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For Duquesne Men’s Basketball, This Year is Their Best Chance to Win a Conference Title
Since the start of practices, I could just feel this special energy in the room. I can just tell that there is something very special about this team that has not been seen at Duquesne in years, maybe even in decades.
“We might not have the best five” Head coach Keith Dambrot said in a post-game press conference after the game against Saint Peter’s. “We have probably the best 10 through 13 in the league.”
The depth of this Duquesne men’s basketball team is unmatched to any opponent they may face. There are several guys outside of the starters that can produce and be deciding factors in close games.
"We are the best team in the A-10 because of our depth and our core group is returning,” senior guard Jimmy Clark III said. “Majority of the guys that come off the bench are players that can be X factors at any given moment.”
Dambrot utilized the transfer portal by bringing in three 6’7” players in Fousseyni Drame, Hassan Drame and Andrei Savrasov while also adding Dusan Mahorcic, who stands at 6’10”. Bringing in guys with size this year helps address something they lacked last season.
The Drame twins were on the Saint Peters team that went to the Elite 8 back in 2022 before transferring to LaSalle and eventually landing at Duquesne for the start of this season. The twins have the experience of how to win in big games.
“One thing about them is they are going to put a lot of time into the game, and they are going to play as hard as they can every minute they are out there,” Dambrot said.
I have seen the twins at every practice, they are always the first ones in the gym and sometimes the last to leave. They consistently show up to get in extra work before and after practice. And so far, their hard work has shown coming off the bench in games and making an immediate impact.
“No one is going to have players like the Drame twins on their team either who are going to come in and score, rebound, assist, steal whatever you need them to do,” said Duquesne men’s basketball manager Logan Bastian said. “There is no other team that matches our depth. Depth is a huge aspect of how good a team can be.”
I talked with Clark III and he feels that any of guys that come off the bench can be X-factors at any given moment. He believes factors like this play a huge part in how great this team is this year.
I have seen Dambrot substitute out Dae Dae Grant, Clark III and substitute in guys off the bench without hesitation. And the five guys on the court are just as strong without the two best players on the team out there. That is very unusual for basketball teams, but it goes to show the depth and how strong this Duquesne Basketball team is.
Last season, Duquesne had the best turnaround in its program history. The team was projected to be ranked dead last before moving up to sixth place by the end of the season last year. And Duquesne returning two major starters from last season in Grant and Clark III have the expectations of the team to be a higher than from a season ago.
A year ago, Clark III led the A-10 in steals with 76, averaging 2.3 steals per game. It is not a surprise that he is leading the conference in steals again this year with 23 steals in just nine games averaging 2.6 steals per game. He told me that he also has high goals to earn the Atlantic-10 Defensive player of the year.
“I would compare Jimmy to an engine,” Bastian said. “Jimmy’s defense is probably one the best parts about his game because not a lot of players put the time into defense like he would.”
Clark III is well rounded at everything, but he is also not bad at anything either. He is a very dynamic player, being able to shoot threes, drive into the paint for layups, make free-throws, put up a great defense, steal the ball, and make huge plays. There is really not much weakness in his game.
Grant was named 2023-24 Preseason All-Atlantic First Team, while Clark III was named on both the Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Second Team and All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team.
It is not a surprise that Grant had the recognition he did in preseason.
“I mean you can watch him miss four shots in practice, and he will be in the gym he will shoot nearly around 100 (times) after practice not even where he may have missed it from but from everywhere to just keep getting better each and every day,” Bastian said. “He is never truly satisfied with where he is at, he is truly a player that just wants to get better.”
I see Grant practice shooting three-point attempts on a regular basis especially from long distances behind the arc. As he practices them, it becomes almost jaw dropping to see that he makes almost all of them. He also practices his free-throws and recently beat the school record this season for most consecutive made free-throws with 43, the former record stood for 65 years until Grant broke it.
"He is one of the best shooters I have ever watched,” Bastian said. “Dude can pretty much literally shoot from wherever he wants and make it without any issues.”
With Grant being able to launch 3-pointers from any distance, I think it makes him very dangerous and a huge asset to the team. And Clark III being able to hit 3-pointers and also being very good at driving into the paint for flashy layups is eye-popping. This makes this duo a huge asset to the team. So far this season, Grant is averaging 19-points per game, which is ranked second in the A-10. On the other hand, Clark III ranked is ranked seventh in the league with 16.4-points per game.
The captain of the team is very important for any team. Duquesne’s leader is very special, as he is only a sophomore in a team filled with older players.
Kareem Rozier happens to be the leader of the team and has had the responsibility of replacing the role of former Dukes player Tevin Brewer, who graduated last year. Rozier really has improved his game since last season. Over the summer, I would see him do extra conditioning after practice and work on his 3-point shooting.
So far this season, he is averaging more than double the number of points he was averaging last season. Lasts season he only averaged 3.9-points and this season; he is averaging 8.9. He also has already scored the same number of 3-pointers (18) in just nine games as he did the entirety of last season. In this season’s contest against College of Charleston, Rozier put up a career-high 20 points for the Dukes. He is playing twice the number of minutes he played last season. His rebounding has also improved since last season both offensively and defensively.
With the work that Rozier put in over the summer, “you could just tell that he was ready,” Bastian said.
Duquesne has been playing a tougher non-conference schedule than normal, but I think that will benefit them in the long run especially when it comes to conference play.
Earlier in the season Duquesne faced Princeton, a team they knew that was going to be tough competition and the team knew they were really going to be put to the test for the first time this season. They ended up falling to Princeton by one point. Now Princeton is ranked No. 21 in the NCAA Men’s Basketball NET rankings while Duquesne is ranked at No. 75. Dambrot mentions in his pregame speech that as long as the team keeps winning that they will keep moving up on the ranking side of things.
During preseason Duquesne was not ranked to finish first. I remember Dambrot saying he does not really care for preseason rankings and that he only cares if the team finishes first at the end of this.
Clark III believes by the end of the season when it is time to play for the A-10 championship and March Madness that they have what it takes to win the whole thing.
“We have older guys that have experience,” Clark III said. “We have people that are actually dogs on the team.”
Tags: NCAA, Basketball, Duquesne, March Madness, Atlantic-10, Championship