Oh man halftime and this looks like a REALLY good basketball team. Lot of talent on this roster.

Obviously not great competition - but put away an inferior opponent and controlled the game from the jump. If not for that large foul disparity, this may be worse than 20. Also, always good to outperform Vegas expectations (-17.5). 

Go Dukes!

There are many ways to get a season started. I’m happy with this way. Keep improving!

Thoughts from afar...
Offense: A
Defense: A-
Turnovers:  Too Many
Fouls: Too Many
Foul Shots: B+
Coaching: A-
Hidden:  Though the box score didn't show it, Edwards played an excellent game.
Please Coach, I know you have the point guard take the ball out under our basket...but Aekins was 0 for 2.  He is too small to do that.  Guinyard is a player.
Student Attendance:  C+
Other Attendance: C+
Referees:  B-
We have all been to games when we lose to teams like this.  It was a nice - relaxing win!

FAM wrote:

Thoughts from afar...
Offense: A
Defense: A-
Turnovers:  Too Many
Fouls: Too Many
Foul Shots: B+
Coaching: A-
Hidden:  Though the box score didn't show it, Edwards played an excellent game.
Please Coach, I know you have the point guard take the ball out under our basket...but Aekins was 0 for 2.  He is too small to do that.  Guinyard is a player.
Student Attendance:  C+
Other Attendance: C+
Referees:  B-
We have all been to games when we lose to teams like this.  It was a nice - relaxing win!

I agree with almost all of this.  Only thing I’ll say is: although there were too many turnovers (there were,) with the fast paced offense they seemingly want to run, there will be more than usual turnovers. It’s just going to happen when you play that way. I didn’t like the inept inbounding from Aekins but that aside I didn’t not feel like it was an overly sloppy ball handling day for the Dukes. Despite the final turnover count.

Styles1229 wrote:

duq.dog wrote:

Good start to the season. Always going to be a little sloppy getting used to playing with each other.

FAM wrote:

Hidden: Though the box score didn't show it, Edwards played an excellent game.

Can't say I agree with this one though. Struggled a lot on defense in my eyes. 

Does anyone know the score difference in the scrimmage with Cleveland State? They just took Loyola to the last second.  
 

I do not. But I think I heard they blew them out

Dukes beat them 85-60 in the secret scrimmage.
 

Decent win. Going to have some growing pains. Think Guinyard and Willliams will get more minutes as they are beasts especially together. Really impressed by those two and Milosivec and Von Brussel as well as Aekins. This team will  get better and better as the season goes on. Seemed a bit hesitant and lackadaisical at the start of the second half. Crawford struggled, but Edwards played well especially dishing the ball. Getting DiMichele back will be huge. Need Necas to be a tad more aggressive driving to the hoop and Dixon doesn't need to be pump faking outside the 3 point line lol. They'll figure it out. Hoping to see Lawson next game and liked Hall's play tonight as well.

Styles1229 wrote:

Rayrich wrote:

Decent win. Going to have some growing pains. Think Guinyard and Willliams will get more minutes as they are beasts especially together. Really impressed by those two and Milosivec and Von Brussel as well as Aekins. This team will  get better and better as the season goes on. Seemed a bit hesitant and lackadaisical at the start of the second half. Crawford struggled, but Edwards played well especially dishing the ball. Getting DiMichele back will be huge. Need Necas to be a tad more aggressive driving to the hoop and Dixon doesn't need to be pump faking outside the 3 point line lol. They'll figure it out. Hoping to see Lawson next game and liked Hall's play tonight as well.

I think Lawson and Jellum are headed for a redshirt. Can’t see a reason not to play them when they played everybody else. Looks like Alex Williams is the odd man out.

Very possibly. Makes sense. Williams is playing his way back. He'll be a piece when all said and done. Had a good career for a pretty good Furman team and I think he'll be an impact player as the season goes along, He didn't hang around here to do nothing. He could have been an high impact player at a lot of mid level mid majors. Joyce loves him, so he'll be in the mix at times. Think he'll make an impact when you least expect it.
 

Also, last night was Duquesne’s 1,500th win in the program’s 110 year history.

CLK wrote:

BluffHunter wrote:

Haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere, Duquesne didn’t allow a single field goal the entire first quarter. It was just after the 10 minute mark when Niagara made their first shot from the field.

I was really impressed with the defensive intensity of the Dukes to start the game. The Dukes played 15 players last night. The only guys not to see action were Freddy, Lawson and Jake. Hopefully Jake will be ready by conference play. I believe Freddy,is being redshirted. Not sure about Lawson. I am not worried about the turnovers as this was the first game and Dru was shuffling so many players.

The Dukes backcourt of Jimmy and Guinyard are definitely going to be a problem for the teams in the League. I thought our starters played well, and I was impressed with our freshmen Milosevic and Aekins. I think that those two turnovers on Aekins were the fault of improper spacing of our bigs getting the pass. All in all I would rate this opening performance an A+  Go Dukes!

Box Score

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401813373

I don’t want to get myself too excited… but that guard duo of Williams and Guinyard makes me can’t help myself from thinking about another beloved duo who took us to the promised land. I wonder if Jimmie and Tarence can get advice from Jimmy and Dae Dae about what it takes to be successful together.

Good start, better than a loss.   That's all I gotta say for now.

Motor wrote:

Great opening Night
I loved how the players tried to get others involved in offense.

Things to work on
1. Turnovers despite fast pace let’s try to get that number down to 12
2. Let’s look to get the ball down low even more with the horses down there even the kick outs for threes will improve
3. Defense loved the Intensity but would like to see some zone mixed in maybe a 1-3-1 zone trap and how about some full court pressure
4. Run the high low offense a bit more especially since we are seeing 2 bigs on court frequently

Go Dukes take down Sacred Heart

Agree with all of this. Especially the zone. We will need to employ one when we get into A-10 play.  Need that tool in the box  for when matchups and switches are getting beat. Niagara would have been a nice spot to work on those mechanics. Plenty of more opportunities in the non conf    I’ll be watching to see if it gets implemented