Duquesne Women's Basketball
Inside the Dukes: Identity Established With March In Mind
The Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team did exactly what it was expected to do Wednesday night, emerging victorious over St. Bonaventure, at this time of year, coach Dan Burt understands that more has to be done.
“We have to be better in every facet of the game,” he explained. “I’m not just going to be satisfied by winning. We have to play better and do multiple things better as we pursue what our goals are.”
Duquesne established a certain dominance in the odd quarters Wednesday and as senior center Ayanna Townsend explained, the Dukes are seeking to start capitalizing more on defense and finding counters on that end when opponents do get on a run, something which was unable to be done in the team’s conference setbacks to George Mason and Saint Joseph’s.
Junior guard Megan McConnell admitted that Duquesne did not play its best basketball but found a way to get the victory.
“We just have to keep working on it,” offered McConnell. “We put in a press that we got a couple turnovers on, so that may be helpful down the road.”
Burt’s explanation was that his team is in the thick of things as it has identified who it is and what it wants to be.
That to him means that there is an understanding that if one goes into the game, there cannot be an expectation to make three mistakes and stay in the game.
Burt challenged his team defensively during a timeout and he specified giving up a baseline drive for a layup after that stoppage.
At halftime, he had a conversation with a couple of players about what the team’s performance was, deeming it a learning phase for both him and his squad on how to manage and coach it.
“Even though the score was what it was in the fourth quarter, I thought we played a really good third quarter and answered some of the key points of what the conversation was at halftime,” Burt interpreted. “For us to have success, I have to be able to hold them accountable to do their job as soon as they go into the game.”
Duquesne played 11 in this game, though Burt believes he deserves some blame, because some of them were not put in the best positions to succeed on the court.
Defensively, Duquesne has been challenged to not allow opponents to feel comfortable, something which is attributed to getting a hand up, being in the gap and fulfilling a determined role, with the belief that if that stays done, good things will happen.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
With the above known, it comes to establishing that set eight-or nine player rotation that can lead the team come March.
It is Burt’s belief that the Atlantic 10 will be a one-bid league once again this year but that getting a double bye for the conference championship is important.
Duquesne fell a few possessions short of that a season ago and this season, Burt opined that eight teams are fighting for four spots.
“We talk about other teams being a tough team, Duquesne is a tough team,” he said. “We’re not quite where we want to be but we’re a pretty tough team too. People need to realize as we continue to go down this path, we knew this was going to be the way it was. I thought we would have a couple more wins at this time and we have to understand that everything comes down to March. We’ve got to be prepared for that and be at our best mental and physical health as we go into late February and early March. That is part of this process here. You hold serve at home, steal a couple on the road and you get that double bye, and you build confidence.”
Burt estimates that five or six players on the team have a high belief level in both team and self. While he feels that everyone believes in the team, he does want to build a couple up with both hope and confidence, understanding that a successful season hinges on it.
Play such as Townsend fighting for a loose ball and her Dukes maintaining possession, guard Jerni Kiaku skying for a rebound over a multiple post players, Tess Myers wanting to call her own number from the three-point line, but instead finding an open and higher-percentage post shot for an easy basket are winning plays that show this team has the capability of achieving its goals, but to do so, these efforts will need to be more present and consistently so for the remainder of this season.
“It is my responsibility that this talented team has more discipline and that’s on me,” concluded Burt. “For that to happen I have to coach them, and coach them hard and I did that. They answered the bell and that was to their credit, not mine. My responsibility is to make sure they are accountable and disciplined in everything they do. I’m not satisfied with that. We’re going to play better than this to get to where we need to be.”
