luckymcd wrote:

Familiar faces continue to show up on the portal. Ethan Morton and Mounir Hima (again) put their names in yesterday.

It would certainly be nice to see Morton come home for his final year.

townsonkid wrote:

Primo Spears back in the portal.   Funny seeing teams fans want him.   Kansas, St Johns.   

He's a legit scorer. He averaged 16 per game in the Big East and 11 a game in the ACC. He's scored 15 or more against St. Bonaventure, Davidson, Northwestern, South Carolina, Syracuse, Xavier (twice including 37 in one), Connecticut, Marquette, Villanova (twice), St. John's, Providence (twice), Creighton, North Carolina (twice), Louisville, and Clemson. So I can see why portal-watching fans would want him. As has been discussed here before, highlight videos don't show complete games.  There has to be a reason he's looking for his seventh school in as many years. It's probably because every single one of those high scoring games came in a loss.

Last edited by luckymcd (4/11/2024 3:06 pm)

I don't he was a team player in any way at DU. He was definitely more team oriented at his 2nd & 3rd stops.

I also thought KD didn't have the balls to glue him to the bench in the attempt to rectify that situation. There was no accountability on that Dukes team as far as Primo was concerned.

Really want this the kid from Samford as well as Edwards. That would make us very solid in the backcourt. A piece or two in the frontcourt and we are in business.

phil95 wrote:

I want to know why Samford's best players played so few minutes this season.

10 players average double figure in minutes, and another was at 9.3 mpg.   They were 29-6, so must have worked out for them.

We had 11 avg double figure minutes.   But 2 of ours were over 30 mpg.

Last edited by townsonkid (4/12/2024 9:54 am)

https://bustingbrackets.com/posts/atlantic-10-basketball-2024-offseason-pressure-index-for-each-team-01hv2pcag4c3/2

Thiero would be the ultimate pickup. Several draft boards have upgraded him to be a 2025 lottery pick.

WashPaRick wrote:

What's the pressure index referring to?

I think it’s how much pressure is on the team to be successful in the portal. I think I’d put it higher than 5 for the Dukes. Without the portal, next year would definitely be a rebuilding year. With it, we have the opportunity to keep the success of last season going or even build on it.

The next couple years can either be a turning point back towards the glory days (although I don’t know if we’ll ever be a top 10 program again) or the nail in the coffin of Duquesne basketball. If we reach the promised land after 40+ years only to fall back into the abyss that may be the last chance we ever have to bring in more than the spattering of fans we’ve all been used to for so long. It’s a lot to be putting on a first time head coach, but I think Dru is up for the challenge.

I would take Shulga over every portal player the Dukes have shown interest in; that includes Bronny & Thiero. He is super skilled, smart, tough, a great shooter, experienced, athletic, he knows the A-10, & has great positional size. Aside from TJ, Duquesne hasn't had a lead guard with as many positive attributes in 30+ years. I feel like he would fill the team's greatest area of need in a damn near perfect way.

Unfortunately, I don't think he is leaving VCU just to go to another A-10 school. I bet he gets a dozen high major offers.

KD deserves much credit for bringing in better, bigger, stronger players. I think the next step for the program is to maintain & improve the quality of the recruits while also aiming for players with significantly higher basketball IQs. Shulga would be a great place to start.

BluffHunter wrote:

Lawal and Shulga of VCU in the portal!

phil95 wrote:

I would take Shulga over every portal player the Dukes have shown interest in; that includes Bronny & Thiero. He is super skilled, smart, tough, a great shooter, experienced, athletic, he knows the A-10, & has great positional size. Aside from TJ, Duquesne hasn't had a lead guard with as many positive attributes in 30+ years. I feel like he would fill the team's greatest area of need in a damn near perfect way.

Unfortunately, I don't think he is leaving VCU just to go to another A-10 school. I bet he gets a dozen high major offers.

KD deserves much credit for bringing in better, bigger, stronger players. I think the next step for the program is to maintain & improve the quality of the recruits while also aiming for players with significantly higher basketball IQs. Shulga would be a great place to start.

The last guard we got from VCU worked out pretty damn good. That last part sounds like a shot at this year’s team. I remarked many times how smart I thought the team played. It was a big part of the defense Shawn the stretch. Everyone played good positional defense, but the team defense was exceptional.

Last edited by luckymcd (4/18/2024 2:19 pm)

The offense was exasperating at times last season, but I focused on defense. Even something as fundamental as using the baseline as a defender or funneling the ball handler where you want them to go they were exceptional at. It’s something really basic, but when most teams don’t do it, there’s a big difference when one does it well.

A bummer but not unexpected.