NEW YORK — As head coach Keith Dambrot and senior guard Dae Dae Grant arrived at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they did so with the Duquesne Men’s Basketball Team commanding the most preseason respect it has had in the former’s now seventh season at the helm, but for them it was not good enough.
Sure, there was more media which had to swallow words and previous prognostications about the program. Duquesne is going into the 2023-24 season in the conversation to potentially earn an NCAA Tournament berth that has eluded this program for decades, but still, it was not good enough.
“I look at it all the same, super appreciative of what our team got, but to be 110% honest, it’s all the same unless we’re number one at the end when all of this is done,” Grant stated. “It doesn’t matter if we can’t get our job done.”
Even so, Duquesne has some clear momentum which they built from last season, and despite battling injuries over the summer, it has not wavered.
The Dukes had some post injuries with sophomore forwards in Chabi Barre and David Dixon, who only recently received clearance to come back. This led to the Dukes practicing with seven players over the summer, which while that is a smaller number, it’s during an extra time in the season where injuries don’t have as large of an impact.
These past few weeks have really been about Duquesne striving to become the best version of itself. There is still work they need to do as there are many new players, but the process has been about those on the floor knowing themselves.
“We know we have to have a balance of driving the ball and throwing the ball to the post,” said Dambrot. “We worked hard the last couple of days trying to get the ball inside. When we’ve had success in this league it’s because we’ve won the battle of the trenches. We have to go back to that for sure.”
ROLE PLAYING
When assessing his team, Dambrot believes success will ultimately come if his great players can be great.
By proxy Grant, an Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference First Team selection and senior guard Jimmy Clark III who is part of both the A-10 Preseason All-Conference Second and All-Defensive Teams are in that category.
For Grant, his process for success a season ago came down to multiple factors.
“Really it was just to trust in the game plan, the coaching staff, my teammates just everything they’re telling me and I’m soaking it in like a sponge to apply it onto this court to be the best version of my own self, ourselves and each other,” Grant determined.
Given Clark’s defensive prowess his success with defensive gambles is something Dambrot has not coached to that consistent of a level and his offense has made significant strides since being with VCU.
After that pair, it comes down to having a consistently reliable post option, something Dambrot compared to how the NBA operates. Even then his team will not be complete until it has players who can come in and make an impact.
How Duquesne puts that all together may determine how successful their season will be.
“I think it’s really difficult,” Dambrot opined. “Until guys are comfortable, we won’t be as good as we should be. In fairness to them it’s hard to be comfortable because we don’t really know yet. We’ve kind of given them a lot of freedom so that we can make judgments and at some point, we’ll tighten up the ship a little bit so that we can become a great team.”
One player who certainly could be in line for a larger role is sophomore guard Kareem Rozier (3.9 points per game/68 assists). Rozier was the team’s leader last year, but his jump could see a change in his role.
“I’ve seen Reem take a big step by just trying to improve his conditioning and being even more of a gnat defensively,” Grant said. “His shooting has gotten so much better. He’s knocking shots down, shooting the hell out of the ball.”
As Duquesne works to answer these questions, Grant explained that it will be crucial to remain together and stick to principles and ultimately if that happens, things will work out.
A PIVOTAL QUESTION
How much is too much? Dambrot will have to decide whether to put the entire playbook in or keep things simple.
With a non-conference slate which features more road travel than ever before, games where there is maybe a day in between and practice does not transpire, coupled with a lot of newness it will be another important decision which could shape the season.
In past years, Dambrot has put everything in and then cleaned it up after because his teams have been older.
Duquesne does have an older group, but some of that age comes from other teams and systems which makes the decision more complex.
“We have a big playbook, and I really don’t know the answer to that,” Dambrot admitted. “I know the answer in the long term, but in the short term you can get smacked doing that. We’ve kind of been wide open to this point, because that’s how I like to do it. We’ve thrown the kitchen sink, but these next three weeks, I think we’re going to narrow it down so that’s how I like to do things. It hurts you in the short term, but I still think we have to win the A-10 to do what we want to do.”
ODDS AND ENDS
“I think the biggest thing is they can cuss at me, and I wouldn’t even know it. That’s probably an advantage and they’re probably teaching the guys from the United States how to cuss in that language so they can get away with it as well. We have a lot of diversity in our group, we really like it, it’s fun. We have all the way from Africa, Czech Republic, Serbia, Canada so it’s been a lot of fun really.” – Dambrot when asked how many languages he can currently speak
“It’s super exciting, it makes you super eager, drives you, it gives you that fuel to just go out and want to play. Why not try to push those teams and help your team be on the map to succeed? I’m ready for those matchups and the conference matchups as well.” – Grant on the team’s non-conference schedule
