Pittsburgh—In sports, you can’t ignore the numbers. And when you look at the two numbers that matter most for Duquesne (the wins and losses column) it is no secret that the Dukes were enjoying more success on the court at this time last year than they are now. At the end of non-conference play last year, Duquesne was 9-5. Right now they are 7-7 and staring some tough conference competition in the face.
However, when it comes to whether or not this season has been a step forward or backward for Duquesne, there really is no easy answer.
In the non-conference portion of their schedule last year, Duquesne faced Top 25 opponents Arizona and Pitt. They were able to come within eight points of Arizona, who was ranked #16 in the nation at the time, in the first regular season road game. They were able to pick up wins over Akron (who made the NIT later in the year), George Mason, and Bowling Green. Of all the teams in the Atlantic 10, Duquesne’s schedule was the 4th toughest, according to Basketball State. Right now it’s still early in the season, and we don’t know just how good many teams are, so it’s tough to say whether or not Duquesne’s non-conference schedule was tougher than last year. But I would be shocked if it was. They have played three teams from major conferences (Georgetown, Pitt and West Virginia), but have played a larger concentration of bad teams—cupcakes, if you will. Four of Duquesne’s main opponents, New Orleans, UL-Lafayette, Maine, and Appalachian State, have an average number of less than five wins so far. The Dukes have also dropped games to two teams they beat last year, UL-Lafayette and Penn State. They have only won one game to a team that beat them a year ago, Western Michigan.
In addition to the slightly weaker schedule, Duquesne’s average number of points scored in a game is only 70, down from 78 at this time last year. They have also allowed opponents to score more eighty-plus point games this season as opposed to 2011-2012.
But does any of this mean that Duquesne as a program is worse off now than they were when they entered conference play last year? I don’t believe so. Even the fact that they went into conference play a season ago following three straight wins as opposed two straight losses doesn’t convince me that the Dukes have regressed this season.
There have been some struggles thus far—the turnovers, the lack of scoring ability inside, the inability to win more than one game on the road. But Ferry inherited a Pandora’s Box of problems when he took the reins at Duquesne this past off-season. He was faced with the graduation of top scorer and top rebounder B.J. Monteiro, along with the transfer of T.J. McConnell, the team leader in assists and steals. But Instead of curling into a ball and declaring this simply a “rebuilding year,” Ferry and his staff were able to bring in some great new recruits, including Derrick Colter and Quevyn Winters. These new players don’t just ride the bench for most of the game either. Although Colter and Winters have not been perfect and still have much to improve on, Ferry has these two men playing very nicely. They each are an integral part of the offense and have carried the team to victory on multiple occasions. It seems as though they still have much to show us, not only in future years, but in the rest of this one.
Also, keep in mind that Duquesne is very undersized and lacks a powerhouse center or forward. Nevertheless, the Dukes are ranked 45th in the nation in rebounds per game, a gigantic improvement from previous seasons. Without a lot of hard work and team discipline instilled by Ferry, it would have been impossible for the team to achieve this statistic.
Things aren’t going perfectly this season for Duquesne, but in reality Ferry still does not have all the players he needs to run the offense he wants to run. Even in spite of this, the Dukes have been able to do some impressive things. First among these things is the first truly signature win of the Ferry era, against West Virginia at the Consol Energy Center.
With all the change that went on in the offseason, no one expected Duquesne to go out there and consistently tear things up on the court. But did anyone expect Colter (who was vying just to be a starter with Marvin Binney in the offseason) to be two-time Rookie of the Week? Did many people even expect a 7-7 non-conference record after the Coaches’ Poll picked them to finish last in the conference?
There’s no need for concern just yet. In spite of all the ups and downs, Duquesne is still headed in the right direction.
Photo Credit: Pickin Splinters
