duq.dog wrote:

Merry Christmas to you and your families. 

Deuce Jones, Joe's top scorer and best player left the team today. A very similar situation to the Hugley saga. Dru/staff need to catch some more flack for this in my opinion. Is he with you or is he not? It's a straight yes or no at this point in the season. A week before conference play. Defense being stronger has to have some correlation with his absence. Dixon can clearly handle the load the rest of the way if he can stay out of foul trouble. Necas need to play 32+ minutes, and Van Bussel needs to improve mightily if they want to be competitive. 

Not sure what Dru needs to catch flack for - please elaborate. Not saying I disagree, just not sure where you think he went wrong. Schools like Duquesne NEED to take chances on guys like Hugley.  They also need to cut bait if the player is a problem before the season gets torpedoed.  Seems like that’s what is happening but need more info to be sure.  Seems like Dru did his best to bring in a guy with huge upside and tried to build confidence. It could have worked out. Also seems he did not put up with weak effort and wrong attitude and pulled the plug in enough time to be ready for conference play. I guess we’ll see how it all works out.  Still too much unknown.

It would be great to have Hughley back and on the court, but only if he plays some defense. Really think he slows the team down and they become hesitant on offense instead of using their athleticism, speed, and talent, They just don't look comfortable with him on the court at times. Totally different team on defense without him. Rooting for Jon, but we may be especially good without him.

Styles post emphasizes my opinion on this fully. I have been rooting heavily for Hugley to be the man he needs to be while at Duquesne. On the court and off, I am rooting for him. Any sort of success this season is not obtainable without him. I am saying Dru needs to catch flack on not addressing his status for simple reasons, It is a yes or no question in terms of him being available in the immediate future and in 2025, chemistry is more important than ever. It appears likely John will be back but his absence is a mixture of family/personal reasons & on-court/team problems. Addressing this would've avoided speculation and or worries from people like myself.

Styles1229 wrote:

duq.dog wrote:

Styles post emphasizes my opinion on this fully. I have been rooting heavily for Hugley to be the man he needs to be while at Duquesne. On the court and off, I am rooting for him. Any sort of success this season is not obtainable without him. I am saying Dru needs to catch flack on not addressing his status for simple reasons, It is a yes or no question in terms of him being available in the immediate future and in 2025, chemistry is more important than ever. It appears likely John will be back but his absence is a mixture of family/personal reasons & on-court/team problems. Addressing this would've avoided speculation and or worries from people like myself.

Ah yes, I agree.  This program never provides explanations for anything and the press does very little to get us any information.  I’m not talking about protected health information or gossip about personal matters but there is a way to ask and answer questions that protects privacy - we get none of that.  Im still not sure what is going on with John but it appears he is still supporting his teammates and is invested in the program.  It appears he was benched on the recent road trip and it appeared that he and Dru were not seeing eye to eye during a timeout.  As fans who are asked to contribute to a fund to pay these players and support the program I would expect at least some investigation by the press to shed some light on the situation. Big John was the centerpiece of the recruiting class.  I think it would warrant some press.

Not sure what you expect the press to do when Dru gives a pretty clear “no” when asked for explanation for his absence and why he was not on premises for Canisius. It’s not like the topic was ignored. I think coaches lack of comment means just as much as if he were to say anything. Programs just don’t go out and talk about personal issues team members are having and they never will.

Styles's central point has long been a truth a out the program. Look no further than the absurdity of never announcing the injury or developmental redshirt seasons for Hall, A. Williams, Jellum, Jake, & Lawson.

Styles1229 wrote:

BluffHunter wrote:

Styles1229 wrote:

Ah yes, I agree.  This program never provides explanations for anything and the press does very little to get us any information.  I’m not talking about protected health information or gossip about personal matters but there is a way to ask and answer questions that protects privacy - we get none of that.  Im still not sure what is going on with John but it appears he is still supporting his teammates and is invested in the program.  It appears he was benched on the recent road trip and it appeared that he and Dru were not seeing eye to eye during a timeout.  As fans who are asked to contribute to a fund to pay these players and support the program I would expect at least some investigation by the press to shed some light on the situation. Big John was the centerpiece of the recruiting class.  I think it would warrant some press.

Not sure what you expect the press to do when Dru gives a pretty clear “no” when asked for explanation for his absence and why he was not on premises for Canisius. It’s not like the topic was ignored. I think coaches lack of comment means just as much as if he were to say anything. Programs just don’t go out and talk about personal issues team members are having and they never will.

That is not true. Many programs talk about why a player is not present at a game or if they are being benched for disciplinary reasons. Pitt certainly has. A good reporter gets the story.  We don’t need to know details but one question at one press conference when this has been ongoing is not good enough.  Other people can be asked questions too. Assuming John is away on a personal matter and is posting pics on social media about a baby being born shows he’s not concerned about his privacy on this. Regardless of this situation, we get nothing.  Mahorcic didn’t play in the round of 32 game against Illinois after logging big minutes and being impactful in the games leading up to it.  Nobody even asked why.  To this day, I’ve always been curious. Part of being a fan is following the team closely and knowing these types of things. It raises the profile of the program too. If Dru continued to stonewall after different forms of the same question and the way that he stonewalls, conclusions can be drawn. Just asking for more and better coverage of this program.  That all leads to more enthusiasm for it and more tickets being sold.

I’ll leave it at this.  Somebody previously mentioned Deuce Jones.  A very quick Google search produced multiple articles about the situation.  It was reported that neither side has confirmed the reasons for his departure, but it’s also reported that an NIL dispute is going on.  No need to go into the specifics, the point is, a reporter didn’t just take no for an answer. He went out and found the likely reason and reported what he learned.  That’s what reporters covering a team do.  We don’t need to know the specifics of John’s situation but it would be nice to know if there is an ongoing disagreement about his play/effort or if it’s “personal.”  Knowing that satisfies a fan base without slandering anyone or prying into their personal life.

duq.dog wrote:

The Deuce Jones situation is pretty identical to this one. Both Hugley and Deuce have not appeared in the last 2 games for their team. Joes blasted their social media with a statement that Deuce would not be returning. Duquesne would never do this.

Again, the why for John being out does not need addressed. As I said, it is irrelevant. Is he coming back or not? A good journalist is able to get answers without doing any of that. How can we say they are prying at John's personal matters by only having asked the simple question of "Are you going to address John Hugley's status" and getting met with a straight "no". He has not played in 2 weeks and you have a conference game in 6 days, it needs answered if he is with the team or not. 

There is a long and growing list of these types of situations that are never truly addressed by anyone and I think some frustration is warranted. 
 

It’s really journalism 101. Other programs’ beat reporters cover the team like professionals.  Our reporters seem to be an extension of the DU public relations department.  I see the problem being with the Trib/Post Gazette and other media covering the team. But even if very little resources are given to cover the team I’d like to see an ambitious news hound start to make covering this team their brand. I really don’t blame DU much (though they could improve with info available,) I blame the news outlets. You can’t build a fan base without good coverage. That has to come first - you can’t wait till there is a robust public interest.  The former feeds the latter

Your guess is as good as any.

Whatever.the details may be. John's history isn't doing him any favors. I hate to see a young man miss out on what would likely to be his final opportunity to make a career out of basketball should this go south.

BluffHunter wrote:

I can most definitely understand the frustration with how the program handles things including injuries and redshirts. But for this situation, I think it’s still playing itself out. John’s posts hyping up his teammates make me think this is an issue that can be resolved. I just hope if it does he gets back on D and keeps a hand up if he’s defending the perimeter.