I forgot to congratulate Jimmie on being the best player in the conference tonight. 

Yes, great performance tonight by Jimmie Williams.  Dave did his thing in the paint on defense and rebounding, but the Dukes just had nobody else who could score.  Necas had a very rough night trying to score in the paint. StLouis did a good job of contesting those shots without fouling, if that was the case. 
Great work by the Dukes on the half-court trap!  St Louis never figured it out, and it should have cost them the game! Four straight turnovers but no points!

You take out Williams and Dixon the rest of the team shot 10 for 41. That's hard to overcome.

Dixon was +10 while on the floor in his 28 minutes.  While Hugley was -14 in 12 minutes I believe. Obviously Hugley has to play given the lack of depth at Center. But some of the combinations of guys out there is head scratching sometimes. Hugley needs to play with Necas out there. Dixon can play with A Williams when Necas is subbed out. 

Interesting fact. The game against Duquesne was the closest contest St. Louis has seen thus far in A10 play. The four point loss by Duquesne contrasts to nine points or more by any other team.  I think this reinforces the fact that Duquesne can be a threat in the A-10, especially with the lackluster offensive play toward the end of the game by Duquesne.

We’re seeing the team continue to play better defensively. If the offense can really kick in, and we solve the three spot that we’ve been discussing, this team will gain more and more confidence in the defensive and offensive sides of the coin.

Agreed,Styles1229. The important thing is that Dru recognizes the core issue & took a serious look at an unorthodox solution against an opponent that allowed for a bit of experimentation without consequences. I just wish he would have given Hall a try closer to the 15 game mark. There just aren't that many shopping days left until Christmas.

I would prefer to see Alex get a sustained & serious audition for this role. My big concern with him is whether or not he has the mobility, length, & athleticism to keep up with 2s & 3s on defense. He had 2 early DNPs against Villanova & Central St., is behind Max & Jake in minutes per game, & his percentage of time playing with 3 or more starters is almost nonexistent. In a combined 34 games & 680 minutes, Jake & Cam have put up 7 double figure scoring games. Alex has 5 such games in 18 tries/241 minutes. Maybe he could play as a smallish stretch 4 on offense with Necas serving as a big 3 & then reverse roles on defense?

I can't see Max in a 25-30 minute a game starting role because of his frequently erratic play, lack of focus, & periods of lackluster effort. I have long thought  him to be the strongest combination of learned skills & natural talent on the team. However, if he were going to put those things together with the maturity & high basketball I.Q. that it takes to be a no-brainer choice as a an A-10 starter on a strong team, he would have done so long before his 5th year of college & 51st game as a Duke.

Taking Cam out of the starting lineup & plugging Jake in for 4-5 consecutive games would have been a worthwhile experiment. I now see it as being too late in the season to try that given Jake's performance in a limited & somewhat erratic role. Has Jake lost "it"  for the duration of this season due to his long rehab or did Dru screw him up by not challenging him with more responsibility & minutes & a place in the starting lineup 5 or 6 games ago. Your guess is as good as mine.

Either way, I really hope Jake hangs around for his last 2 years of eligibility. He is just what the program needs to stabilize & grow the currently flagging winning culture that was so tantalizing to all Dukes fans at the end of the 23-24 season.

Similarly, the university's commitment to the program & its young coach will be judged at season's end when we see how much they are willing to spend & how hard they will fight to bring Necas, Jimmie and to a lesser extent, Bus & Milosevic back.

There is realistic, if not likely, chance that yesterday's victory can be the beginning of a momentum building & season saving 3, 4, or even 5 game mid-conference-slate winning streak. They have the talent to get this done. Do they have the heart & leadership?

Styles1229 wrote:

CTS wrote:

Interesting fact. The game against Duquesne was the closest contest St. Louis has seen thus far in A10 play. The four point loss by Duquesne contrasts to nine points or more by any other team.  I think this reinforces the fact that Duquesne can be a threat in the A-10, especially with the lackluster offensive play toward the end of the game by Duquesne.

We’re seeing the team continue to play better defensively. If the offense can really kick in, and we solve the three spot that we’ve been discussing, this team will gain more and more confidence in the defensive and offensive sides of the coin.

I actually don’t mind Dru trying Hall at the 3 to start the game. At least it shows he understands it’s a problem that needs to be solved.  And that he’s being a little creative.  But Hall wasn’t the answer. Not a disaster, but he didn’t give us anything more than Cam.  I wonder how Max would respond to being the starter. Would he focus and give maximum effort?  Or can he not just turn that switch after such an extended period of below average play?  It’s baffling that Jake’s defense has regressed to the point where he can’t realistically get a lot of minutes.   2 years ago he was a major contributor on a championship team and he played 25+ minutes a game.  It’s on Dru to figure this out. I like seeing that he’s trying.

Last edited by phil95 (1/25/2026 3:22 pm)