SteelBowl wrote:

I have no credentials. I don’t coach. Don’t referee 6 nights a week. Never played college ball. I’m just a college basketball fan. The program I root the hardest for and follow the closest is Duquesne. The frustration of Duquesne fans is understandable. But if we are going to talk about reality.  

The reality is that this isn’t the 1950s when small, city schools, especially those in the northeast had advantages like more local talent and the ability to recruit black players. It’s not the late ‘60s-early 70s before the conference realignments and big TV money. When those changes were happening Duquesne didn’t react or do much to keep up with the times. When the Big East was created the Dukes weren’t  invited. They were stuck in a second tier conference, in a third rate facility and on a shoestring budget.

The reality is Duquesne was just clawing its way to a middle of the pack program in the A10 with paying coaches more, the Coop, and some other long needed changes when the landscape changed again. The portal and the NIL aren’t made to help the Duquesne’s. The only way they don’t kill the Duquesne’s is if they find a way to adapt. Duquesne’s collective will never have the money the big boys will  have. But maybe it can have enough money to compete with the better mid majors. Maybe that keeps Duquesne in the hunt for some players or keeps a few guys from transferring out. Maybe not. But instead of trying, let’s not take part in the NIL. Instead let’s criticize the coaching staff for recruiting “MAC” players and for “player turnover.”

The reality is the NCAA is skewed more and more to favor the P5 and big time programs. Look at who gets the at large bids. I know they lost. But 27-7 regular season MAC champ Toledo loses its conf championship game and gets to go on the road to play 17-15 8th place Michigan in the NIT while WVU 8th in its conf with a losing conf record goes to the NCAAs.  At least Toledo went to the NIT. Maybe I missed it, but was Fordham even invited?

My hope is Duquesne wins A10 championships and goes to the NCAA  tournament. Those should always be the program’s goals. But in a 15 team league that will likely be a 2 or maybe 3 bid league realistically how often is that going to happen? It didn’t happened here for what 40 years and 8 coaches. But let’s fire a 9th coach if the Dukes don’t dance next year. 

Well said, SteelBowl. I don't think we have ever been a school that spent a lot of money on athletics. Supposedly Chick Davies made more money teaching high school. It is said that we suspended basketball because of World War II. That is only part of the story. Enrollment suffered but Pitt still had a team during that time. After the war enrollment rebounded but we kept our tuition lower than most private schools so building an endowment lagged. We were still able to win without big bucks because there was less competition and a surplus of local talent. Our tuition increased when Pitt undercut our tuition becoming state-related. Then Father Mac beefed up the endowment in the later part of his tenure. Between this brief history and the so-called "arms race" in college sports, we are always catching up. It does seem that DU didn't adapt to change when it started in the 1970's, but could it have anyway without money?