 10 deep would be a good thing, but the coach has managed it pretty well and it seems to be getting better.   The health of Dixon and Barre and Hronsky could be meaningful down the stretch(I still dont know what is wrong with Barre).

Colgate 20-8, first place in their conference
Kentucky 19-7, T4th place(lost)
UCSB 20-5, first place
Ball St 19-7, 3rd place
Marshall 22-6, 2nd place(lost)
Indiana St 19-7, T 2nd place
VCU 19-7, 1st place, they beat pitt
N Mex St is the one real blemish so far this year.
Still have St Lou, Fordham and hopefully revenge vs UMass, a hot LaSalle and Davidson(Chuck Cooper Day).
We have played some decent to good teams this year, unlike some previous years, and have beaten some of them.

Last edited by townsonkid (2/17/2023 9:02 am)

townsonkid wrote:

See, pitt fans get to celebrate and have dreams of a final 4, but Duquesne is still a joke and hasnt accomplished anything, must not lose again to have a shot at a NIT bid.  I hate that!   But thats the way it is.   Pitt and Duquesne are doing the exact same things, different levels, P5 vs Mid major.   Both stunk last year, both coaches were on hot seats, both rebuilt roster with a lot of portal help, both are winning in 2023.  One team is loved around the city and covered like 1968 UCLA, the other has no street cred or buzz.  I'm not saying we have turned the corner and are an A10 powerhouse, but it sure is nice to see this kind of life in the program in mid February.   I hope these guys now have reason to stay here, develop and become an A10 power.  I have been disappointed at times this year with coach and some players, but I can also aknowledge this is a lot better than previous years, and can really still be something great, TBD.  I never thought playing 10 deep would be a good thing, but the coach has managed it pretty well and it seems to be getting better.   The health of Dixon and Barre and Hronsky could be meaningful down the stretch(I still dont know what is wrong with Barre).

Colgate 20-8, first place in their conference
Kentucky 19-7, T4th place(lost)
UCSB 20-5, first place
Ball St 19-7, 3rd place
Marshall 22-6, 2nd place(lost)
Indiana St 19-7, T 2nd place
VCU 19-7, 1st place, they beat pitt
N Mex St is the one real blemish so far this year.
Still have St Lou, Fordham and hopefully revenge vs UMass, a hot LaSalle and Davidson(Chuck Cooper Day).
We have played some decent to good teams this year, unlike some previous years, and have beaten some of them.

The parallels between Capel and Dambrot are uncanny.  both dead in the water.  both resurrected.  both benefiting tremendously from down years in their conference.  both accumulated depth and experience from the portal and it is paying dividends.  I could go on and on.  I would love to see both win Coach of the year in their respective conferences.

CLK wrote:

I honestly could care less about last season, and only focused on how well this team is playing.  Dambrot has this train rolling, and I really don't understand the unredemptive hatred of Dambrot by some "fans", and their attempts to derail this train with their incessant negative comments.  I swear some people are only happy when they are miserable.

CLK I echo your comments entirely. 
Here is my opinion with the future for Dambrot.  I believe he will finish out his contract after next year and retire as a fantastic winning college coach with well over 500 wins to his resume. As has been mentioned previously Dru Joyce appears to be groomed for the job at that time.
So hey lets just go ahead and start the negative fire Dru thread now since he coached and played for the evil Dambrot!
Anyway my focus will now be on St. Louis.
Go Dukes!
 

Last edited by Motor (2/17/2023 10:31 am)

Styles1229 wrote:

If the media covered this team and coach as thoroughly as they cover, say, the Pirates and the Steelers, you would not get these types of articles.  Puff pieces.  There's never any good follow-up questions or requests to further explain a blanket statement.  If we are talking about KD as a coach it's ridiculous that some of the people on this board do not want to hear about last year.  I'm thinking these same people do not want critical race theory taught to our children either   I am enjoying this season tremendously AND I am able to form a nuanced opinion about the coach.  I think it is interesting to discuss how KD built the last 2 teams and to compare and contrast them.  Remember, KD did the same thing last season with completely different results.  He got rid of bad characters and rebuilt the team with good character guys.  When those guys went 6-24 they became bad character guys and uncoachable.  Now they are good character guys and coachable somewhere else.  It's all just lip service to feed the the narrative.  What really happened is that KD did a poor job last year of recruiting/building a team.  After TDM left he had no experience in the backcourt other than Acuff (minimal) and he barely played him.  He did not recruit enough bigs, especially when you consider his offensive strategy, and when injuries happened he was outmanned.  You would think that a coach with all the wisdom of his years coaching would not be caught off guard by these developments but he was.  He also did not adjust his offensive strategy to play to the strengths of his roster..And finally, he also chose to use a Division 2 grad assistant over a raw 7 footer who would very likely have gotten better and better as the season progressed with enough playing time. All of those factors led directly to the poor performance and none of them had anything to do with the likely good, talented players on the team being coachable or not or having good character or not.  They were just not constructed to win and when they started losing in chunks kids did what kids do and checked out. This off season, KD learned from his mistakes and recruited experience in the backcourt and enough bigs to survive the grueling season.  He scheduled a lot of home guys against bad teams to build confidence and make the record look good and they really started to thrive when he adjusted his offensive and defensive strategies to fit the make up of his team.  Great job and as Phil said, deserving of coach of the year.  

 Agree 100 % with what you said here about the team this year vs last - except that I definitively don't want my grandkids exposed to the the devisive critical race theory stuff. 

Love watching this team play now, but being realistic --  'the proof will be in the pudding' as to Dambrot & team success - with the remaining schedule -- St. Louis, Fordham et al and the A10 tourney defining where we wind up.  I would add that whomever wins and goes on to the NCAA will further define the strength of the A10 this year.  Certainly wouldn't hold my breath... 

Dambrot had his bad moments even this year, which cost us games -- like not promptly calling time out when it became evident his players weren't covering  perimeter and the 3 point bombs were raining down.  On the other hand got give him credit for turning things around by repositioning personnel for given situations.  And the players for executing under the circumstances.  GO DUKES!!!! 

Last edited by gjgsr (2/17/2023 10:47 am)

Just curious, do some of you guys remotely remember some of your post this and last year. I appreciate City Dukes convictions of liking Dambrot as well as Phil’s for his pointing out Dambrot’s weaknesses. But you guys are ready to send him packing one day and the next day put him up as the greatest thing since slice bread. Our best win is number 84 VCU at home and best road win is 193 St Joes. Just facts that make me wonder about the strength of this team. Facts don’t make me a miserable person, just a realist. Happily married 40 years with five beautiful daughters and 8 grandchildren. Me ,my wife and four of my five daughters graduated Duquesne. So I will stop you before you state I don’t like Duquesne. 

FAM wrote:

 phil95- There are many truths and facts in what you wrote.  Heck, I started a thread about who will our new coach be…and I hope that I am wrong because I wanted the season to turn around.  Well, Dambrot has turned it around…and you are correct, he “verbally” didn’t take responsibility for some things last year but by him being the coach, that comes with the territory.  I am extremely pleased that this team is “competitive” now and things are going well.   I am embracing that.   There is good and bad in all of us.  There is positive and negative traits of coaching in all coaches.  
       I also believe everyone on a message board is entitled to his/her opinion.  So, let’s keep going Duquesne.  I love the competitiveness, the wins, and energy.  Hopefully most of the guys will stay next year and we can get even better.  Go Dukes!

Agree. Nice post. This late in the season, still in the chase, rare Earth for DU. Very good chance of beating St.L. on Sat. night, mainly because , if we are good, then that's what good teams do. I hope to see the Dukes run away with it in that game and get the attention they deserve. We have a very reasonable chance of winning that game and should. KD said it in this interview and I will paraphrase it, "these teams should be afraid to play us right now". If he knows we are that good at this point and, then,  this is the game to show it.  Let's Go Dukes. Beat St. L. 

CLK I too am just enjoying the ride this year and want to see it keep going.  I appreciate City Dukes view, while also respecting that Wildwood 13 knows Bball (I know this to be true) and does focus on facts to express his views in a courteous way.  I like to look at the glass half full and have always been an upbeat positive person so I choose to look forward not back as it is more exciting and healthy - at least for me.  Phil you are entitled to your opinions and I don't disagree with some of your comparable facts, but it just seems reliving last year repetitively can't be enjoyable for you, can it?

PistolPete wrote:

CLK I too am just enjoying the ride this year and want to see it keep going.  I appreciate City Dukes view, while also respecting that Wildwood 13 knows Bball (I know this to be true) and does focus on facts to express his views in a courteous way.  I like to look at the glass half full and have always been an upbeat positive person so I choose to look forward not back as it is more exciting and healthy - at least for me.  Phil you are entitled to your opinions and I don't disagree with some of your comparable facts, but it just seems reliving last year repetitively can't be enjoyable for you, can it?

My main point was that the article I was commenting on was jammed with provable falsehoods and either wild conjecture by the author or that author was fed, off the record, the idea that all of the players on last year's team were impossible to coach. That didn't happen last year. It happened this week. Why is that ok?

Did I go a little heavy on the KD criticism in demonstrating that this was not a "great" article? Sure. My bad.

Am I "constantly" negative? Read a bunch of my posts & you will find that not to be true. That includes the post you are commenting on.

I don't know KD the person & don't expect to. I know him as a public figure & the coach of my favorite college basketball team. In that role I find him very unlikable & thus far, largely ineffective. Isn't that the kind of thing this message board is for commenting on?

While those who have a different points of view than mine can expect me to occasionally offer an alternative opinion, they sure as hell won't catch me writing something about them seeking "vengeance" against the coach (City Duke) or questioning my interest in the team by referring to me as a "fan" channeling my "unredemptive hate" to derail the train of the team's recent success.

Yep, CLK you have me nailed dead-to-rights. I am actively trying to sabotage Duquesne basketball. That's quite an accusation. I thought we didn't do personal attacks on this board. What would you call those nasty things you wrote? Are you going to say that you didn't name names so your thinly veiled attack post wasn't referring to me?

Now, will you admit you went too far in belittling my fandom because it is not the same as yours & insinuating that I am actively trying to harm the program or will you just kill this post and/or ban me from the board?

I am happy to kiss & make up if you are.