Requiescat in pace!!!  My Lord, E.D.  I never for once thought you'd stoop to the level of a Ritters mentality.  You are way too bright and erudite for that type of mindset.  I generally find it repulsive to attack in a seemingly personal way, but your mindset over D.C. and our point guard situation is more than a fixation.  I always thought you saw the good side of things that were and are going on, but somehow and someway you've managed to poison your own thinking process because of your disdain for D.C.  There ain't no quick fix to your wanting to see D.C. fall of the face of the earth.  There ain't no quick fix for you and the others wanting the PG situation to heal itself.  He is going to be our PG "per omnia saecula saeculorum" at least for the next two years.  Ferry has only three pure guards for next year. (D.C., M.M. and D.R.--to me J.J. is a 3)  He needs at least one more whether it is a Jesus Christ P.G. or a combo guard.  As far as talking about Micah moving to PG, so what?  His numbers say he protects the ball.  So do T.J.'s.  To me it don't make any difference whether you protect the ball from the 1 or 2 spot.  You are either a ball handler or you are not.  Micah's a ball handler.  Before other posters jump all over me about speed at the PG position, it isn't all that relevant except for limited times on D.  Micah has shown he's a smart enough player to play D with the skill set he now has.  For anyone who thinks this is pure b.s., I suggest you come out to Greentree in the summer and watch Micha play against the best guards-PG and SG's- the local area has to offer.   I am going to save your post and you and others who don't like D.C. can save mine.  I'll bet a Jersey Mike sub against the field that the Dukes have a winning season all around-OCC and League schedule with the guards we have and any other one Ferry may bring on board.  I just hate to see so much negativity on this board when so much good is happening.  Man, am I glad I got cataract surgery to I can see the Dukes in a much better light.  Lighten up E.D.!!  Thanks.  Incidentally, I think the guy you talked about bought my 1967 Bug.

Last edited by grammudder (4/28/2014 2:10 pm)

Coulter thanks his lucky stars that he doesn't smell bad!  Then he would really be in trouble.  It's one thing to "stink" at basketball (personally I do not think he does), it's another thing to just plain "stink" (can't judge on that), but I assume he's ok if he is still walking the hallways.

Thanks for clearing that up.  For a moment I thought u might be letting the little things get to u! 

Colter was recruited by LIU, a NEC school.  He is not a starting A-10 point guard.  Lucky for him Coach Ferry needed bodies at the time and he ended up with us.  That being said, I like Colter as a player.  A guy to come off the bench and play 15-18 minutes a game, throw up a few shots, handle the ball when needed, defend the other teams point and hope he gets hot when he's in there.  He shouldn't be a starter, primary ball handler and expected to be a top player on an A-10 team.   Sure Mason showed he can handle the ball, but that takes him out of his element as a lights out shooter who gets his shots by someone else driving and kicking out to him.  But can he create for himself?  Somewhat.  Can he be the primary ball handler who creates for others as well?  He showed he could.  But we want and need guys to play to their strengths in order to be a better team than we are now.  His strength is his ability to run the floor, get to his spots and be ready for the pass and shoot.  I think these are a few things my fellow Jerseyan is trying to say.  Is no knock on Colter or Ferry for that matter.  It's Mr. Duque explaining why the team may not take a leap forward if certain things don't happen.  I believe he team will show improvement next season with an over .500 record if the coaches continue with their skill development and put the players in the proper positions to succeed now that Ferry will have his players to play his style.

ED, Stevens doesn't look like a bad signing for this late in the game. If Oklahoma and St. Mary's were interested, he has to be a decent player, even if he's not the pure pg we wanted. Ferry may be looking at having a backcourt where both guards have pg skills, and both can score. Could work out for now. Stevens isn't huge, but he's not a shrimp either. TJ did fine at 6'1".  The worst thing Ferry could have done is go out and sign a mediocre freshman. I expect that a 3 star point guard will be priority number 1 for the fall signing period.

I think this goes very well with Ferry's liking versatile players who can do more than one thing.

Basically I like the recruiting class and am generally optimistic about next year and the point guard situation.  I don't have a good basketball reason for this feeling.  It comes because of time.  There is frequently improvement in players as they move through the system just because of the time element.  Another year older, another year smarter and often developing more skills.  I think Colter among others will show that next year for that reason.

If Oklahoma offered and St. Mary's was interested, perhaps Stevens is better than expected.  I have high hopes for this recruiting class, but I am being extremely reserved in my expectations.

http://blogs.post-gazette.com/sports/2013-06-20-18-53-28/dukes-dispatches/41333-juco-all-american-guard-jordan-stevens-rounds-out-duquesne-2014-recruiting-class

Say what you will about the guard play.  But, before Ferry arrived, were we not having difficulty recruiting bigs who could play inside?  We ended by playing smaller lineups that struggled with rebounding.  If our first shot didn't go in, it was guaranteed to come back down the court against us.  If the other team's first shot missed, they were guaranteed 3 or 4 more attempts to tip it in.  During Ron's final year, we had a pretty decent PG with good passing and court vision.  The trouble was, there was no one to pass it to.  So OK, we still need to work on the guard play.  But, at least the current regime has been successful recruiting some size and I don't believe the future is all that bleak.

grammudder wrote:

Requiescat in pace!!!  My Lord, E.D.  I never for once thought you'd stoop to the level of a Ritters mentality.  You are way too bright and erudite for that type of mindset.  I generally find it repulsive to attack in a seemingly personal way, but your mindset over D.C. and our point guard situation is more than a fixation.  I always thought you saw the good side of things that were and are going on, but somehow and someway you've managed to poison your own thinking process because of your disdain for D.C.  There ain't no quick fix to your wanting to see D.C. fall of the face of the earth.  There ain't no quick fix for you and the others wanting the PG situation to heal itself.  He is going to be our PG "per omnia saecula saeculorum" at least for the next two years.  Ferry has only three pure guards for next year. (D.C., M.M. and D.R.--to me J.J. is a 3)  He needs at least one more whether it is a Jesus Christ P.G. or a combo guard.  As far as talking about Micah moving to PG, so what?  His numbers say he protects the ball.  So do T.J.'s.  To me it don't make any difference whether you protect the ball from the 1 or 2 spot.  You are either a ball handler or you are not.  Micah's a ball handler.  Before other posters jump all over me about speed at the PG position, it isn't all that relevant except for limited times on D.  Micah has shown he's a smart enough player to play D with the skill set he now has.  For anyone who thinks this is pure b.s., I suggest you come out to Greentree in the summer and watch Micha play against the best guards-PG and SG's- the local area has to offer.   I am going to save your post and you and others who don't like D.C. can save mine.  I'll bet a Jersey Mike sub against the field that the Dukes have a winning season all around-OCC and League schedule with the guards we have and any other one Ferry may bring on board.  I just hate to see so much negativity on this board when so much good is happening.  Man, am I glad I got cataract surgery to I can see the Dukes in a much better light.  Lighten up E.D.!!  Thanks.  Incidentally, I think the guy you talked about bought my 1967 Bug.

Let me just say that I understand elduque and I never once felt my lpoint of view was not the realistic view of this program. I understand there are people out there who find the positives in everything and maybe I don't. But the point is that over the last 35 years, I have seen this all before. But you are what your record says you are. 

I would never tell anyone not to be optimistic or hopeful but I think you lose credibility when you look at the talent level of the team, watch them play on the court, and try to make some argument that this is an NCAA  tournament team. 

It might surprise some, but my great wish is that this program does make the tournament and finds consistent success. Nothing is more fun than having a winner once in a while. But I have never considered my criticism to be a lower level of critque. And if someday this team does become a winning program, no one would be more pleased than I.

Ken, good luck on your retirment, and at such a young age! After The Dome, you should read 1964 if you haven't done so yet, and the two books that King wrote with Peter Straub (The Talisman and The Dark House). I get painted as generally negative, but I'm just a frustrated old guy (you'll know what I mean some day) who wants to see the tea win, and I'm trying to be realistic about what I see. I hope things turn around sooner rather than later, but I'm not yet convinced. Winning will convince me. And sustainability.

ElDuque wrote:

Ken, good luck on your retirment, and at such a young age! After The Dome, you should read 1964 if you haven't done so yet, and the two books that King wrote with Peter Straub (The Talisman and The Dark House). I get painted as generally negative, but I'm just a frustrated old guy (you'll know what I mean some day) who wants to see the tea win, and I'm trying to be realistic about what I see. I hope things turn around sooner rather than later, but I'm not yet convinced. Winning will convince me. And sustainability.

Thanks ED. Will pick up 1964. Already read the Talisman and the Dark House a few years back. You know sometimes while I'm sitting in the Palumbo Center it does seem as if reality is stretched thin.