Duquesne Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Dukes
Key storylines for Duquesne Basketball in 2021-22
1. Who is the starting point guard?
For 2.5 seasons, Sincere Carry has been the undisputed starting point guard for the Dukes and when he was good, the team was good. Now it’s a completely open question, with a pair of freshmen (Jackie Johnson and Amir Spears), and sophomore Tyson Acuff fighting it out. If the team doesn’t know who is best suited to run the offense, they’ll be in real trouble to start out the season.
The veteran Acuff may be the safest bet to start things off and allow both Johnson and Spears to be brought along slowly. But if Johnson, in particular, can be ready to go, that may be the best version of Duquesne that we’ll see. An argument can be made that throwing the freshman guard to the fire and allowing him to take his lumps will be the development he needs to be impactful by the time league play starts.
2. Competiting in the frontcourt
As mentioned, the 6’11 Rotroff won’t be available until at least mid-way through the season. That means that Duquesne is going to be fairly small in the frontcourt, with 6’7 forwards RJ Gunn, Tre Williams, and Kevin Easley getting the bulk of the minutes. If they’re struggling inside on the boards, 6’9 forward Toby Okani could slide over to the four-spot to add some size and spacing.
The Atlantic 10 has plenty of quality bigs to contend with, including Conference Defensive Player of the Year Osun Osunniyi, Richmond’s Grant Golden and Nathan Cayo, Dayton’s Toumani Camara, and Mustapha Amzil, and Hasahn Ward of VCU. These guys can cause fits to the Dukes’ frontcourt and put a ton of pressure not only on Tre Williams to be an impact defender but to also avoid getting in foul trouble in general.
3. Re-building culture and lockerroom
Under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has been in solid shape in the A-10 hierarchy, finishing in the top half. Last year was a struggle, in part due to the team’s chemistry reportedly not being all the way there. It didn’t help that Carry left midway through, but they also lost a potential star in Chad Baker, who transferred out to San Diego State.
The Dukes aren’t going to be a program that lands top-100 talent like VCU and Dayton can and isn’t going to be a destination for the top transfer target. They have to scratch and claw to get what they can in this league and losing talented players each offseason to the portal is a tough blow to come back from.
They only have two seniors on the roster that has to leave after this year so if they can avoid any more big roster departures going forward, they’ll eventually be in a position to contend for a top-4 spot. But that comes by having a place that players don’t want to leave for any reason.