Head Coach: Dru Joyce III; 1st season
Theme song: Rule the World (feat. Ariana Grande) by 2 Chainz
Last Season: Hollywood ending anyone? Keith Dambrot got that in his final Division One head coach season. He led the Dukes to their first A10 tournament title since 1977, when the league was known as the Eastern College Basketball League, and their first NCAA tournament victory since 1969.
Led by two program icons, Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark, the Dukes won their final four regular season games to enter the A10 tournament with some serious momentum. Two seasons removed from an injury-riddled six-win year, Dambrot rode off into the sunset with his air-raid offense and football-style defense despite an 0-5 start to A10 play.
It was widely speculated during the preseason that Dambrot would retire from coaching, and at one point during the season, he jokingly introduced Dru Joyce III as his “replacement.” Several factors were going to go into Dambrot’s retirement. Had Duquesne not finished their season in the fashion they did, there is a good chance he still roams the sidelines for the Dukes.
Joyce is not just a LeBron James plant riding off his coattails; he is a highly qualified candidate to take over the Duquesne job. He played for Dambrot when he first took the job at Akron, earning an all-MAC selection as a senior. Joyce’s basketball career extended to Germany’s basketball Bundesliga, where he became the league’s all-time assist leader.
His coaching journey included a successful three-year run with Cleveland State and Dennis Gates before eventually landing with Dambrot as his associate head coach. These experiences and achievements underscore Joyce’s readiness to lead the Dukes.
The offseason for Duquesne has been a resounding success regarding roster building. Joyce will inherit a productive group of returnees bolstered by adding talented transfers from the portal. The real test awaits: can he guide this talented roster throughout an entire season with a coherent strategy? The anticipation for the new season is palpable, and Joyce will have a spectacle on his from day zero, as Duquesne fans will observe his in-game abilities rather closely.
Arrivals: Tre Dinkins (Canisius), Cam Crawford (Marshall), Jahsean Corbett (Chicago State), Alex Williams (Furman), Brandon Hall (J), Eli Wilborn (Saint Francis), Maximus Edwards (George Washington)
Departures: Dae Dae Grant, Jimmy Clark, Fousseyni Drame, Hassan Drame, Dusan Mahorcic, Andrei Savrasov, Tre Williams, Kailon Nicholls
Returnees: Kareem Rozier, David Dixon, Chabi Barre, Jakub Necas, Jake DiMichele
Potential Strengths: My chosen theme for this season’s Duquesne team is versatility. The roster is unique this season because its players can cover many different spots. Indeed, we’ll still see a steady diet of mid-range scoring from this group with efficiency from three. Joyce has the guards to maintain some of Dambrot’s offensive pillars to keep point totals high. Defensively, the Dukes will still operate like a football team in terms of how physical they’ll play, a strategy that paid dividends last year against Dayton.
No guard in the A10 is as sui generis as Maximus Edwards on offense. The New York native hitched it from Washington, DC, to Pittsburgh with the idea of playing for a contending program. Edwards offers three-level scoring with a knack for rebounding the ball as a guard—averaging 6.6 boards per game last season. Joyce could unlock more from him through his playmaking, perhaps by playing Edwards more as a point guard to give opposing defenses a matchup headache.
This season, Kareem Rozier and Canisius import Tre Dinkins will make up more of the backcourt. With big-game experience, Rozier is the ideal organizer for Duquesne as they work to incorporate all the new pieces. He understands how to control momentum, run an offense, and calm everything down when things go sideways. He and Dinkins should make good for a one-two punch offensively, with Rozier setting up Dinkins to deliver the dagger. Dinkins’ numbers shot through the roof last year as he took on a feature role.
Jahsean Corbett will also be fed the ball and solely responsible for scoring. Like Edwards, Corbett brings many different elements to his game. Corbett was one of the better shooters from inside the arc last year at 51%, which will work nicely for Joyce. He also grabbed 7.7 rebounds per contest last year as a guard standing at 6’6”. Cam Crawford is in a similar mold of player, but not as good as Corbett.
Joyce’s recruiting pattern is interesting here: he likes going after the producers stuck in no man’s land, a concept that bodes well if you fuse all of them.
Furman transfer Alex Williams has a ton of physical elements for this team. If you search the internet for pictures, Williams has serious muscle on him. Any inferior defender will likely look like a beachball being hit upwards. Williams shot 54% at the rim last season and 40% from range, tremendous balance for someone of his build.
Former NEC all-freshman pick Eli Wilborn can have an impact on his role. Defensively, Wilborn’s numbers were pretty good for a freshman playing on a weak defensive team. 1.6 blocks per game can be worked with in a good defensive scheme. What can help him is his ferocious rebounding, grabbing 7.4 rebounds per contest last year. Wilborn was one of the better rebounders in the nation last season, finishing 149th in defensive rebounding rate on Kenpom.
Wilborn can win over a starting role, given that Chabi Barre is more of a specialist in certain situations as a big man. Jakub Necus can also provide size, but I like the idea of him as a stretch big than a guy who should see regular minutes.
Duquesne has guys—an incredibly deep bench with seemingly limitless lineup combinations to counter most opponents. They can play big with their football-style defense and wear teams down inside or turn into a track team and chase teams out of the gym. Extensive personnel choices bode well for rookie head coaches, who must limit mistakes.
Potential Weaknesses: While this team shouldn’t have any outstanding weaknesses on the court, it doesn’t particularly have an exceptional strength either. Because of the balanced roster construction, this team has jack-of-all-trades vibes. With almost every aspect of play covered, there is no noticeable “weak point” when opposing teams try to break down Duquesne.
The problem is that I don’t see a “weapon” for Duquesne, a certain edge that can be sharpened to deliver the knockout punch. Last year, Dae Dae Grant or Jimmy Clark killed teams with crazy shot-making in the clutch. Do they have anything they can develop like that this season? It’s not impossible to figure that out quickly, but switching parts around until the job is done is not the most efficient way to win games.
While harsh, my other critique is standard with any rookie head coach: Is Dru Joyce capable? As mentioned in the introduction, he has a solid track record as a former player and assistant and has already demonstrated his elite ability in the portal. Now we need to see if he is for real with his x’s and o’s.
I am rooting for Joyce because he’s qualified to take over the program now that Dambrot is gone. Will he be an exact clone? No, Joyce will have to carve out his path, which could take some time. Give it about a year, and maybe we could see him coaching at a truly elite level to compete in the A10 seriously.
Some notable A10 coaches who took some to marinate in the league before they got things going:
- Jim Barron (St. Bonaventure & Rhode Island)
- Oliver Purnell (Dayton)
- Karl Hobbs (George Washington)
- Rick Majerus (Saint Louis)
Not a bad list, eh? I’m not saying Joyce will immediately reach the success all these names saw, but they prove that it takes time to get adjusted in the A10. We could see him join that list rather quickly if all goes well.
X-Factor: David Dixon is due for a big season as one of the more experienced returnees on the roster. He and Rozier have good chemistry, which, combined with Dixon’s ability to roll to the basket, could make for a lethal pick-and-roll combination. He’s also a physical big man who isn’t afraid to get dirty under the basket. I envision Dixon competing for a spot on the all-defensive team, perhaps one of the nation’s better defensive bigs. Losing Tre Williams’ physicality will undoubtedly be felt, but Duquesne’s in-house replacement is exceptionally qualified to pick up the slack.
Outlook: Joyce will need time to adjust to being a head coach at this level, though I don’t suspect it should take very long. Winning will be sprinkled in because of how this roster is constructed. Like I said earlier, this roster returns championship pieces and talented imports who should push for winning almost immediately. There is no reason to think this transition period is going to be a slow one for Joyce. Duquesne has firepower, versatility, experience, and the backing of a revived fan base to see sustained excellence in this league for a long time. A 20-win season is not out of the question again for this team, nor is a deep run in the A10 tournament.
