An A-10 fan

It was obvious back in December that the A-10 was only going to get one bid this season based on their mediocre showing in November. But that's the problem, why is so much emphasis placed on what are tantamount to "preseason" games played 120 days before the tournament starts? Player rotations used in November, often bear little resemblance to the lineups that coaches use in November. For the league to get only one NCAA bid is insult enough, but to be shut out of the NIT is a joke, especially since one of its member schools made a run to the NIT finals last season by winning 3 consecutive road games against Power 5 teams. Maybe the conference should be split up and every team goes its own way? Maybe your team gets invited to the Big East? It's a large market where the Big East has no presence right now.

I suggested on a message board (The Athletic) that the Power 5 teams need their own tournament and got crucified for it. But the way things stand now, that seems to be the only solution to having the mid-majors have any type of legitimate post-season incentive. The NET Quad 1, Quad 2 system has ruined basketball for the non-Power 5 schools, save the Big East that seems to know how to play the rigged system. If you take the W-L records of the 11 Big East schools (there are only 11) and compare them to the W-L records of the top 11 A-10 schools, you will see that the A-10's top 11 have better overall records. And yet, the top 6 or 7 Big East teams have better computer rankings than any A-10 team. This makes no sense. I even looked at the Big East teams and their non-conference schedule, it's no more challenging than any of the A-10 schools. I don't understand how the contrived method to determine who is the best team, isn't deliberately skewed to favor the more high-profile schools. Many people claim Duquesne played a very soft schedule, but if you look at it, six of their OCC games were against opponents who won at least 20 regular season games - Kentucky, Colgate, Indiana State, Ball State, UC Santa Barbara and Marshall. How is that a weak schedule? Why didn't their 10-3 OCC record get them a top-50 NET when they played a half dozen teams who collectively won about 70 to 75 percent of their games? BTW, Duquesne was 4-2 in those games.

It looks like Duquesne is ready to get on a roll and finish of a winning streak heading into the A-10 tournament.

Perhaps it is because the Bills are going through a temporary rough patch at the moment and because the A-10 is probably the worst it has been in at least 16 years, that explains why this thread was ignored in recent days despite a full slate of conference games being played. FYI, Duquesne throttled VCU. The Dukes led from start to finish with their lead being 15-plus for most of the contest. Dayton, despite its disappointing OCC showing, seems to be the class of the league. Saint Louis is ranked 2nd in the league behind Dayton in the College Basketball-Reference (SRS) rankings (9.6 to 6.7). They are followed by Mason (5.0), VCU and Duquesne (4.5 each), Richmond (4.3) and UMass (1.5).

The league is 31 games over .500 as of Dec. 14 (counting Division-1 games only). I don't know how other mid-major leagues are rated ahead of the A-10 who aren't as far over .500 and don't play the number of road games (percentage wise) this league plays. The A-10 may play their share of "cupcake" opponents, but they have also played quite a few games against quality opposition (not just Saint Louis). I don't understand how the NET rating system has a team like Davidson rated so low with the schedule they have played with half of their first 10 OCC games being on the road. This is a direct statement from the official A-10 website on Dec. 12: "In his most recent bracketology, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Dayton and Saint Louis in the field as a single-digit seeds. Additionally, VCU is in the mix as one of the first teams out. Bracket Matrix, which compiles all bracketologists, has six teams in the hunt from the A-10: Davidson, Dayton, Fordham, Loyola, UMass, Saint Louis."

A Saint Louis win would help the entire A-10, not just them.

Montana isn't that bad. They were 18-14 in the Big Sky last year and were preseason picked to finish 3rd in their league with four returning starters including 2 of 3 top-scorers from last season. Duquesne brought in a bunch of portal transfers plus they have this 6-8 freshman from Slovakia who shows a lot of promise.

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Another good post Iquaries. I had a similar experience last season when I came on the A-10 thread of this board after SLU lost what I described as an entertaining game to Dayton at home. I really enjoyed that game as an impartial observer. I was just there to say that SLU giving top-5 Dayton a great game benefited the rest of the conference, and SLU in particular. But I got slammed by someone who was in no mood to hear from an "outsider" who, although a fan of the whole league, does have a preference for his hometown team (Duquesne). Some of the regulars on here talk about their support of the league because that's a good thing for their particular team (and it is). I suppose that's why they have a thread like this (which is the only one I post to on here) But when push comes to shove during the conference season, that "support" for the league goes out the window and some of them see SLU as the only program with legit NCAA aspirations and they often trash the other conference teams. Duquesne has been on the rise in recent years but suffered a major setback due to the pandemic that made it worse for the Dukes more than any other A-10 team. The pandemic pushed back the completion of their 50 million dollar renovation of their arena. Try keeping team unity for 2 seasons without a proper place to practice or workout, or have "home games" consist of 40-minute bus rides across town. Add 3 defections from the roster (partly fueled by the team's nomadic existence) and it's a miracle Duquesne is 5-6. A couple SLU fans have a habit of trashing Duquesne. Someone said they were no better than Fordham. Another said they are going to suck once their seniors are done not realizing that the freshmen are potentially more talented, evidenced by the blowout win at Fordham when the freshman scored over half of their 86 points.

At the risk of getting banned from this board, I basically agree with you. SLU has a good team, and it's great to see they have a strong fan base of enthusiastic fans, but some of the comments I have been reading here all season have been getting ahead of things. Some of these posters sound like all their team has to do is show up. What particularly irks me is some of them keep harping on the fact that their team has far more depth than VCU, Richmond, Davidson, Dayton and the Bonnies. So what? Only 5 can play at one time? All of these teams have more depth than SLU fans think. I pull hard for all the teams in the league in OOC games, but this season has been unusual due to a lack of these games for obvious reasons. Despite their loss to Dayton, SLU should have a solid season but if they think their team is like the Dayton of last year and should blow out the rest of the league, they are mistaken. If SLU goes 13-5 in the league, consider it a good season. This should put them in good shape for the NCAA. Also, a handful of these posters have had quite a few unfavorable things to say about Duquesne (who has beaten their team a few times in recent years which for some reason bothers them more than it should). The Dukes have had a rough season for 2 big reasons. 1) three returning starters never had their hearts in the game and eventually left the team. 2) Also, the team was shut down for Covid reasons twice (once for 2 weeks in the preseason) and from Dec. 2 to Jan. 2 in the regular season. One more thing, someone claims the Dukes will suck once their seniors leave. There will be an adjustment period, but Dambrot has by far the best freshman class he has recruited in his 4 years at Duquesne and they are starting to play more and more as the season progresses.

Duquesne rallied from 15 points down in the second half to beat Rhode Island 71-69. It is the first time they broke 70 in the last five games. They were stuck on 48 points in three of the last four games. Miraculously, they won one of those 48-point games (48-45) because Fordham is even worse offensively. The Dukes beat the Rams because they stopped their fast-break and because one of their freshmen went 5 for 5 from 3-point range.

Duquesne wins by 12 over GW despite 3 starters - Carry, Austin and Norman - having very subpar games. They have 7 of their top 8 players back but there are other 4-5 other guys who could contribute this season who were either hurt last year or weren't on the roster at all. It will be interesting to see if they finish higher than 4th in the A-10 which is where they were picked to finish during the preseason.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I copied and pasted because i think you need a subscription to read it as an attachment. NUBYJAS WILBORN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [email protected] DEC 29, 2020 12:51 PM One of the perverse positives to come from the pandemic in 2020 is that it’s forcing all of us the re-evaluate the structures and systems that define college sports. Duquesne men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot is trying to prepare his team to play a game against a good Saint Louis team on Wednesday. The task of playing the 7-1 Billikens is difficult enough under normal circumstances, but it gets tougher now that Duquesne hasn’t played a game in three weeks. At least 10 players have tested positive for COVID-19 since the last game on December 2, and the team didn’t have full practices from Dec. 12-26. They resumed on Saturday. Dambrot spoke to reporters via Zoom on Monday in advance of Wednesday’s game. He spoke candidly in a way only a 62-year-old man who has spent over 20 years in his profession with a bit of security can. Duquesne wants to win. You don’t spend money on an arena and hire a man like Dambrot unless winning is imperative. However, playing a sport requiring heavy breathing, sweating, and close contact when coronavirus thrives on people being bereft of social distancing changes a season’s goals. “If we have no catastrophic events,” Dambrot said when asked how he will know if the season was worth playing. “If these kids stay healthy. If we don’t have any issues with, God forbid, someone having a severe issue or somebody being hospitalized.” LeBron James an exceptionally accomplished athlete with 18 years of professional basketball success. He has access to the best coaching in the world, and yet James still leans on his high school coach Dambrot for advice. Dambrot can’t be that guy if he isn’t confident. However, asking young men to make the sacrifices required has Dambrot questioning the validity of playing while the pandemic wages war on the world. “They are amateurs. They don’t make what professionals make, and there’s a lot of risks,” Dambrot said. “I don’t if the answer is we should play, or we shouldn’t play. I don’t know if we did the right thing or the wrong thing. It feels kind of funny. It does.” The Dukes are expected to have a tough time on Wednesday. Asking a team to play a formidable opponent without proper prep is unfair. It makes little sense for the Dukes to get on an airplane and risk more exposure to the deadly virus. However, sports sometimes don’t make sense. Dambrot knows there won’t be any empathy for him or his team. “I know it’s going to be a two-week process to get our team to where we want to get them,” Dambrot said. “I get paid to win games, regardless of the circumstances. Nobody cares. “All they care about at the end of the year is who won that game and who won that game and what their record is. We just have to put our big-boy pants on and compete.” Loving sports at times feels like a one-sided relationship. Every bit of logic says your team will break your heart again. It isn’t smart to allow them back in your life. We accept the sadness for the rare moments of glory. However, what happens when a passionate pursuit could cost you your life? Or at least make you immensely sick? “You look in their eyes, and you can see they’ve been sick,” Dambrot said when describing the anguish of seeing his players struggle. “It’s not like anything I’ve seen before. It takes them two, three, four days to even resemble themselves out there. “I look in their faces, and you can actually tell that they’ve been sick. That’s the hard part. But everybody at some point is going to go through it, to some extent.” Dambrot told reporters that he’s anticipating every player on the roster to be available on Wednesday. They’ll hopefully continue to test negative. The Dukes could use more time to gel with grad transfer Ryan Murphy. A seasoned player like Murphy is usually a godsend for programs like Duquesne. However, it will be hard for him to contribute to the offense against a good opponent with so few practices. But Dambrot knows the game will happen regardless of the obstacles. The game has to happen because the NCAA has told the world it can’t survive without a season. There wasn’t a Final Four last year, which created massive financial losses. Understandably, the NCAA doesn’t want to fail. However, is it worth it for the unpaid athletes and the men who are supposed to be father figures? Dambrot is questioning all of it while also trying to prepare for a game that will be difficult to win on Wednesday. “We just have to get back on the horse that threw us off,” Dambrot said. “This isn’t going to be a quick fix. We’re going to have to work to get better. We’re certainly not going to play our best basketball.” Dambrot knows his team won’t be good for a while. Typically, a coach would never say it on record. 2020 isn’t typical, though. Maybe if enough people say the quiet part out loud, somebody will listen. Dambrot did his part on Monday. “I know I’m not too comfortable,” Dambrot said. “I know there are parts of the game we’re not going to be very good at. We can only do so much every single day. I’m just trying to get them in shape and feeling good about themselves.” Nubyjas Wilborn: [email protected] and Twitter @nwilborn19. First Published December 29, 2020, 12:51pm

Duquesne most likely won't play until their game at Saint Louis which is a hard way to begin A-10 schedule after what will be a 4-week layoff and only 2 non-league games under their belts. The Dukes return all but one player from last season, but have added sharp-shooter Ryan Murphy (who has yet to play this year), 6-9 soph Amari Kelly (who played 300 minutes 2 years ago as a freshman) and 2 promising true freshman in 6-7 Chad Baker and 6-7 Andre Harris. A couple long-time members of this message board slammed me last season when I tried to voice my opinion, while also praising the Bills who appear to be the top team in the league this season. The Dukes are my favorite college team, but I am also a very huge fan of this league (partly stemming from my youth when the league began and the Big East stole several teams from them). Take Villanova away from the Big East and I don't see much difference from their other 9 teams and the top 7-8 A-10 teams. I suppose the BE does not have hapless programs like LaSalle, Fordham, GW and St. Joe's. But the top teams in the A-10 could successfully compete in the BE this year. I am hoping the A-10 gets at least 3 teams in the Big Dance this year although it may be difficult for decent teams like St. Bonnie, Duquesne and UMass because they do not play many OOC games.

I feel bad for all the college players whose eligibility is up after this season. They didn't expect their careers to be over already.

From a Duquesne perspective, I am not sure why you guys are favoring Hughes over Weathers. The only thing Hughes has over Weathers is his shot-blocking ability. Weathers is better overall as a player. Also, Carry should be second team, not third team. He is the Dukes' MVP in my opinion. The Dukes deserve 2 guys among the 3 All-A-10 teams so I would go with Carry second team. Weathers third team. Hughes is also a bit of a head case who gets into foul trouble too easily so he should only get hon. mention if there is such a thing. Also, Rhodey's Russell should be a lock for first team.

Well said. Ford seems to be a decent coach, but I would take Dambrot over him. Look at their records. Dambrot's is better. The 3-4 posters on here who have mentioned that Dambrot is a terrible person are misinformed. He didn't have to come to Duquesne when he was doing well at Akron. That's not really that big a step up for a guy who was 58 when he changed jobs. He came to DU because he remembers as a child that the Dukes were a top eastern program (during the late 40s through early 70s, look it up). His dad played there in the 50s when they always excelled in the NIT (when that tournament was a big deal). Coming to Duquesne is like family to him. The Duquesne fans (the few that are left are 40 years of losing) love him. He is also close to LeBron and if LeBron thought this man were racist, he would not have a lifelong friendship with Dambrot.

So he used that word 20 years ago in an ill-advised manner that cost him a coaching job. So that makes him a terrible person who should be shunned for the rest of his life? Wow!! The cancel culture has struck again.

The ESPN Boxscore had it 9 for 24, they corrected it to 10 for 25. Regardless, Keith Dambrot was not happy about his team's showing at the line. He mentioned on the post-game show that everyone who shot at least 2 foul shots, were terrible. Weathers was only 3 for 9. That's inexcusable since most of the misses weren't even close.

Yeah. I mentioned something about SLU's woes at the line about 90 minutes ago and also said Duquesne has turned into another SLU at the line. Your team's biggest problem is French. He makes Shaq look good at the line.

Duquesne was 9 for 24 from the LINE, not the 3-point line. 6th grade teams shoot better than that at the line. With a little practice, I think I could do better than that and I haven't played basketball in over 30 years.

Amen

Good luck to your team against the Bonnies. Lofton and Osunniyi are legit big-time players. If they play well, SLU will have their hands full. If they don't, the Bills should win by double-digits. I can't complain if my Dukes finish 6th. Sixth may be better than 4th since they would be on the opposite side of the bracket from Dayton. But they would still be on the same side as Richmond and Rhodey

Richmond is playing much stronger against Duquesne than what Dayton did against Duquesne . They should be no worse than an 8-9 seed at the Big Dance but they probably still need 2 more A-10 tourney wins just to get a 12-seed.