Duquesne WBB’s Burt Remains Optimistic About Team As A-10 Play Continues

Duquesne Women’s Basketball coach Dan Burt was not shy when he outlined his optimism surrounding the 2023-24 Dukes, which returned 98% of all relevant stats, and despite a 5-6 non-conference record which includes a current three-game skid, his optimism has not waned.

The Dukes headed into a three-game road trip with a win at LaRoche University in which Tess Myers set the program’s all-time three-point record for a single game, but losses to Vermont, Tulane and a previously winless Little Rock.

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During a Friday practice there were still smiles, but the focus was even more so as Atlantic 10 play, resumes Saturday night at Dayton.

Duquesne is in a unique position in that it is one of four teams who have already played a conference game, which was a victory over Fordham. Currently, the Dukes are tied for first place with Davidson.

“When we left New Orleans, I was not happy by any stretch, but I said to them ‘the one bright side when we go to break is we’re in first place in the A-10 and still control our own destiny,'” Burt exclusively told PSN. “Our schedule may not have had the teams that had a sexy name for lack of better term, but you look at them. Maine is 5-1 against A-10 opponents and I think Vermont or Maine will win their league and Arkansas Little Rock is not a 1-10 team. They’re going to do very well. We’re feeling very good about where we are, this is the first time I’ve talked about before Christmas. I’m going to quote Jelly Roll, that rearview mirror is about this big and the windshield is this big and that’s the way we look at it.”

SEARCHING FOR CONSISTENCY

On a rare free night, Burt was watching a clip from 60 Minutes, one in which top tennis pro Novak Djokovic was talking about a key to his success and the lesson was wanting to do everything until it becomes both perfect and boring, to the point that a concept can in theory be done in your sleep.

By all accounts last week was not a good one, but Burt attempted to normalize that programs can go through weeks like that at times and believes some of it boils down to lacking consistency.

Burt was very honest when he said he has struggled to create combinations that can work and that the first quarter of games has been him measuring, testing and seeing what that particular day looks like.

He singled out guards Megan McConnell, Nae Bernard and Tess Myers, knowing what they will give and also Kiandra Browne for understanding that she will play hard, but beyond that he has been unsure of what is going to happen.

Sure, several players outside of those names have made impacts and won certain games, but the lack of consistency has made minutes more pivotal than ever.

“It’s a very difficult challenge as a coach because there’s very little margin of error,” Burt stated. “When you put someone in and they’re not performing, then you’ve lost those couple of minutes and it hasn’t benefitted your team. We’ve challenged them to be more consistent because obviously that’s what we’ve lacked. What does that mean? We as coaches have to look inward and figure out where are we failing them, so we don’t have inconsistency.”

Burt believes there was a feeling of concern from the players after the Little Rock setback with how the coaches would react but both sides have been positive and neither down.

The staff decided to attack the nine days between games by implementing several concepts.

First off, the Dukes ran more than they ever have with Burt calling the decision “a shock to their system”. The idea was for the team to learn how to play efficiently through fatigue, citing some late and long travels and using that and other efforts to attempt and be in better shape than its opponent.

During Friday’s practice, Duquesne was running more 5-on-0 drills and that has become more commonplace during this time period, going back to Djokovic’s concept.

Burt believes that the offense has been on the stagnant side and believes many people who have seen his team’s games can agree with his words.

“What we’ve done instead of going against a live defense is go five on 0 so we understand truly the whole offense and all of the different options off of it,” explained Burt. “When you hear me in practice say, ‘that’s a winner, hit another winner,’ we want to make 5-on-0 where it’s perfect and it becomes boring, and we can do it in our sleep. I think that was one really big thing from an identification standpoint of why we were not consistent. We have to become more consistent on our 5-on-0 so we can understand all of our options and so we understand the playbook better. When the flower doesn’t bloom right away you don’t change the soil, you add to the soil, so that’s what we’ve done. We’re 1-0 and I feel really good about the team.”

While a player may miss a practice or the stay game, Burt expects everyone will be available to play at Dayton, which could also provide additional energy for a team which has certain expectations and aspirations.

“The kids have not in any sort of way given up,” concluded Burt. “We have a really connected group that really care about one another. We’re going to be there at the end, I have no doubt about that. I feel really good about this team, even in the midst of a three-game losing streak. We have to correct some things and that’s what we hope we’ve done in this short time before Dayton.”