With college basketball season still close to 100 days away, it might be challenging to get excited right now. When the time for tip-off comes, however, Duquesne men’s basketball will be ready to bring the aforementioned excitement.
For starters, the Dukes are set to begin their first season of playing games solely on campus since the 2018-19 season, as each of the past two years were spent playing at various venues across Pittsburgh (Kerr Fitness Center, UPMC Events Center and PPG Paints Arena) while the A.J. Palumbo Center was renovated and rebranded as the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
Duquesne did return to campus for two February tilts last season, including a nationally-televised victory over Dayton on Feb. 2 to open the refurbished building, but attendance was strictly limited as a COVID-19 precaution.
That should change this year, as Pennsylvania entertainment venues are permitted to operate at full capacity, meaning the Dukes can welcome large crowds into their permanent home for the first time in nearly three years.
In a 2020-21 season abundant with positive covid-19 tests and schedule shuffling, Head Coach Keith Dambrot found a way to navigate the ship and lead his team to a 9-9 record, becoming the first Dukes head coach to compile four straight .500-or-better seasons since Ron Everhart put together five such seasons from 2007-08 to 2011-12.
After a tumultuous 3-5 start, a stretch in which the Dukes won 5 of their next 8 games provided momentum heading toward the end of the campaign. They would upset Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Championship’s second round before being ousted by St. Bonaventure, the eventual tournament champion, in the quarterfinals.
While this year’s schedule has yet to be released in its entirety, the Atlantic 10 Conference released its portion of the schedule in July. For Duquesne, that means hosting rivals such as Dayton and St. Bonaventure, in addition to familiar conference heavyweights like Davidson, Richmond and Saint Louis.
The Dukes are also set to head to St. Thomas to compete in three games during the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. A quarterfinal matchup with Northeastern is already set for Nov. 19. Depending on outcomes from other contests, Duquesne could wind up playing Colorado and/or Creighton, both of whom are fresh off NCAA Tournament appearances.
Other scheduling tidbits, per CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, include home contests with Hofstra on Nov. 13, Weber State on Nov. 15 and Bowling Green on Dec. 1. Additionally, as reported by Pittsburgh Sports Now, the Dukes will open up the season at home against Rider, hosting the Broncs and Jett Roesing, who transferred from Duquesne to Rider after appearing in one game last season.
In short, there will be plenty of opportunities for students, alumni and fans to catch the Dukes in action at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse this season after enduring the turmoil of the past two seasons.
On the flipside, it would be negligent to ignore the amount of roster turnover that Duquesne will endure heading into this year, as the team’s six leading scorers from last season have all found new homes.
Sincere Carry (9 points/ game) and Lamar Norman Jr. (5 points/game) transferred to Kent State and Western Michigan, respectively, during the season. At season’s end, 3-point threat Tavian Dunn-Martin (10.2 points/ game) took his talents to Florida Gulf Coast, while rising freshman Chad Baker (9.5 points/game) departed for San Diego State.
Marcus Weathers (15.3 points/game) and Michael Hughes (10.8 points/game) also pursued other opportunities. Weathers teamed up with his brother, Michael, to play at Southern Methodist. Hughes recently took a professional opportunity, joining Basketball Club Vienna in Austria.
Dambrot’s roster has been gutted, but he has done a solid job of filling those voids by searching the transfer portal to add new key contributors.
In his search, he found Leon Ayers III, a Mercer transfer who averaged 12.2 points/ game and shot 39% from behind the arc and could provide much-needed scoring depth. He also added Tre Williams, a forward from Indiana State who averaged 8.1 points/ game and five rebounds/game across two seasons with the Sycamores.
Other notable transfer additions include Rodney Gunn Jr. (Lenoir-Rhyne) and Kevin Easley Jr. (Texas Christian).
Dambrot will also be able to lean on Maceo Austin and Austin Rotroff, who are entering their third and fourth seasons, respectively, and will provide a source of veteran leadership to a team otherwise littered with younger players.
While missing most of the 2020-21 season, Austin started 29 of 30 games during his freshman campaign, averaging 7.0 points/game and 1.6 rebounds/game. Across three seasons with Duquesne, Rotroff has shot 56.5% overall.
With the season still months away, lots could happen when it comes to scheduling and player development, but the Duquesne men’s basketball program has laid the blueprint for becoming a successful team this season.
And now, after multiple years of venue-jumping, they finally have the state-of-theart facility that can bring fans onto campus like never before.
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