DuqBlue wrote:

The problem is the AD. I know he is the darling of everyone. But we need someone better at the top. Not the person at Dayton or Xavier willing to come here.

Harper made a huge mistake in not cleaning out the dead wood who have been occupying space in the department for years, if not decades.  He didn't clear out the rot, and it shows in the entire organization. It's just Duquesne, collect your pay check, no one expects anything from you ever, just keep cashing the checks!
 

Duquesne needs to reevlauate basketball.The inability to recruit players that can compete against Dayton,VCU and St.Louis.Duquesne doesnt seem capable to compete against the better A10 teams
even during a season which the A10 was not very good.Going 10-9 against a poor A10, kind of got folks
excited only to finish wondering whats next? It left me dissappointed  and wondering whats next?

As I mentioned in the other thread, we now have just six wins in 25 trips to the A10 tourney since 1996. Six coaches, 25 seasons, six conference tourney wins between them. Just to put that in perspective, Jim Satalin, hardly a hall of fame coach, the guy who pretty much presided over the beginning of Duquesne basketball's long decline into irrelevancy, still managed to win 6 conference tourney games in his seven years at Duquesne. He even knocked off top-seeded WVU in '85. As many conference tourney wins as Dambrot, Ferry, Everhart, Nee, Porter and Edgar have combined. Incredible. I can't imagine there's another school that's been as inept in its conference tourney over the same time period.

DennisC91 wrote:

As I mentioned in the other thread, we now have just six wins in 25 trips to the A10 tourney since 1996. Six coaches, 25 seasons, six conference tourney wins between them. Just to put that in perspective, Jim Satalin, hardly a hall of fame coach, the guy who pretty much presided over the beginning of Duquesne basketball's long decline into irrelevancy, still managed to win 6 conference tourney games in his seven years at Duquesne. He even knocked off top-seeded WVU in '85. As many conference tourney wins as Dambrot, Ferry, Everhart, Nee, Porter and Edgar have combined. Incredible. I can't imagine there's another school that's been as inept in its conference tourney over the same time period.

Ron won three in a row then coach of the year by his peers the next year, then just two years later fired? KD can recruit, but not coach. RE didn't have the recruits KD has, but he could coach. Let's give Dru Joyce a chance instead of looking for some washed-up mac coach. KD didn't play even college basketball. RE played guard for V.T. Dru played 12 seasons of Professional Basketball in Europe. I think if we are going to find someone that is likely good, that no one else would give a chance to, I think it's Dru. KD should quit, seemingly on top, right now. Or, the administration should push him to. Joyce would come in for a fraction of KD's salary, With incentives if his Dukes make it to the top 4 in the A-10, then wins in the A-10 tourney, then more if he wins the A-10, then more if he wins post season. Start paying a coach to win, not just show up. 

NapaDuke wrote:

DennisC91 wrote:

As I mentioned in the other thread, we now have just six wins in 25 trips to the A10 tourney since 1996. Six coaches, 25 seasons, six conference tourney wins between them. Just to put that in perspective, Jim Satalin, hardly a hall of fame coach, the guy who pretty much presided over the beginning of Duquesne basketball's long decline into irrelevancy, still managed to win 6 conference tourney games in his seven years at Duquesne. He even knocked off top-seeded WVU in '85. As many conference tourney wins as Dambrot, Ferry, Everhart, Nee, Porter and Edgar have combined. Incredible. I can't imagine there's another school that's been as inept in its conference tourney over the same time period.

Ron won three in a row then coach of the year by his peers the next year, then just two years later fired? KD can recruit, but not coach. RE didn't have the recruits KD has, but he could coach. Let's give Dru Joyce a chance instead of looking for some washed-up mac coach. KD didn't play even college basketball. RE played guard for V.T. Dru played 12 seasons of Professional Basketball in Europe. I think if we are going to find someone that is likely good, that no one else would give a chance to, I think it's Dru. KD should quit, seemingly on top, right now. Or, the administration should push him to. Joyce would come in for a fraction of KD's salary, With incentives if his Dukes make it to the top 4 in the A-10, then wins in the A-10 tourney, then more if he wins the A-10, then more if he wins post season. Start paying a coach to win, not just show up. 

Good points regarding multiple Duquesne coaches and their failures in the A-10 tourney, but to hold Jim Satalin responsible for the decline of Duquesne basketball is a little unfair.  He took a young team with a strong senior in Rick Suder to the A-10 semis and lost a heartbreaker to St.Joe’s when Rick was fouled on a St.Joe’s steal that decided the game.  He had a very strong nucleus returning the following year with Emmett Sellers, Ron Stevenson and Greg Harrison, when the rape allegations destroyed the program for years.  Jim’s hands were tied and he was limited to recruiting “A” students and Choir Boys for the remainder of his term as coach.  Make no mistake, he was going to win at Duquesne if not for the rape allegations that never stood up in Court.

Last edited by levon1975 (3/11/2023 8:04 am)

A follow up to Stew’s thought re going forward.
I thought KD was a pretty good hire. I think he took the job for $, his father, his wife being from Pgh and his belief that he could recruit an all star MAC team it could compete in the A10. Recruiting centered around the MAC foot print where he had familiarity. Hasn’t worked out well. Some give him a break because of Covid and the transfer portal. It is the same for all coaches. Some say losing the home court hurt. I would losing your home court is not ideal but what home court advantage is there? Students don’t care - no pep band - no atmosphere. Just a group of loyal alums. I will agree that building a program in this era isn’t easy. So what does the future hold for DU going forward? It’s only going to get tougher. Traditionally good programs who were down this year should get better. Three new, experienced winning coaches coming into the league are really going to hurt. What should happen going forward? First a probable coaching change after next year. Joyce will be more of the same recruiting foot print. Need a decent assistant from a good program or someone with head coaching experience. Recruiting should be toward the east. DU should move to the Patriot league. High academic schools where DU should have a legitimate chance to win. RMU has made the tournament out of a one bid league, why not DU. And what’s wrong with being in the position where teams pay you to play them in the non-conference rather than having to pay a bunch of stiffs come in that you have to play? I agree with others, the 20 wins this year is smoke and mirrors

Dropping down is never the answer for me Mr. BBall and I am very inclined to agree with City Duke.  20 wins has not happened a lot around here and now I would say we are at a tipping point.  If KD can keep the momentum going and add the right pieces for next year I like the direction we are heading.  Question as well, didn't we recruit a good bit more outside of the MAC footprint last year?  Where did Burre, Matus, Dixon and McGriff come from?  Hell Clark was at VCU before JC so I don't believe he qualifies as a Ohio/Michigan area recruit.  I think KD realizes he needs to recruit anywhere and everywhere and I am guessing that KD has the budget to do so.  Frankly Hughes, Weathers and Dae Dae are all upper echelon A-10 players in my opinion and this current roster with a couple quality add-ons can really make some noise next year.  Again, recruit hard, keep who we need to keep and get healthy (Dixon, Matus and Burre).  

CityDuke wrote:

Mr. Basketball wrote:

A follow up to Stew’s thought re going forward.
I thought KD was a pretty good hire. I think he took the job for $, his father, his wife being from Pgh and his belief that he could recruit an all star MAC team it could compete in the A10. Recruiting centered around the MAC foot print where he had familiarity. Hasn’t worked out well. Some give him a break because of Covid and the transfer portal. It is the same for all coaches. Some say losing the home court hurt. I would losing your home court is not ideal but what home court advantage is there? Students don’t care - no pep band - no atmosphere. Just a group of loyal alums. I will agree that building a program in this era isn’t easy. So what does the future hold for DU going forward? It’s only going to get tougher. Traditionally good programs who were down this year should get better. Three new, experienced winning coaches coming into the league are really going to hurt. What should happen going forward? First a probable coaching change after next year. Joyce will be more of the same recruiting foot print. Need a decent assistant from a good program or someone with head coaching experience. Recruiting should be toward the east. DU should move to the Patriot league. High academic schools where DU should have a legitimate chance to win. RMU has made the tournament out of a one bid league, why not DU. And what’s wrong with being in the position where teams pay you to play them in the non-conference rather than having to pay a bunch of stiffs come in that you have to play? I agree with others, the 20 wins this year is smoke and mirrors

If smoke and mirrors is something that has only been done 3 times in the last 40 years then consider me a big fan of magic tricks.  This is clearly no easy feat.  And please remember that we were not only without a homecourt for two years, but the players were also without a locker room. Anyone who has played on competitive teams knows the importance of the locker room.  It is a sacred and vital place for a team.  

Yes Dambrot brought over a few MAC transfers, but every single one of them was certainly up to the A10 standard. I would argue that Hughes, Weathers, and Grant are all upper-echelon A10 players.  And Dunn-Martin was certainly solid as well.

Nobody is Complaining about the 3 quality MAC transfers you referenced. Reece was also a productive 5th year guy. Who could argue with the coup of finding & signing Sin Carry. The issue is the dozen + average MAC quality, (or worse) recruits from the MAC's primary recruiting grounds that have come & gone.
Even Rotroff, who I absolutely love, fits this bill. He's a great representative of the university & made some nice contributions in his final  season but he was never, ever going to be the starting center for a top-notch A-10 team. 4-5 years of bringing in players with this low of a ceiling because that was the recruiting area with which you were most familiar stifled the program's progress a good bit.
( I really appreciate the talent that KD & crew brought in the spring he was hired. That was miraculous. Of course, with the exception of Chas Brown, all of the notables moved on before their eligibility was used up.)
Now, the good news is that this year's crop of recruits came from sources outside of Mac-land. Let's hope that continues.

Last edited by phil95 (3/11/2023 8:38 pm)

Phil, Hughes led the league in blocks. Him being left off the A10 defensive team was the biggest snub of the decade. C’mon Phil, choose your battles. You know as good as the rest of us that he was upper echelon.

Realistically Duquesne basketball is dead,the 20 win season was misleading and by the end of the season
when the tournament started the only team Dukes could beat for sure was Loyola..GW,ST.JOES,LASALLE
were playing like tournament teams,they had matured. the Dukes were a 500 team at best. When the mills closed and a mass population exit 

Tomorrow the Big Ten schools will send 7 or 8 teams to the tournament and all the pressure is on for UD
or VCU to send one team from A10  into tournament..Duquesne lacks big money,lacks the athletic facilities
and fanbase to compete..Thats what it looks like to me.Fordham had a great season and was ranked in the 130s for most of season..

phil95 wrote:

2 more things:
-Mike Hughes was not an upper echelon A-10 player as evidenced by his never having been recognized by the conference as a player of the week or as an all-defensive team member or most improved player or best newcomer & certainly not as a member of any of the 9 all-conference teams for which he was eligible. I firmly believe he had the body, skills, & experience to be one of the 8-10 best players in the league but he was ridiculously immature, wasn't willing to give up his histrionics for the good of the team, & was universally disliked by A-10 officiating crews. He is also my favorite example of KD's inability to command respect & discipline from his most talented/challenging players.

-I find it telling that the same folks that have consistently stuck-up for KD by saying how challenging it was for him to navigate through the mess of not having a home court for almost 2 seasons, (the last 4 home games of the 20-21 season were played at The Coop.), never seem to bring up the fact that he has had a beautiful new arena, swanky locker rooms, & really nice training facilities to sell to18-20 year-olds & their families for far longer than the home court problem existed. I agree that it must have sucked to deal with the nomadic existence for coaches, players, & administrators. I also know that there are two sides to every coin.

(Please don't point out that it is not a "new" facility. It looked/looks very new to every recruit & their families that have never seen or likely even heard of the AJ Palumbo center.)

Do you think the sparkly Coop. locker rooms, & that killer weight room wasn't a tremendous advantage over what was on offer from  Lasalle, SBU, Fordham, GW, St. Joe's, UMass, & 40 other mid-major programs that didn't get a major upgrade to recruit with coming out of COVID?

I realize that when the arena renovation etc.. was planned nobody in the PR department could have foreseen this outcome but, DU very much appeared to have made its single greatest demonstration of institutional commitment &  financial wherewithal to become a big-time winner in the program's history coming out of a worldwide pandemic & accompanying economic crisis when just about no other institution could, would, or did. Shouldn't that have been a massive recruiting advantage? If you were a coaching staff & the head man had a long-term contract do you think you would be in favor of the new facilities even if it meant playing 25ish games at different sights around town?

Hey Phil I saw the quote below as well and I would totally agree that your opinion of Michael Hughes is way off. The guy was a hell of a basketball player who didn't get the accolades he deserved within the conference. If they had a guy of his stature on this team they could have been significantly better.