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Scouting Duquesne at Xavier!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
1/26/2010
The Dukes can be dangerous! Cases in point - Muskie losses to DU in 2007 and 2009 at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh. Early last Feb, X lost 72-68 trailing 45-30 at the half. Duquesne shot 81% from the floor before the break and Xavier could never climb out of that hole. Poor Muskie FT shooting doomed the comeback. Sean Miller usually kept his cool but games at DU brought him to the brink of melt down.
The Dukes have most of last season's parts available. The one major loss is PG Aaron Jackson (20PPG - 6 assists - 6 rebounds - 21 points vs X). DU almost beat Temple in the A-10 Tourney Championship Game. They settled for an NIT berth then lost in double OT at Virginia Tech.
So far this season the Dukes have floundered a bit (10-9 overall, 1-4 in the A-10, 1-6 on the road). Replacing Jackson is a challenge but an injury to Soph guard Melquan Bolding was a problem. He is back starting now (10.5 PPG in 25 minutes thru 6 games). Bolding hit the winning 3 pointer in DU's only conference win so far last Saturday against St.Bonnies (70-69).
Poor 3 point shooting has hurt forward Bill Clark and guard Jason Duty. The team sits at 25% (9% below the NCAA average). FT shooting is at just 60% - again 9% below the NCAA average.
The Dukes have played 5 overtime games-losing 3. They should have beaten Pitt at Mellon Arena back in early December but lost in double OT.
Junior forward Damian Saunders has been spectacular (15PPG - 12.7 rebounds #3 nationally - 3.3 blocks #10 nationally - 2.7 steals #11 nationally). He's a 6-7 dynamo requiring defense by committee from Xavier. That size and skill set has given XU trouble all season (Chris Johnson-Dayton:Gordon Hayward-Butler:Lazar Hayward-Marquette).
DU starts 3 guards -- Eric Evans at point plus Bolden and B.J. Monteiro with Clark and Saunders in the front court. Duty and frosh Sean Johnson are guards off the bench. UK transfer Morakinyo Williams and Brazlian Rodrigo Peggau supply the depth up front.
Duquesne lost its first 4 in the A-10 (Richmond,at Dayton in OT, Saint Louis in double OT and at Rhode Island 75-67 before beating SBU.) This team gets to the line a lot (23 FT attempts per game). If the foul shots drop and they make 3s like they did last season, DU can be a problem.
They did win very early at Iowa although the Hawkeyes are the dregs of the Big Ten. Defense against the perimeter and defense with low fouls are key for Xavier. A quick start offensively would be refreshing also. Duquesne's self confidence must be fragile after so many close calls.
The Muskies haven't sported many statistical leaders over the past few years mainly by design, because offense has been a "team" thing with all kinds of scoring balance and unselfishness.
Sometimes I cringe when the league makes a big deal over Jordan Crawford leading the A-10 in scoring. But Jordan has steadily gotten more efficient shooting the ball. His scoring knack is special and needs to blossom.
That brings me to Terrell Holloway!! He is 7th in NCAA free throw percentage at 90.5% (86-95). How many of those has he made in the final 5 minutes of a close ball game? UC and Dayton come to mind.
First, Terrell works hard to get to the line prolifically in pressure situations. Then he gathers himself, frequently off the floor after being bounced by a big guy following a high octane drive to the basket and cooly buries the FTs. Tutu is an unbelieveable winning ingredient for the Muskies and he's just a sophomore.
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