Quick complaint incoming, Rose mauled Jimmy to start the half. Should have picked up his third, but refs swallowed whistle because it was Rose and led to a fastbreak layup. They are up for it now. We have to respond.

Pathetic. I wish I could say I’m surprised. 

Everytime you think this team might be turning it around they #### the bed. Put Savrasov and Hassan in the game. Nothing to lose down by 16.

Cant believe I stayed up for this crap. This coach is clueless. 

Dixon on the bench with his knee wrapped. I sure hope he’s alright.

CityDuke wrote:

Ray’s back! Things must be going poorly.

When aren't they? 

Knew it would be rowdy there.  They somehow have a student section.  We surely dont.   22-6 run, they got loud, we folded. 

Losing Dixon created a void on defense no one could fill.   I hope he is okay.  But looked bad limping around the huddles during TOs.

Necas looks like he's grown an inch or two. He'll probably be a 7 footer when all said and done and playing at the next level. Sure hope he's around for the next coach.

Well I'm back after a long drive that felt even longer after that 2nd half. This was the first game I saw in person this year, and I feel like it was a totally different team than I've been watching on TV. Credit Fordham for taking us out of the game.

I wish I could disagree with the obviously disappointed sentiment on the board, but I can't. Dambrot seems frustrated and was clearly outcoached tonight. Rose is a stud, but we have more talent than the Rams pretty much across the board. Games like this one show that sometimes it is about the Xs and Os and not just the Jimmies and Joes.

Their doubles and traps off our ball screens had the guards uncomfortable all game long and we never had an answer. It seemed every time they went to it the best result we got was a rushed shot. Clark has been great recently, but not having a true point guard on the floor really hurt tonight. Hopefully with time in between games we can find an answer so it doesn't become a blueprint against us.

Down the stretch when we desperately needed buckets, there didn't seem to be any offense. I know we needed points in bunches, but that doesn't mean they need to be 3s. There were far too many possessions down the stretch where 4 guys were standing around just waiting for the shot to go up. Every team needs a go to play they can run to get a good look when shots aren't falling. I don't feel like we have one, and isos don't count no matter how good a scorer Grant is. The big men have struggled to score pretty much all year long, but I feel like we had an advantage down low tonight. We didn't take advantage of it though, and down the stretch we didn't even try.

The defense wasn't as bad as the stats indicate in the 2nd half, but we need to do a much better job on the glass. It felt like the rebounding was pretty even off their misses, and in a close game that can definitely turn the tide. There weren't any real haymakers, but to fight for 30 seconds and force a miss only to see them still score time after time adds up.

I couldn't tell live at game speed what they were doing to get so many open looks, but Dambrot ended up yelling immediately after just about every timeout. I obviously couldn't hear the team huddles, but was close enough to hear the chatter on the bench. I lost track of how many times Coach turned to the bench after the first possession out of a timeout and said "I just told him not to do that" or something along those lines. To make matters worse it was in regards to multiple players at different times. Jimmy had an off night in just about every aspect, but he was far from the only one catching Dambrot's ire.

I didn't see what happened to Dixon, but don't think it was an elbow as someone else mentioned. He came out of halftime with his knee wrapped and a trainer was working on it with him. He did go right in, but came out shortly after and I don't think appeared after 15 or so minutes left. Mahorcic seems to be coming along healthwise, but we needed more than we got from him tonight. He looked good when he was in there, but I'd be surprised if it was much more than 10 minutes.

This game proves that fans make the atmosphere, not the arena. Rose Hill Gym has absolutely no bells and whistles, but it was a tough place to play. A flashy video board and loud music don't make for an intimidating atmosphere. You need fans who love their team and will give everything they've got to lend a hand. I don't know how long Fordham has had that, but they definitely do now. Even before they went on their run, it was consistently loud enough that you pretty much had to shout even to converse with the person next to you. That of course reached a different level early in the 2nd half. I wish our fans had even half the same passion (although I can't fault those here on the board).

I still think we have the talent to compete with anyone in the conference. Our backcourt is maybe the best in the league. Dixon is becoming a star if he can get his legs back, and Mahorcic is a 6'10 monster with as high a basketball IQ as you'll find. Drame stuffs the stat sheet, and DiMichele's youthful energy can light a spark. In a one game situation we can beat anyone we'll see. We can't seem to find our way out of the ruts we continue to fall into though. If that is the case, can we go four straight games without any? While I really hope it doesn't happen, I feel like the perfect synopsis of this team would be to beat Dayton in Brooklyn but then lose to LaSalle or someone like that.

Last edited by luckymcd (2/24/2024 4:59 am)

Unfortunately this outcome isn’t surprising. The Dukes just don’t win big games. Dambrot’s mind set of this is what we do and we are not changing really echo’s that of Tomlin. We don’t adjust, I recall once again last year when we were in a good position going into the A-10 tournament. We played a LaSalle team that just two weeks earlier we beat on their court by 17 and get out played and out coached in the rematch. 

KD went for broke by stuffing the rooster with 5th year players and then never used them. IMHO we were far too dependent on guard based scoring which has changed slightly but to admit that a walk on guard is your hardest working player is an inditement of the staff. We do absolutely nothing to help Dae Dae get open for 3’s thus forcing him to many bad shots. I realize this is back a little but think back to what Duke would do to get JJ Redcick open. How many double screens have you seen? Or better how much movement have seen by our offense. 

Finally one last point is the rebounding, or lack there of. KD thinks we are a decent rebounding team. I beg to differ. Last night again we were pounded on the boards 41-28. We are last in the conference in % of offensive rebounds allowed this isn’t new this year. 

Dome,
Out of everything I read here...including what I wrote (: I think your one sentence sums it up in that
Duquesne doesn't win big games.  They haven't under Dambrot.  This year's sellout to Dayton, they lost.  I could go on with a game or two or three from every year but won't.  And yes, he got outcoached tonight.  So for those fans, AD, and others who think we don't get it, we do.  We have stood by this team and will continue, but it's the same story.  Just look at the facts.  Coach Dambrot, thanks for improving our team, but you (and I'm going to go out on a limb here) never got us to an NCAA or NIT tournament in 7 years.

It's time to try for another coach and hope he can do it, because this one failed in that area.  Look at the attendance to be about 200 adults and 50 students at the next home game.

This was the second time we faced this team. They were well prepared and it didn't seem we were anticipating any of their potential adjustments, nor improved our own game plan from the previous meeting. It looked like we got out coached. And again, KD  subs in and breaks our runs. It's a shame because this was, of-course, a winnable game.  Well, let's win on Wed. and maybe surprise one of two on the road. The season isn't over. Go Dukes.

We're always outcoached!  If you don't believe me, ask all the folks who don't attend the home games.  My seats are near the home bench, and from what I can tell, there is a bunch of coaching going on throughout the game, how effective it is, I don't know.  I'm no expert on the matter.