Brewstem, the lack of student support baffels me also.  We need new blood and new thinking and hope we can start winning.  The product being offered now is embarrassing.

Ironduke1981 wrote:

our AD refused to send a bus for the students and pep band why because he was pissed they didn't travel on their own. National TV CBS 2 students representing Duquesne. Blow It Up! Start over from the top.

Dont want to start anything, but I know for a fact that the band and cheerleaders didnt go that year because of budget cuts.   Both groups offered to travel on their own for just the championship game (using University vehicles....no overnight stay) and were denied.    So it wasn't so much he refused to send them, but he was not allowed to send them.   A difference there.   I can't speak to the students.

The university looked bad in not sending them to that A-10 tournament. 

Last year, they sent cheerleaders and band to a road WNIT game last year in Ohio.   And both groups have been attending the men's and womens A10 tourneys since that happened. 

But I don't think that matters a hill of beans to the situation we are in now.   

I can't say that the lack of student support puzzles me.   The team stinks and the students don't want to go to the games.  Pretty simple situation IMO. 
 

Last edited by duqkurt (2/02/2015 10:48 am)

duqkurt wrote:

Ironduke1981 wrote:

our AD refused to send a bus for the students and pep band why because he was pissed they didn't travel on their own. National TV CBS 2 students representing Duquesne. Blow It Up! Start over from the top.

Dont want to start anything, but I know for a fact that the band and cheerleaders didnt go that year because of budget cuts. Both groups offered to travel on their own for just the championship game (using University vehicles....no overnight stay) and were denied. So it wasn't so much he refused to send them, but he was not allowed to send them. A difference there. I can't speak to the students.

The university looked bad in not sending them to that A-10 tournament.

Last year, they sent cheerleaders and band to a road WNIT game last year in Ohio. And both groups have been attending the men's and womens A10 tourneys since that happened.

But I don't think that matters a hill of beans to the situation we are in now.

I can't say that the lack of student support puzzles me. The team stinks and the students don't want to go to the games. Pretty simple situation IMO.
 

As an alum who attended all four Dukes games that weekend, I can tell you that, by the time they reached the semifinals, we were being royally panned for not having the band and cheerleaders, let alone students, there. By everyone. People were in the ears of the administrators who were there, begging almost to get the support there for the title game. Were told "it's too short notice" for a fan bus. No excuse was given regarding the band and cheerleaders. Figured it was budgetary, but gas and tolls for two university vehicles just to have something there shouldn't have been a problem.

So even though it was my highest moment as a Duquesne basketball fan, it still rang hollow. There was something fundamentally wrong. And while that aspect of things changed going forward (now the band and cheerleaders travel for all postseason games), the shift in fundamental miscues continues in many ways.

I'm thoroughly frustrated. I'll never stop supporting/rooting/hoping, but this has been the toughest year for me as a fan. I expected so much more. Now, who knows how long we may have to wait, as 2009 feels like decades ago.
 

Regading the lack of student support, last year between games of a mens/womens doubleheader, I had dinner at the Red Ring.  I asked our waiter if he was a student & why the students don't go to the games.  He said that it's a different kinda campus than anywhere else.  The upperclassmen mostly live on the South Side & don't come on campus in the evenings.  The freshmen & sophomores are mostly local kids & go home on weekends.  Thus, there's no students at Palumbo coz there's no students on campus.

Student support is essential coz that'll be the source of future alumni support.  Times have changed.  I'm 56 years old.  I grew up a fan of both the Dukes & Pitt (rooting for the Dukes when they go head-to-head) coz they were the local college teams.  My undergrad degree is from neither school altho' I later graduated from Duquense Law.  In any event, I remained a fan my entire life.  That's how it was when I grew up.  My parents' generation didn't go to college (for the most part) so people rooted for the local colleges. My kids' generation mostly attends college.  They will root for the college they graduated from, not the local colleges.  Future support for the Dukes has to come from the students, while they're in school & afterward.  It won't come from the general public in Pittsburgh.