Inside the Dukes: Analyzing Duquesne WBB's Struggles

It was the third quarter of another Atlantic 10 conference game that was getting away from the Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team, this time against George Washington Wednesday evening at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and even unintentionally the pep band’s resounding chorus of ABBA’s Mamma Mia felt apropos.

So too did the 59-45 loss to the Revolutionaries, one in which coach Dan Burt still has no answers let alone a hint of what his team’s identity is.

“Incredibly poor performance from everyone in our program,” he assessed. “We’re probably what you would consider a broken team at this point. There’s going to be a lack of confidence because of how young we are and our lack of success offensively.”

“I feel like the kids have played with great effort before tonight. In our first two quarters we weren’t very good from an effort standpoint. What’s our identity, we’re not very smart with the ball. We don’t value the basketball. We as coaches don’t put them in position to have more effective ways of scoring the basketball and that’s on me. We continue to turn the ball over at a rate that we don’t value it. It is my responsibility to get them in better spots. Even the shots we got tonight were off virtually no pass or very little movement. Come Friday we’ll start practice without dribbling and may go the entire practice where you have to pass. We didn’t talk on what we wanted to do on offense and a lot of things there.”

For the students coming back from semester break the result might have been surprising but since conference play resumed Dec. 31 Duquesne has struggled across the board, never having dropped its first six A-10 affairs since the 1989-90 season.

With that being said, let’s take a look at the Dukes since Dec. 31, all very winnable games.

Dec. 31 Loss 72-62 Saint Louis

Early on in this game the Billiken bench successfully pleaded for a three seconds call and Burt was stunned and it clearly rattled him to the point he kept trying to lobby for it.

That was the warning shot but what really messed up Duquesne was the physicality. The officials allowed for both teams to play rather freely and the Dukes had no answer for it.

“We looked like the young, inexperienced team we are when you look at how physical the game was,” Burt stated We were somewhat shellshocked by the physicality and it clearly determined a lot of the game. You learn more from the losses than the wins. Wins can hide certain deficiencies of things you need to do.”

The fact that Duquesne was tied at halftime despite 17 turnovers at halftime could have been a positive sign but the Dukes could not keep up.

Burt acknowledged growing pains after that game and perhaps hinted at what was to come when he offered that there would not be an older upperclassman coming in on a white horse being a shining knight and saving his Dukes.

“These guys are really young, and they’ve got to grow up together,” assessed Burt. “We’re going to have hard times like this, and we’ve got to grow from that. Part of that is our screening action wasn’t very good today. It’s a hallmark of a very young team and don’t put it on them as much as you put it on me because at the end of the day the buck stops with me.”

Jan. 3 Loss Dayton 68-61

Duquesne had a legitimate chance to win this game against another team that was experiencing its share of struggles.

Up 10 in the third quarter, it appeared that would be exactly what would happen but instead Dayton’s experience and Molly O’Riordan’s 23-point effort won the day. It was a stunning result for a team which was poised for a bounce back but this would not be the last time this happened in this skid.

Jan. 7 Loss St. Bonaventure 46-38

Often Burt would tell anyone that would listen that playing the Bonnies was like a trip to the dentist’s office. After this game in which Duquesne was once again listless on offense and inopportune in crucial moments on defense, it might as well have been a root canal.

“I’m rarely ever at a loss for words at any time in my life whether it’s wins, losses or in my personal life and I’m really kind of at a loss for words with this team which I love,” Burt silently responded. “I think we were outcoached. Bonaventure played to what they do, we know what they’re going to do. We shot 23% from the field and 14% from the three-point line and it’s a game that was incredibly physical again and well officiated. When you have four assists and 21 turnovers, you’re not going to beat many teams. You can be eighth or 10th in the country in rebounding, there’s a reason for that. I will say our kids play really hard and give good effort but we’ve got to find a way to not turn the ball over so much.”

Burt felt he had a remedy when practices were focused on the physicality and accountability. It felt like things were in a good place until they really were not.

Normally Duquesne meets at halfcourt win or lose, but after this game everyone retreated to the locker room.

A not so subtle sign came on an inbounds pass at the end of the third quarter when Laycee Drake was given space and made a buzzer-beating three-point shot. This tied the game but Duquesne never recovered.

“We’re 15 games in, it’s January and they’ve been here since June,” said Burt. “We have very simply failed our assignment at this point.  I still believe in these players 100%. Love them to death, they are great kids and very talented. We have to find something that allows us to win and how do you win? By cutting down the turnovers, increasing your assists and being able to put them in position to get good shots.”

Jan. 11 Loss VCU 61-54

This was almost a carbon copy of the Dayton loss, a team hungry to find something to move forward together, but instead another silent fourth quarter told the story.

Duquesne led by eight in the third quarter and seven heading into the fourth, but went 9:27 with one point to lose control of this game.

A three pointer with 32 seconds left put the Dukes to within three points, but it was too late. It was another heartbreak, this time a televised one for a young group.

Jan. 14 Loss GW 59-45

This was a game which appeared uneven in a lot of ways. Duquesne went scoreless for 9:30 again and the edict of head down driving and getting free throws also was not happening, evidenced by four total taken in the first half.

Duquesne had 14 points at halftime, something Burt said had never happened before. It was another cold from beyond the arc in the first half to where after the game he offered to exclusively take two-point shots.

It got to a point where GW’s Sara Lewis nearly outscored the Dukes by herself.

After a second half miscue, Duquesne got beat once again on a home run inbounds pass, which caused Burt to bang his hand on the scorer’s table.

The same mistakes have been made throughout these losses. It was a second consecutive home game with four assists for a team which has no true point guard and averages 20.83 turnover per game.

Forced turnovers during this skid have been met with the ball quickly being exchanged back numerous times.

Give Burt credit for answering the questions, accepting the blame and along the way refusing to question his talent, but right now there is absolutely no confidence on that bench.

At this point the goal has to be to be to teach, find answers, develop confidence and do so by the time Atlantic 10 Championships tip off in March.

“I want our identity to be what it was at the beginning of the season,” he aimed. “We want to press people, be aggressive. It’s one thing to do that but another to make the mistakes we made. I don’t know what that identity will be but we’ll continue to search for answers. This is going to be a heavy lift. There’s no days off and no stone that will be unturned.”