Just seeing Gibson Jimerson on any list makes me laugh, I think he started at SLU when I graduated from DU in 1995.

It's a bit low, but, it makes sense. New Coach, top two scorers gone. But, it's better to start the season with a chip on their shoulders, because this is a great group of players, and combine last years defensive effort with a more aggressive offense and this Dukes team is going to make another run for the A-10. Preseason predictions mean little. You still have to play the games.  Go Dukes.

The Great Ghost is alive wrote:

It's understandable why the Dukes are not picked among the preseason top 4, because they lost Grant and Clark.  However, there are 6 returnees who have experience playing in "high leverage" situations and three of them - Dixon, DiMichele and Necas - had their minutes go way up toward the end of the season when the team began to play well.  That just wasn't a coincidence. Those 3 having the coaches finding their roles had to be just as important as Grant and Clark's contributions.
I suppose Joyce needs to find 2 big scorers to replace Grant and Clark, but this roster has players on it who have collectively scored over 5,000 career points. The transfers from St. Francis, Chicago State and Canisus appear to be the most promising as far as "scorers".   There's no way this team finishes lower than 5th or 6th. 

GGA soooo agree with your analysis of Dixon, DiMichele & Necas expanded performance down the stretch to the Big Dance. However, I would add Kareem Rozier  as a key 6th man for the Dukes. Point guard is a crucial position & the Dukes should be very deep with Kareem’s leadership coming off the bench. If he starts I have no problem but I love his experience down the stretch in close games. Go Dukes

The Great Ghost is alive wrote:

It's understandable why the Dukes are not picked among the preseason top 4, because they lost Grant and Clark.  However, there are 6 returnees who have experience playing in "high leverage" situations and three of them - Dixon, DiMichele and Necas - had their minutes go way up toward the end of the season when the team began to play well.  That just wasn't a coincidence. Those 3 having the coaches finding their roles had to be just as important as Grant and Clark's contributions.
I suppose Joyce needs to find 2 big scorers to replace Grant and Clark, but this roster has players on it who have collectively scored over 5,000 career points. The transfers from St. Francis, Chicago State and Canisus appear to be the most promising as far as "scorers".   There's no way this team finishes lower than 5th or 6th. 

Agree. Lets not forget about the Furman transfer Williams who is a very experienced and accomplished player who averaged 12ppg last season for a good deep Furman team. Edwards the GW transfer who has incredible upside, and is a solid scorer and even more so a solid rebounders who crashes the boards, Crawford another guy with an incredible upside who averaged just under double digits at Marshall and who was highly recruited, and Juco transfer Hall who looks very athletic. Way more talent on this team compared to last and you add the expected improvement from the returning group. Gonna be a fun ride and the Dukes are going to be tough all year.