Spears is key to sturdier team
Dukes need size to help impact player
Duquesne’s season ended Wednesday with a 79-77 loss to Rhode Island in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington. Here are some questions the Dukes face to start the offseason.
Will Primo Spears return?
The freshman guard surged in the season’s final week, averaging 29.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists in losses to George Washington, La Salle and Rhode Island.
Those efforts helped him surpass his teammates to finish as the team’s leading scorer and showed that he has the potential to be an impact player for years to come … for someone.
Of course, in the age of the transfer portal, it’s only natural to question whether that someone will be Duquesne a year from now. Plenty of power conference schools could probably use the kind of scoring touch he showed late. And Duquesne has a lot of work to do on the rebuilding front.
If he wants to win on a more prominent team, it would be natural for him to seeka jump elsewhere. The good news for the Dukes is that his comments on the matter signal satisfaction with his current arrangement.
“I love the coaching staff here,” he told reporters after a loss to La Salle in the regular-season finale. “I love the community. I love Pittsburgh. … Love coach Keith [Dambrot], so we’re definitely good over here.”
Not an unequivocal “I’m coming back” kind of statement. But pretty close.
How many others will stay?
The Dukes didn’t have a single senior among their top nine scorers in 2021-22. That was a weakness as they tried to compete in a rugged A-10, but should be a strength moving forward if they can hang on to most of their key contributors with bountiful remaining eligibility.
Spears tops the list, but injured center Tre Williams, sophomore forward Kevin Easley and junior guard Leon Ayers III all finished with scoring averages between 10 and 11 points per game. And freshman guard Jackie Johnson III closed on a roll of his own by averaging 17 points per game over his final four contests.
Not a terrible core to start with if it can be surrounded with a bit more size and defensive prowess. And, more important, if they all want to remain here.
Ayers’ future, at least, seems like an open question. He was absent late in the season after his minutes diminished. And Dambrot demurred when asked about the guard’s status.
“Just for his own protection, I’d rather not talk about that,” Dabrot said after the La Salle game. “I like Leon, and I just think it’s better if we just don’t talk about it.”
Can the Dukes actually add size?
Duquesne finished 13th in the A-10 in points allowed per game at 73.4 and 10th in rebounding at 34.1 boards per game. And what ails them is no secret. They’re too small as currently constituted.
“We have to get bigger inside,” Dambrot said. “We have some guys sitting there, which could kind of fix that issue. But we’ll still recruit some.”
That would certainly help. Williams is a solid rebounder, but he’s only 6foot-7. And Mounir Hima is a tall one at 6-11. But this freshman from Niger is still developing as a relative newcomer to the game.
That makes building depth key, and the good news is that Dambrot is already off to a solid start, having picked up a commitment Thursday from Memphis, Tenn., forward prospect David Dixon.
At 6-8 and 200 pounds, the three-star rated power forward should have the frame to help in the post immediately. And he’s not the only high school player on the radar.
Duquesne is also reportedly in the mix for 6-9 Abdou-Halil Barre out of the Scotland Campus in Scotland, Pa. Rivals.com doesn’t currently list a star rating for him but reports that he holds offers from high majors including Illinois and LSU, signaling he could give the Dukes a big boost should he choose to call The Bluff home.