Duquesne Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Dukes

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: Eric James #2 of the Duquesne Dukes and Chas Brown #0 of the Duquesne Dukes rebound against the Richmond Spiders during the first half in the Second Round of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

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CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 18: Head coach Keith Dambrot of the Akron Zips looks on while playing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first half during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the United Center on March 18, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Dambrot’s squad could see an unchartered territory

As I said, excitement is pretty high around the Duquesne program after their finish last season and the amount of talent they have returning. Their non-conference schedule gives them the chance to gather some wins before league play.

All of their games in November come either at home or in the Bahamas as a part of the Junkanoo Jam. They open the season against Princeton and face a strong Lipscomb team before leaving for the Bahamas where they face Indiana State, Air Force, and Loyola Marymount over the course of four days. The rest of their non-conference slate has them with two home games against VMI and Columbia, and four more neutral-site games, two in Ohio against Radford and Marshall and two in Florida at the St. Pete Shootout against Austin Peay and UAB. The Dukes have no true road games and they should be able to garner some wins.

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For Duquesne it’s not necessarily about who they play, but it’s about building the confidence needed to be more competitive in the league, and for a team that has struggled to reach the upper half of the conference so often, building off of last year’s success will be vital for the direction of the program in years ahead.

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