Atlantic 10 conference coaches, media not alone when it comes to this year’s high expectations for Duquesne
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Atlantic 10 coaches and media members aren’t the only people anticipating a breakout season from the Duquesne men’s basketball team.
ESPN college basketball bracket expert Joe Lunardi can see that happening as well.
This week at the A-10’s media day, the conference preseason poll was announced, and Duquesne was rated fourth in the 15-team league. When Lunardi came through Pittsburgh on Oct. 5 to speak at a Duquesne fan event, he joined me on the “Breakfast with Benz” podcast and advanced a similar forecast.
“If I had a guess, I would say Duquesne will be picked third or fourth,” Lunardi predicted at the time. “While some may not jump up and down about that, that’s out of 15. And how many times in the last 30 years has Duquesne been in the top three or four in the league?”
The answer is that this is the highest such ranking for the Dukes in 25 years. The Dukes received 302 voting points in the poll. Dayton, which earned 20 first-place votes and 370 points, is the favorite to win the 2023-24 A-10 championship. VCU (321, three first-place votes) and St. Bonaventure (319, one first-place vote) were chosen second and third.
Lunardi credits head coach Keith Dambrot for keeping some of last year’s best players from leaving via the transfer portal, while adding to the roster around them.
“It’s because of Keith and his ability to keep tweaking the roster, and now they’re older. I don’t know if there’s a star in the frontcourt, but there’s plenty of options. And that’s usually good enough in the league. And then you have to have great guards — and he does,” Lunardi said.
Two of those returning players are swingman Dae Dae Grant and guard Jimmy Clark III. Grant was named to the A-10 preseason first team, and Clark is on the second team and earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team.
Lunardi thinks those two, plus six other returning players, four transfers and a few talented freshmen could make last year’s turnaround effort from 6-24 (in 2021-22) to 20-13, the first step toward something even more impressive this season.
“Certainly the turnaround that occurred last year has set the table for this,” Lunardi continued. “We’re here a month before the season starts, and there are probably 300 or 400 people talking about Duquesne basketball. I’m no lifelong expert on Duquesne basketball, but I suspect that that hasn’t been the annual event. Right?”
No. It hasn’t. But seeing another good regular season translate into a few wins in March might make it at least two years in a row.
Also during the podcast, Lunardi and I discussed how many teams may be able to make the NCAA tournament from the Atlantic 10 this year, conference hopping, scheduling making and how all of those factors go into the bracketology formula.