Earlier this season Pitt and Duquesne met in one of the most exciting versions of The City Game in recent memory. Pitt won by 5, and was in my mind the better team, but the Dukes fought hard and made it a very tough close game.
Since the Dukes and Pitt played Pitt has lost two of its key starters to injuries. SF Mike Cook is done for the season and his career at Pitt is now over. PG Levance "Taser" Fields will be out 8-12 weeks with a fractured foot. Pitt is down to 9 scholarship players because of the injury to freshman Austin Wallace who fractured the patella in one knee in practice earlier this month.
I am not a Pitt fan but seeing this picture was painful.
Why I like the Dukes in a rematch:
- While Pitt is ravaged with injuries the Dukes are healthy. Shawn James is banged up a little bit, and Damian Saunders missed some time with an ankle injury, but all in all the Dukes are fairly healthy and both of those players are on the floor making significant contributions.
- On top of being healthy 2 of the Dukes key contributors are freshman Damian Saunders and Bill Clark who are getting better with every game they play.
- The Dukes are also meshing and becoming more of a team with every game. A big part of Pitt's success is having a tight knit team, and having players develop chemistry over their entire careers in the Pitt program. Duquesne doesn't have the type of chemistry that Pitt does, at least not yet, but with every game the Dukes play together they are learning to play better together and learning each other's tendencies.
- The Dukes are a more confident team today than they were back on December 5th when they faced Pitt. The Dukes are 4-1 since their loss to Pitt and their continued success has breed the kind of confidence Duquesne needs when playing teams like Pitt.
Considering the Panthers started the game against Duquesne with a 14-0 run, and the Dukes were able to claw back, eventually losing by 5, I would like the Dukes chances in a rematch if the two teams played today.
8 comments:
At the Palumbo I like the Dukes chances in the mythical rematch...unfortunately, we have to wait until next year when Pitt will have Fields and 2 other point guards and get to host at the Pete...as they say, "timing is everything"
As far as the remainder of the season goes for both teams...Dukes should finish in top 5 of the A10 while Pitt will have to battle to be in the middle third of the BE...
Duke, with all due respect, you and all the other Dukes fans out there need to move on with your lives.
The game is over, Duquesne put up a valiant effort, but the better team won. Anyone who says different is delusional.
Maybe if the Dukes (and their coach) weren't still talking about how they should've beaten Pitt a few days earlier, they would've given a better showing against WVU.
The Dukes have a nice team this year, but until they make the NCAA tourney 6 straight years, they're not in the same class with the Panthers.
First things first:
If you are going to call me out please do not leave an anonymous comment.
Now to address your comment:
"you and all the other Dukes fans out there need to move on with your lives."
Feel free to tell me to move on with my life, but leave the other Dukes fans out of it. I wrote the post, I haven't heard any other Duquesne fans make comments about being better than Pitt.
Many Dukes fans felt Duquesne had a chance to beat Pitt and that is a fact that cannot be argued.
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"Duquesne put up a valiant effort, but the better team won. Anyone who says different is delusional."
I never said that Duquesne was the better team, in fact this is a quote from my post: "Pitt won by 5, and was in my mind the better team..."
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"The Dukes have a nice team this year, but until they make the NCAA tourney 6 straight years, they're not in the same class with the Panthers."
You're right Duquesne is not in the same class as Pitt, but if the Panthers played Duquesne today without Cook and Fields Duquesne would win. The basis of my post is that Pitt just isn't the same team without Cook and Fields.
I read and post on voy board and agree, very little is mentioned about Pitt. I will say I was surprised by Dayton, Pitt was getting clocked before the injury to the point guard.
That said I only wish them well but my opinion is that Duquesne has a team that is close in ability to Pitt this year.
It would be a great feat if Pitt, Duquesne and R. Morris all went to NCAA or NIT this year. It is possible, but they are all in different conferences and sucess in conference play would be great for area college basketball.
Duke, my apologies, I didn't mean to offend the other 7 or 8 Duquesne fans that actually exist.
Just kidding, best of luck in conference play.
This site is only a few months old and is already averaging over 100 unique hits a day so I politely disagree with your comment about the number of Duquesne fans that exist.
Winning brings fans. Attendence at the Palumbo is way up this year. The games over the semester break had more fans than likely any of the games 2 years ago. I'm curious to see what happens to the attendence at the Pete if the loss of the 2 starters/depth issues has the team fall into the tank. (Not saying I want that to happen, just curious to see what does.) The only good thing I can say about the injuries is at least they happened in a year when the Big East is way down overall.
Thank you for sharinng
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