After going 0-5 in the last 5 games, the pitchforks have come out, as well they should.  At least two of these games we should not have lost.  We can't shoot free throws, we start slow and don't show any urgency until the last 5 minutes when we are down by 10, Necas, Hronsky, and Dixon have regressed, and the ball movement is pathetic.  I get that DJ is young and new and learning.  But, this was a team that made the round of 32 and had Dixon, Necas, Hronsky, DiMichele, and Rozier returning.  For them to fall off so much is disturbing.  I put some of that on the assistants who should have as much a hand in player development as DJ.  KD had very experienced support.  I question if Dru has the same.

Last edited by indygjm (2/06/2025 1:26 am)

Rayrich wrote:

Styles1229 wrote:

Rayrich wrote:

Can Corbett finish a layup or dunk? Can't make a foul shot, so what is his purpose exactly? Need to get transfers in the portal who come from winning programs

Matus has been shooting horribly but for some reason he’s not seeing the court. The other horrible shooters are out there. Maybe Max keeps this going the rest of the season and we can scratch out another win or two.

I think a lot of what we said at the beginning of the season is true. Dru is learning. Mooney is the best coach in the conference in my opinion and Dru is seeing him at home for the first time. We aren’t a one win team in the A-10 but we’re not a 9 win team either. Hopefully Dru learns this year. I expected growing pains and this is what growing pains looks like.

Shouldn't have growing pains when you make the Final 32 the year before and return 5 or 6 guys and get six quality transfers. Not sure this coach is going to grow and if he does it it will probably be at another institution years from now. Reactionary hire i'm afraid. Had the chance to build something special after last season and now were back to the same old downtrodden program. Sad.
 

I agree and said at the time that we should have gotten a high profile coach to build on last season’s success. I believed a step back was inevitable with the Dru hire.  Davidson did the same thing when McKillop retired and they are struggling to compete too. I don’t agree though that the returning players should have yielded success just because of last year. DiMichele has been hurt and the others beside Dixon were not difference makers.  Drame, Dae Dae, and Jimmy along with Jake were the biggest reason we were great last year. None of them are playing now. I think Dru will be good but we are seeing him learning how to recruit, coach, and manage a program. Unfortunately it will take time. At this point, if this team finishes 7-11 and wins a game in the A-10 tourney I will be satisfied.  It should not have gone this way but this is where we are.  In November we feared we wouldn’t win an A-10 game - in mid January we thought we’d win it all.  Now we know the truth was somewhere in between. When Dru was hired I did not foresee us competing to win the A-10 this year - so I’m not surprised this is where we are.  I will be surprised if we are not competing to win over the next 4 years though.

stew wrote:

Dukes looked lethargic,not ready to play and boy it surely showed.Just embarrassing to watch.You cannot
shoot free throws without good technique and the coaches allow guys like Corbett to shoot with this poor form
without working on changing his delivery.Where is the basic coaching to correct his free throws?

DJ was quoted by the Trib after stating "I didn't think anything was short on effort and energy, but I think we were a little shell-shocked in the beginning". 

Were we watching the same game?

Last edited by indygjm (2/06/2025 9:58 am)

townsonkid wrote:

Shell-shocked by what, playing at Richmond?   Its nothing new.   
There is just very little A10 talent on this team.   Bottom line.   
Actually need to hope a lot of these guys portal out of here.   Give Dru another shot at the portal now that things have settled down from last years fun times.

Completely agree! We have seen that those coaches who know how to work the portal can affect quick turnarounds in their teams. Here's hoping that Dru and staff are able to bring in the kind of talent in the future that this program is lacking this season. AND COACH THEM UP!!   GO DUKES!!!

Did I read somewhere that season-ticket holders got a commemorative championship ring? I thought I did but never saw anything of it again and can’t seem to find anything.

Styles1229 wrote:

BluffHunter wrote:

Did I read somewhere that season-ticket holders got a commemorative championship ring? I thought I did but never saw anything of it again and can’t seem to find anything.

I’m a season ticket holder. I did not hear anything about a ring

Must have been a dream. I have no idea what I could be talking about. Maybe it was another school and I saw it on Twitter or something like that.