Duquesne Basketball: 5 takeaways from first 10 games of 2021-22 season

If it holds together, Duquesne has real promise for the future

A 3-7 start isn’t great for the Dukes and league play could very well finish around the 10-12 range and under .500 for the season overall. But if there’s one bright side the program can have it’s the roster itself.

*Following is operating under the years of eligibility remaining due to extra season given by NCAA

Duquesne currently has two players without any eligibility left in David Larson and RJ Gunn, but Gunn could be in a position to apply for a medical redshirt if he doesn’t come back this season. The other two upperclassmen are Rotroff and Ayers, who could opt to go pro and move on if they want to. Ayers played two seasons at the Junior College level so he may want another year as a D-I player.

As for the others, Easley has already sat out a year after transferring from Chattanooga to TCU so he’s a senior in age. But he and Williams both have two years left if they want them, while the rest of the roster has at least three years left. Of course, there always could be outgoing transfers (like last year) but the transfers from this past offseason are stuck or have to automatically sit out a season, so Ayers, Easley, and Williams are coming back. So as long as Spears doesn’t go anywhere, the Dukes could return all of their key pieces for the 2022-23 campaign.

And unlike last offseason where there was a scramble to land talent to fill out the roster, there are just a couple of specific needs to address for Duquesne. Mainly adding a center around 6’10 or 6’11 with size and rebounding capability to take pressure off of Williams and allow him to slide over to the power forward position and Easley to the wing. Now all of a sudden, that lineup has more size than most of the Atlantic 10.

And speaking of the A-10, outside of Dayton, the rest of the conference is going to lose a ton of senior-led production, particularly from St. Bonaventure and Richmond. It might be a painful couple of months but there’s a path towards success in league play for this program if everyone sticks together.

Consider this a two-year rebuilding effort for Duquesne Basketball, something many programs in college hoops will be undergoing as they rely more heavily on to fill up the roster via the transfer portal.