That was brutal; I had to turn it off in the 3rd quarter. The Dukes were abused inside; outrebounded 50-23 and  outscored in the paint 42-14. Very disappointing.

We have to remember that this is the first year that Coach is implementing this system. He doesn’t have all the pieces he needs yet and it is remarkable that the team is 15-9. They have absolutely no true post players so that limits their inside-out scoring. The team is totally dependent on their outside shooting and when that fails, they have lost games that they could have won. So, the team needs a couple more three point shooters. The Dukes have no size, so they tend to get beat up rebounding wise. The Dukes have out-rebounded only six opponents and have won all six games. Coach needs to bring in two or three legitimate bigs, at least one of whom can protect the rim. A rim protector is vital to this system. Coach is playing 5 freshmen and 2 others that are in their first year. Blackford has played very well and is a shooter. She needs more time on the floor. Walker is playing better but she has to start thinking about shooting the ball on offense. Sane is an athlete and they probably need her strength and defense. Matic needs to play at the faster level she is now on. The others look like they have hit the wall and have to power through down the stretch. 15 wins is a testament to good coaching and the fantastic leadership and drive of Megan McConnell. She had 7 real steals last night and was close to four or five others. I like this system. Coach just needs another recruiting class to address the needs.

As an aside, Alexis Bordas (our fall signee) through January was averaging 34 points a game with games of 39, 58 and 42 points thrown in. In her high school career at Wheeling Park, she has hit 334 three-pointers. Seems like the shooter we need.

Thanks for the updates from close followers of the program.  The numbers for the incoming recruit Bordas are certainly impressive, and I wish her the best at Duquesne. I assume she is a perimeter player, and that leaves two spots on next years team that must be filled with some legitimate A-10 level bigs.  I don’t see any path forward to improvement without some 4’s and 5’s on the roster.  It would be asking a lot of any freshman recruits to shoulder the entire load in the paint next year, so I would guess that Dan will need to work the portal for some experienced size.