A-10: Duquesne Entering Year 3 Of Rebuild
Jim Ferry is entering the third year of his rebuilding project with the Duquesne Dukes in 2014-15.
Ferry was hired to replace Ron Everhart, who is one of the program’s most successful coaches (99-89), after six seasons because Duquesne’s hierarchy wants to consistency compete for Atlantic-10 championships and be in line for major postseason tournaments.
Whether that is a realistic goal for a program that hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 1977 and has only won one conference championship in its history is debatable.
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But it appears that Ferry, 47, is the right man for the job. Duquesne went
and earned just one victory (1-15) against A-10 foes during his inaugural season. The Dukes improved their win total to 13 last season (5-11 in the A-10) despite having eight first-year players on scholarship.
They also notched seven road victories for just the seventh time since 1955 and earned the program’s first road win over a Top 10 team in 52 years — 71-64 at No. 10 Saint Louis. Plus, they lost tight games to Dayton and UMass.
Prior to coming to Duquesne, Ferry successfully reconstructed the LIU basketball program. He took over a 5-22 Blackbirds team in 2002-03 and ended his stint there with a 150-149 record, which included two regular season conference titles and two NCAA tournament bids.
He has also been successful at the Division II and Division III levels.
So, can Duquesne take another step this year? It will be hard with the A-10 seemingly getting better every year but the Dukes upgraded the talent of their roster and they are have several experienced players — the Dukes have seven upperclassmen on their roster and return four starters.
Leading the returnees is 6’2” sharpshooting junior guard Micah Mason (10.6 PPG), who shot 56 percent on his 3-point attempts (65-of-116) to lead the nation in that category. He may also see time at point guard due to his outstanding assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.67-to 1 (74-13) last year.
5-foot-11 junior guard Derrick Colter (9.3, 3.4 APG) will once again run the show from the point guard position.
Colter, who has started every game of his collegiate career, has the ability to score – he posted three games of 20 or more points — and is a decent 3-point marksman (34.5 percent last year). Six-foot-three junior Jeremiah Jones (6.3, 3.4 RPG) will likely start this year as wee — he has started 52 of the 60 games he has appeared in during his career.
Six-foot-two sophomore combo guard Desmond Ridenour, 6’5” freshman wing Eric James and 6’ junior guard Jordan Stevens should see time in the backcourt off the bench. Ridenour (4.8) is very quick while Stevens was a first team NJCAA Division I All-American at Southwestern Community College.
Six-foot-2 sophomore Rene Castro and 6’5” freshman Mar’Qywell Jackson will sit out this year after transferring from Butler and UTEP, respectively.
The Dukes should be solid up front despite losing Ovie Soko, who led the conference in scoring with 18.0 points a game and grabbed 8.0 boards a contest. The reason being is 6’8”redshirt freshman Jordan Robinson (Toronto, Ontario/ Quality Education Academy (N.C.) has been finally cleared to play.
Robinson, a three star recruit, is a wide body who can score and rebound.
Dominique McKoy (9.7, 7.2 RPG), the lone senior, will likely start alongside Robinson. 6-foot-7 sophomore L.G. Gill (3.6, 1.9 RPG) — came on strong late last season –, 6’11” sophomore Darius Lewis and 6’6” freshman Tysean Powell will also provide depth.
Strengths: Taking care of the ball, Three-point Shooting.
Weaknesses: Scoring, Defense, Rebounding, Free Three Shooting.