Crawford Feels Duquesne is ‘Putting Pieces’ Together for Another Championship Team

Every college basketball player’s dream is to compete in the NCAA Tournament. Some players make it to the Big Dance a few times in their career, but many never get the chance.

That’s why when Cam Crawford visited Duquesne last week, he asked Dru Joyce III if the Dukes will continue their recent run of success and return to the tournament.

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“One of the things I asked him on the visit was if he thought he would be able to put together a championship caliber team and he said, ‘Of course.’ He doesn’t play to lose; he plays to win, and he intends on doing just that and that’s what I’m excited for. I want to win an A-10 championship and go back to the [NCAA Tournament],” Crawford told Pittsburgh Sports Now.

In his three seasons – one at Marshall after two years with Indiana State – Crawford has yet to reach the NCAA Tournament and he believes that Duquesne is building back towards that again.

“My biggest goal is to make it to the NCAA Tournament,” Crawford said. “I think it’s achievable by following the blueprint of what coach Joyce lays. I think he’s putting the pieces on the team to be able to compete and it’s just a matter of us getting to work in the summer and building that chemistry.”

Upon entering the portal, the Marshall transfer knew he would hear from a lot of schools, and he was hoping that Duquesne was amongst those programs.

“I was kinda hopeful that Duquesne would hit me because I played very well against them. Before I got in the portal, I had an idea just of what I’d done this past season, I had some really big games against a lot of teams, I was expecting a lot of this teams to hit me. When Duquesne hit me, I was a little surprised and just excited for the potential of the opportunity to work out.”

Crawford did indeed put together a strong performance in early December against the Dukes where he scored 20 points on 9 of 18 shooting. It was one of two 20-point efforts on the season for the guard as he finished scoring 8.2 points per game.

With the Duquesne program already on his mind, Crawford made a visit to the Bluff from April 17-19. Through that experience, Crawford saw what he needed to and felt like it was home.

“It was a cool experience getting to see the facilities up close, getting to see the city of Pittsburgh and getting to meet the coaches and players face-to-face and just see what they had to offer. I just liked what I saw and decided to commit,” Crawford said.

The 6-foot-5 guard became the first commitment of the Joyce era with Duquesne needing to fill a void left by Jimmy Clark III and Dae Dae Grant, who were recently enshrined into the Duquesne Athletics Hall of Fame.

Crawford is a combo guard that can slot in anywhere from the one to the three and feels he brings a versatile scoring touch.

“I feel like I’m a three-level scorer. I can get to the rim, finish in the paint, I got a mid-range game off the dribble and then I can catch and shoot off the dribble, off the ball screens. I’m versatile and can affect the game in multiple ways,” Crawford said.

Season Highlights pic.twitter.com/3uRk1eC7XG

— Cam Crawford (@camcrawford0) March 21, 2024

Along with Crawford, the Dukes have landed Canisius guard Tre Dinkins and Chicago State transfer Jahsean Corbett. On Friday, they added their fourth commitment in Furman transfer Alex Williams.

“I think they’ve been able to bring in a lot of what they’ve lost this past year in just three commits that we’ve gotten in the past three days. I’m excited to get to work and compete with those guys,” Crawford said.