The Duquesne Dukes' non-conference schedule for next season does not include a meeting with Pitt in the City Game, but it will still be loaded with high-caliber mid-major opponents.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halting construction on UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the Dukes will likely have to spend at least the non-conference portion of their 2020-2021 schedule traveling across Pittsburgh for the second straight year. Duquesne will likely split the games between PPG Paints Arena, UPMC Events Center (Robert Morris University) and Kerr Fitness Center (LaRoche University).
As earlier published, Duquesne will compete in the Maryland Showcase, a four-team event hosted by the Maryland Terrapins. Duquesne will host Cal Baptist (21-10, 10-6 WAC) on November 16 and San Jose State (7-24, 3-15 Mountain West) on November 18. The Dukes will travel to College Park to face Maryland (24-7, 14-6 Big Ten) on November 22.
As reported by Mike Vukovcan of Pittsburgh Sports Now on Wednesday, Duquesne is set to host the Belmont Bruins at a yet to be determined date.
Over the past decade, Belmont has become one of the best mid-major programs in the country.
Under longtime head coach Rick Byrd, the Ohio Valley Conference's premier school made the NCAA Tournament five times (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2019) and the NIT three times (2014, 2016, 2017) during the 2010s. In Byrd's 33rd and final year at the school (2019), the Bruins earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and defeated Temple in the First Four.
Under first-year head coach Casey Alexander, who jumped across Nashville from Lipscomb to Belmont, the Bruins went 26-7 with a 15-3 conference mark. The Bruins defeated rival Murray State in the conference title game and were set to return to the NCAA Tournament prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
In terms of strong mid-majors, Duquesne has a lot more of those tabbed for their schedule.
In an interview with Pittsburgh Sports Now, head coach Keith Dambrot said that Duquesne thinks they will be getting Furman for a neutral site game, while also adding East Tennessee State to the schedule.
Furman has made strides over the past two years, going a combined 50-15 with an NIT appearance in 2018-2019.
In 2018-2019, the Paladins won at a defending Final Four school in Loyola(Chicago), while also traveling to Philadelphia to knock off the defending national champion and eighth-ranked Villanova Wildcats. Following an 8-0 start, the Paladins earned the #25 ranking in the AP Poll, putting them in the poll for the first time in school history.
East Tennessee State has made the NCAA Tournament in two of the past four seasons (2017, 2020). This past season, the Buccaneers went 30-4, including a victory in Baton Rouge over the LSU Tigers. Like Belmont, ETSU was set to return to the tournament prior to the pandemic. Steve Forbes, the head coach of the Buccaneers, recently accepted the same position at Wake Forest.
According to the D1 Docket, Duquesne has two other games already determined.
Duquesne will travel to Huntington, West Virginia to be hosted by Marshall. Huntington is the hometown of Duquesne guard Tavian-Dunn Martin. The date is to be determined.
In 2017-2018, Marshall made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. They upset fourth-seeded Wichita State in the Round of 64 before being defeated by in-state rival West Virginia in the Round of 32. In 2018-2019, the Thundering Herd defeated Green Bay to win the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
During the Cleveland Classic at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland this past December, Marshall defeated Duquesne by an 83-61 score to hand the Dukes their second loss of the season.
Duquesne is also set to travel to Laramie, Wyoming for the first annual Mountain West/Atlantic 10 Challenge on December 5, when they will be hosted by the Wyoming Cowboys.
Despite a miserable 2019-2020 season in which the Cowboys went 9-24 (2-16) and earned the conference's 11th and final seed, they defeated sixth-seeded Colorado State and three-seeded Nevada before falling to second-seeded and eventual champion Utah State in the conference tournament's semifinals.
Led by current Cleveland Cavalier Larry Nance Jr., the 2014-2015 Cowboys went to the NCAA Tournament as a 12 seed, where they lost to fifth-seeded Northern Iowa. In 2016-2017, Wyoming defeated Coastal Carolina to win the College Basketball Invitational.
Thanks to Dambrot's ties to both LeBron James and Akron as a whole, it is possible that Duquesne could return to the city for the third consecutive year. In each of the past two seasons, the Dukes have defeated Radford while playing in Akron.
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