KenOTR73 wrote:

In case anyone is remotely interested, here is the list of teams that have made the tournament but have now had many years since their last appearance... Furman has just removed itself from the list. Good luck to them...
Just looking at the teams whose streaks are active now, we are tied with VMI at seven from the bottom.
At least I was actually attending classes when we went against Penn (and lost) in 1971. Unfortunately, I missed the Sweet Sixteen appearance two years earlier.
I don't mean to whine, but CAN WE PLEASE MAKE IT TO THE FREAKIN' TOURNAMENT BEFORE I DIE!!!
Thank you for your kind attention!

https://www.rookieroad.com/march-madness/longest-drought-streaks-4909232/
 

Interesting list. Kind of a misery likes company post.

Ironic that the Dukes are playing Rice in the opening round of the CBI; they have a longer NCAA drought going than the Dukes.

stew wrote:

If the Dukes  stay in a very mediocre A10 conference it will be when hell freezes over  and you can be sure Duquesne will never play in a NCAA tournament when that happens.

Why are you blaming the conference for our ineptitude?  Every team in the conference has been in the tournament since our last appearance.  Yes, every team.   

And moving to a lower conference means less resources and less chance to make it.  Not increased.

We'd have to go 28-2 to get an at-large bid.  That aint happening.   Only shot we ever have to make NCAA is to win conference tourn, and that can be achieved in the Patriot or NEC.    Indeed overal interest would go down, but not much, no one around these parts cares about VCU or Richmond.   They might care about Army, Colgate, Bucknell and Navy tho.   We could recruit some local players, Patriot level guys, maybe actually grow the interest in the program locally.   

I think the chances we'd make a NCAA in the next 25 years would be greatly increased.  

Last edited by townsonkid (3/13/2023 2:18 pm)

townsonkid wrote:

We'd have to go 28-2 to get an at-large bid.  That aint happening.   Only shot we ever have to make NCAA is to win conference tourn, and that can be achieved in the Patriot or NEC.    Indeed overal interest would go down, but not much, no one around these parts cares about VCU or Richmond.   They might care about Army, Colgate, Bucknell and Navy tho.   We could recruit some local players, Patriot level guys, maybe actually grow the interest in the program locally.   

I think the chances we'd make a NCAA in the next 25 years would be greatly increased.  

Not really.

Play schedule with a S.O.S. rating of 120 or lower, beat 2 very good non-con opponents, win 24 or more games overall, 14 or more in conference, & don't crap out in the conference tournament.

These results will get you an at-large bid from the A-10 in 9-10 years.

coffee wrote:

We tried going to an easier conference in 1993- the MCC, now the Horizon League (Bobby Mo’s home now).
Playing in a lower caliber league will not increase the talent we can bring to the Bluff.  The A10 is a good fit for our CURRENT level of commitment from the University.  You CAN NOT blame the current level of commitment for all the past years of neglect and inept leadership.
I don’t want two Horizon League level teams in Pittsburgh.  I want to see the highest level competition that we have a good chance to play against and we proved we can finish in the upper half of the A10.

I don’t want to back into the dance like a Fairleigh Dickinson.

Beating VCU this year meant a lot more than beating Merrimack.

100% of this.  Going in as an automatic 16 seed is the aim here.  Gee, that sounds like something to strive for.  Robert Morris moved up to Horizon and their attendance is still horrible.   Many of their league games due an official attendance of <1000.   People in Pittsburgh would care as much about playing Colgate or Holy Cross as they would IUPUI or Oakland.  And that internet would be zero. 

You simply do not move to a lower conference.   I can not think of one school that has evervoluntarily moved to a lower conference.  Temple got kicked out of Big East football, but that was not voluntary. 

So you get less interest, less resources and the same ineptitude trying to get you to win the tournament. No thanks.

scduke wrote:

coffee wrote:

We tried going to an easier conference in 1993- the MCC, now the Horizon League (Bobby Mo’s home now).
Playing in a lower caliber league will not increase the talent we can bring to the Bluff. The A10 is a good fit for our CURRENT level of commitment from the University. You CAN NOT blame the current level of commitment for all the past years of neglect and inept leadership.
I don’t want two Horizon League level teams in Pittsburgh. I want to see the highest level competition that we have a good chance to play against and we proved we can finish in the upper half of the A10.

I don’t want to back into the dance like a Fairleigh Dickinson.

Beating VCU this year meant a lot more than beating Merrimack.

Pardon my aging brain for forgetting, but why did we leave the A-10 in the first place and why did we return after only one year?

Dayton and Xavier lured them into MCC with the thoughts of building a midwestern Big East like conference.   LaSalle who was independent joined with them.   It wasn’t exactly a bad move because A10 was always courting and begging the WVU, Rutgers and Va Techs to stay.   I disagree slightly with Coffee here,  he said lower conference.   I think they were on similar levels, but MCC were all bb first schools.   

But Dayton did them dirty.   Right after  DU’s first MCC bb season, Dayton announced they were leaving for a conference called the Great Midwest. So X was looking to leave the MCC and put  the MCC  back on shaky ground.   If DU knew Dayton was going to  bolt, they never would have joined MCC.  So A10 took DU back. 


A few years later Great Midwest failed.   And Xavier, Dayton and LaSalle all joined A10.

Last edited by DuqBlue (3/13/2023 6:58 pm)

Stew and townsonkid get it

Mr. Basketball wrote:

I hoping someone can help me out. A few days ago a poster who goes by “coffee”  posted , “I don’t want to back into the dance like Fairleigh Dickinson.” I’ve played and followed college basketball for over 50 years and have never heard a statement like that. What does it mean. Does it mean that FDU backed a vehicle up and ran over Purdue? Using FDU turned out to be a poor example whatever it means. I always thought you had to “qualify” for the NCAA tournament. Let’s take a look at what has happened after two days of the tournament games. Furman, Princeton and, yes, Fairleigh Dickinson all were winners. At last check I don’t believe any of these are from a power five conference or even a mid-major conference. Interesting. What Duquesne fan wouldn’t want to be in their shoes today? Oh wait, DU is going dancing. It’s the College Basketball Irrelevant tournament and you have to pay your way into it. How sad. Bye the way does anyone remember what Loyola and St. Peter’s were able to do in the tournament in recent years? And the kid who threw in 29 points for PSU the other night is a graduate transfer from, of all places, Bucknell of the Patriot League. So I would again submit that if the goal is winning a conference championship and going to the tournament then the Patriot or some other league must be the path going forward for Duquesne. A sorry thing to say but the situation is a sorrowful situation. Said with a heavy heart for all the loyal and passionate Duquesne fans that see a program at the crossroads.

Merrimack was the tournament and regular season champions. But, was ineligible to participate in the NCAA tournament because they are in their last year of the transition period of moving from division 2.  Why the NEC let them play in their automatic qualifying tournament is beyond me. FDU as runner up got the bid.

So why did Loyola Chicago join the A10?

Wildwood13 wrote:

Mr Basketball, you might not want to let Steel Bowl know you played basketball. He will include you and take an unnecessary shot at you before commenting!!

 
I didn’t know referees who pontificate could be so sensitive. 

For anyone else following along or who may have been offended by my “shot”, it wasn’t a shot. For context, in a couple posts before mine in another thread, posters’ backgrounds were being discussed. My point was that for the most part someone's “credentials” shouldn’t  matter. Maybe the opinion of a ref on a call, a coach, on Xs and Os, or an ex-player, on playing college ball, should carry more weight. But everyone on this board is entitled to his opinion regardless of his credentials.  

For you, Wildwood, I’m not annoyed by you. I find it amusing that you, who might be the person who most often tries to bully or berate others, are so very sensitive that you go looking for and then complain about “unnecessary” and “unprovoked shots” at you. You’ve  called other posters incompetent and immature and their opinions ridiculous. But I personally attacked you. That’s rich. I  find it sad that you seem to take pride in “addressing” in that way anyone who you perceive as attacking you. But by making that statement you pretty much prove my point about you trying to intimidate anyone who disagrees with you.

After a few comments, I’ll let you have the last word on this. But please don’t think you've bullied me into silence. I just don’t care enough about winning some argument that you think we’re having.  

You don’t like Dambrot. You’ve said it. We all get it. Some people think he’s doing a good job. It’s called a difference of opinion. As the saying goes, everyone is entitled to their opinions but not their own facts. Maybe you don’t understand the difference. But some of your facts aren’t facts.  

Here’s a few examples.  Stating things like - Dambrot can only recruit MAC level players. Dambrot can’t evaluate talent. Dambrot may have been a good MAC coach but is over his head in the A10. Those are your opinions and you are entitled to them. But when you refuse to give Dambrot any credit for anything, it  gets a little hard to take your opinion about him all that seriously.  

You’ve  posted about guys leaving.  A couple have left to go to a higher level. I guess those guys that did were not only better than MAC players, they were better than A10 players. But it’s Dambrot’s fault they left. No credit for getting them here. Just blame. Some might make a lateral move for personal reasons or move down because they didn’t like their role here. Not sure how you stop that but again you just hand out blame.  But, of course, that’s because you know from your sources the real reasons they left. Everyone else who heard something different or has an opinion, is wrong. Only you have the facts. Maybe sometimes you are right. Maybe a kid confided in you or someone you know that the kid didn’t get along with Dambrot. Is that some revelation? A player transferred because he didn’t like his coach? Say it ain’t so!  Is Dambrot the only coach that has happened to?

You see, even when you raise, what might be some fault of Dambrot’s, it makes it harder to take your opinions seriously when you spin everything to support your opinion that Dambrot can’t coach. It  also doesn’t help that you criticize damn near everything, branding, marketing, etc. Wait I think you complimented Dave Harper a few times. It doesn’t prove your expertise when you come up with solutions like recruit local kids, when the fact is Dambrot has offered nearly every local kid who has gone to an A10 school or higher level.

Now let me restate a couple other facts. Duquesne has had one NCAA tournament appearance in 46 years. That was by a .500 team, lead by a future NBA All Star, that benefited from some luck, and won an automatic bid. In those 46 seasons, under 10 coaches, including this season and Dambrot, they have 8 postseason appearances, including CBIs. Everyone can have an opinion on what that should mean about the program and Dambrot’s future. Everyone. Ex-players, coaches, fans, and even referees.