Duquesne Dukes Basketball
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2018-19 PROSPECTUS DUQUESNE DUKES BASKETBALL Athletics Web Site: GoDuquesne.com • Athletics Twitter/Facebook/YouTube/Instagram: @GoDuquesne • Men’s Basketball Twitter: @DuqMBB DUQUESNE DUKES QUOTING COACH DAMBROT 2017-18 Record: 16-16 • Atlantic 10: 7-11 / t10th Regular Season Non-Conference: 9-4 Atlantic 10 Championship: 0-1 “I think we’ve got good depth, talent and ability. H: 13-6; A: 2-7; N: 1-3 We are going to have a better top-to-bottom roster Head Coach: Keith Dambrot than we did a year ago, but we’re going to have to Overall: 429-225 (20 seasons) At Duquesne: 16-16 (1 season) put some mileage on our younger players relatively 2018 LEADERS quickly. The rest will be about developing chemistry Points Mike Lewis II (14.4) and playing well together. Rebounds Eric Williams Jr. (8.8) Assists Rene Castro-Caneddy (108/3.4) “I view this almost like a ‘second’ first year. We Steals Eric Williams Jr. (43/1.3) have a large number of first-year players along with Blocks Tydus Verhoeven (71/2.2) 3-Pointers Mike Lewis II (89) five transfers. The transfers are kind of like the players returnees in bold we inherited last year - they have college experience, 2018 TEAM and although they practiced last year, they’ve yet to Points / Margin 72.4 / +2.3 Rebounds / Margin 35.9 / +1.7 play a game in our system. We are going to emphasize Turnovers / Margin 12.0 / +0.6 building a defensive base as well as working on our 2018-19 Quick Hits fundamentals offensively. We’re working from the ground up. • The Dukes enter their second season under head coach Keith Dambrot with a roster that features 11 newcomers, including four eligible Division I transfers. The “You really don’t know what a guy can do until 11 newcomers are tied for third-most of any NCAA Division I program (see p. 3). you start playing games. Some guys play great in prac- • Dambrot’s 16 wins in 2017-18 were the most by a DU first-year coach since Dudey Moore went 17-5 in 1948-49. Moore coached Keith’s father, Sid, from tice, but it may not translate to a game. We’ll learn a 1952-54 during his highly-successful 10 seasons on the Bluff. There were 10 lot about our team in November and December.” coaches between Moore and Dambrot. Dambrot engineered the seventh-best single-season improvement in school history in 2018 (+6.0, from 10-22 to 16-16). • Duquesne returns two starters - 6-1 Jr. G Mike Lewis II (14.4, 2.3, 89 3-pointers) ON THE FOUR ELIGIBLE DIVISION I TRANSFERS and 6-6 So. G (14.3, 8.8) from last year’s 16-16 (7-11, t10th in Eric Williams Jr. “The transfers all have high skill levels and solid basket- Atlantic 10) team. Lewis II (2016-17) and Williams Jr. (2017-18) are both former members of the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team. ball IQs. We just have to get the rust off of them. They were able to practice with us last year, but they will still have rust when it • Williams Jr., who earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors four times, comes to actual game play. was the third-leading freshman scorer in the conference (14.3 ppg.) as well as “We also have to develop a team dynamic. We have to mold the conference’s top freshman rebounder (8.8 rpg.). The versatile Michigan native set DU single-game freshman records for points (34 vs. George Mason) the transfers - who often did a lot together last year - in with the and rebounds (16 vs. Stetson) in a game last season. He also broke the school returnees and newcomers.” record for 3-pointers in a game with nine vs. Mason. ON THE TALLEST RECRUITING CLASS IN SCHOOL HISTORY • DU’s other key returnee is 6-5 Jr., F Kellon Taylor (3.8, 3.8 in 29g.), who doubles as a receiver for DU’s FCS football team. Caleb Davis and Zach Snyder (four “We had some big teams at Akron, but we never had the games each last season) are also back. overall depth of size that we have here. We have to get mileage on that group quickly. We’ll have to be diligent in our strength • DU has added four transfers, all of whom practiced with the team while sitting out in 2017-18: 5-8 So. G Tavian Dunn-Martin (Akron), 6-4 So. G Frankie and conditioning and in helping them develop college basketball Hughes (Missouri), 6-8 So. C Michael Hughes (Akron) and 6-5 So. F Marcus knowledge. It is a talented group.” Weathers (Miami, Ohio). ON ROSTER DEPTH • Dambrot and his staff assembled the tallest recruiting class in school history. The seven-man group includes 6-11 Gavin Bizeau (Plainfield, Ind.), 6-11Dylan “We have to make sure our depth is an attribute and not a Swingle (Chillicothe, Ohio), 6-10 Austin Rotroff (Wauseon, Ohio), 6-9 Amari detriment. What I mean by that is we can’t play so many guys that Kelly (Long Island, N.Y.), 6-3 Lamar Norman Jr. (Grand Rapids, Mich.), 6-2 we don’t have chemistry, or so many guys that we foul too much Brandon Wade (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and 6-1 Sincere Carry (Solon, Ohio). An eighth or so many guys that we don’t wear anybody out. We have to turn recruit - 6-11 James Ellis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) - will sit out in 2018-19. Duquesne had it into a positive.” never had a recruiting class with more than two players 6-9 or taller. 1 2017-18 Duquesne Dukes Basketball REPLENISHING THE BACKCOURT QUICK FACTS “We’ve got a proven college point guard in [Akron transfer] Tavian Dunn-Martin, who has competed in everything from a MAC championship to an GENERAL NIT game. We also have some talented freshmen who we feel can NCAA’s Name of School Duquesne University become high-level point guards in Brandon Wade and Sincere Carry. FEWEST Street Address 600 Forbes Avenue Lamar Norman Jr., another freshman, is an explosive athlete who can City/Zip Pittsburgh, Pa. 15282 RETURNING Founded 1878 by the Holy Ghost Fathers also help us in the backcourt. We feel like we’ll have more than enough LETTERMEN Enrollment 9,256 ballhandling to get through the year.” 1 - Chattanooga Nickname Dukes 2 - UNC Asheville School Colors Red and Blue Red (PMS 200) & Blue (PMS 282) LEARNING THE ATLANTIC 10 2 - Drake Arena/Capacity A.J. Palumbo Center/4,390 “After 13 years in the MAC, I pretty much knew what everyone 3 - DUQUESNE & PPG Paints Arena/flex seating up to 19,000 was going to do and when they were going to do it. I tried to use last 3 - Nicholls Affiliation NCAA Division I year as an opportunity to learn as much as I could about the league. 3 - Milwaukee Conference Atlantic 10 / 41 seasons I’m still watching as much game film as I can on every team just to 3 - Baylor President Ken Gormley (Pittsburgh ‘77) get a better feel for what guys are going to - and when they’re going 3 - Detroit Mercy Athletics Director Dave Harper (Wright St. ‘92) 3 - Little Rock Athletic Dept. Phone 412-396-6565 to do them. There are a lot of good coaches, with a number of differ- Ticket Office Phone 412-232-DUKE (3853) ent of styles of play in our conference. We are constantly learning.” University Website www.duq.edu Athletics Website www.GoDuquesne.com A-10 PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS HISTORY Duquesne was picked to finish 11th in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll of conference First Year of Basketball 1913-14 coaches and media released on October 18. Eric Williams Jr. was named preseason All-Time Record 1,386-1,110 (102 seasons) second team All-A-10. He is the first Duke since Damian Saunders (2010-11) to earn NCAA Tournament/Last (Record) 5/1977 (4-5) NIT/Last (Record) 17/2009 (17-19) preseason second team all-conference honors. CBI/Last (Record) 3/2016 (2-3) Atlantic 10 Record 230-419 (41 seasons) Last Post-Season Opponent DID YOU KNOW? at Morehead State (L 72-82) 2016 CBI 2nd rnd Freshman big men Gavin Bizeau (#22), Austin COACHING STAFF Rotroff (#49) and Dylan Swingle (#50) were all ranked Head Coach Keith Dambrot (Akron ‘82) among the Top 50 centers in the nation by ESPN.com: Record at Duquesne (Yrs.) 16-16 (1 year) https://goo.gl/wBPZ42. Career Record (Yrs.) 429-225 (20 years) Assistant Coaches Rick McFadden (Akron ‘05) Charles Thomas (Eastern Michigan ‘00) Terry Weigand (Ashland ‘89) IT’S GOING TO BE A LOOOOOOOONG SEASON Director of Operations Steve McNees (Akron ‘10) Seven DU newcomers were measured with 7-foot wingspans this summer. Six of the seven are expected Asst. to the Head Coach to see action this season. Six-eleven James Ellis, and his team-long 7-7.5 wingspan, will be sitting out in Carl Thomas (Eastern Michigan ‘00) 2018-19. Dir. Player Development/Video Coordinator Eric Harper (Akron ‘15) Dir. Community Relations and Player Mentoring Bill Brown (Ohio ‘74) Graduate Asst. Jake Kretzer (Akron ‘16) Graduate Asst. Chad Pichoske (Niagara ‘17) Assoc. AD/Sports Performance John Henderson Athletic Trainer (MBB) Brian Beck TEAM INFORMATION ALL H A N Record 16-16 13-6 2-7 1-3 A-10/Finish 7-11/t10th 5-4 2-7 0-0 A-10 Championship (0-1) lost in second round to Richmond Final Rank (Poll) None Post Season None ON TWITTER Athletics @GoDuquesne Men’s Basketball @DuqMBB Keith Dambrot @CoachDambrot MEDIA RELATIONS Men’s Basketball Contact Dave Saba Office 412-396-5861 Cell 412-225-5317 E-mail [email protected] 2 @DuqMBB NEW KIDS ON THE BLUFF Two to Watch With four eligible transfers and seven incoming freshmen, Duquesne ranks among the nation’s leaders Sophomore swingman Eric Williams in most newcomers: Jr.