Duquesne University - Pride of the Iron City

Holy shitballs, the season is less than a month away!  We have let this blog lay dormant for too damn long.  Rather than have you read about walk-ons (we kid, we love you Mitch) or about how to join the BR Facebook page, we figured you would like to read a little bit about who our beloved Flyers will be battling against this year.  I am naming this season, "Hitting the Floor for Four."  As in, let's get that 4th NIT Championship!  So yeah, it's time to kick off our annual "Atlantic 14 Preview" with none other than one of the original FOTB, Thorton Mellon of the awesome Bluff Divers blog.  Always there in a pinch, Thorton talked to me a little bit about Damian Saunders, the ladies of Pittsburgh, Ben Rapelisberger, and of course, how Duquesne girls are like UD girls.  Get pumped readers, the season is almost here!  "It's gonna be a fun 5 months!"

Donald Donoher: We miss the Bluff Divers website.  Will you be posting more this year?  I think we can all agree that your blog is 10 x's better than any A-14 blog out there (other than ours of course).

Thorton Mellon:  Thanks for the compliment.  Like a pesky case of genital herpes, Bluff Divers, while laying dormant for much of last year, will be back with a painful, itchy vengeance just when you need it least.  I would like to make excuses as to why there weren't more posts, so here goes: A) I am a 30 year-old raging alcoholic/wash-out who works at a Duquesne bar and spends much of my free time nursing hangovers, taking sedatives to relieve anxiety, bitching about Duquesne hoops, looking up Internet porn, and creating hatred in my family.  B) Well, I guess there is no B.  In fact, A had nothing to do with me not posting at all.  But there will be more posts this year as several Bluff Divers have pledged to assist me in guest posting and I am super pumped for the upcoming Dukes season.

DD: We obviously have to start with reigning First Team A-14/Defensive Player of the Year Damian Saunders.  It's foolish not to think that Damian can build on his 15 points, 11 boards, 3 blocks, and 3 steals a game from last year. What is the the scoop on campus in regards to Saunders workouts this summer?  And in your mind, what is the one part in his game that he needs to improve on most?

TM: While Saunders (ranked by SI as the #6 Top Impact Defenders in the country) is a determined man-beast and has a personal goal of getting the A-14 POY, he desperately needs to work on his offensive game.  The Dukes will need to find points this year, as I am convinced Bill Clark will stink again and Mel Bolding moved on to take beat box lessons from his cousin Doug E. Fresh, and if there is one area Saunders needs to improve on is his ability to score non-garbage baskets. Saunders was spotted on campus (by me) with a brace on his ankle and was rumored to have a high sprain.  All indications say that he will be fine to start the year, but if he sustains any type of injury during the year, you can stick a big fat fork in the Dukes.

DD: The Dukes are returning four of their top five scorers from last season's disappointing 16-16 team.  A quick look at the schedule shows that it is VERY manageable with the tough games being Pitt and WVU.  Take a look back at last year's season preview and you can see that Duquesne again is not scheduling that tough of games.  What do you think the reasoning behind this is?  Also, is it safe to assume that Pitt can still "suck a fat turd?"

TM: Pitt can always suck a big fat turd and so can their "fans," so can the Big East, so can Steve Pederson (AD), and Jamie Dixon (douchebag) can especially suck a giant, double-deluxe, big, fat turd.  After screwing over the city, the taxpayers, and the Penguins, by refusing to work with all three on a new arena, it amazes me that people still cheer for this team.  Not to mention they sold out their football program.  But people in Pittburgh are morons, so nothing surprises me.  The Dukes do have some tough non-conference foes in Pitt, WVU, and possibly Penn State.  Overall, they will play 15 total games against teams that played in the postseason last year, including 6 in the NCAA Tournament.  Now Pitt on the other hand, that is a different story.  To be honest, their schedule is slightly more challenging this year but it is by no-means difficult or remotely respectable.  Neither is their program, their under-graduate program, their campus, or their syphilis riddled whores that go to school there.  And yet their "fans" can't understand why they can't get far in the tournament when they play the Bluff Divers All-Stars on the road to start the year.  Newsflash: The Big East is overrated and the brutal, sluggish style of play is not conducive to tournament wins, ass-clowns!

DD: Honestly, you didn't think we'd go through this interview without asking about Ben Roethlisberger and his sexual exploits, did you? In all honesty though, winning means everything.  While the guy has acted like a giant toolbag, he wins football games. When will the Dukes replace the Steelers as the team that everyone in Pittsburgh roots for?

TM: You are not the first to ask me about Rapelisberger (as I was interviewed, yet not quoted, by The New York Times on the subject.  I wonder why?).  Anyways, yes, Ben is a giant douchebag.  I have met him and he seemed like a crusty, ugly, smelly prick.  Let's look at the facts though: He is young, has lots of money, has won 2 Super Bowls (one more than Super Douche Brett Favre), and he likes to get flog-knobbed by college chicks in bar bathrooms.  Now let's look at these facts: I am old, I have no money, I won $10 in on a lottery scratch-off once, and I like to get my gerken glossed by college girls in bar bathrooms.  So I think Ben was a bit of a scapegoat and gets sort of a bum rap as the NFL was desperately needed a white player to suspend on conduct prior to the CBA expiring so that the players' union couldn't play the race card in negotiations with Goodell.

But to answer your question, people/morons will blindly follow the Stillers and football in this town forever.  Yet the Dukes, if they can ever truly turn the corner, could indeed capture this town's passionate sports fervor.  Duquesne remains a very local school and has an amazingly prominent alumni base in this city.  It is, at the very least, on par with Pitt and much greater than WVU and PSU.  When you couple that with the fact that this town loves an underdog and is overwhelmingly Catholic, Dukes fever could sweep the golden triangle!

DD: Back to previewing, how pissed off were you when you heard that Melquan Bolding was transferring to Farleigh Dickinson? We can read all the rumors we want, but I want to ask you what exactly happened there. Was it coaching? Was it the fact that the sun only shines in Pittsburgh one month out of the year?  Was it the fact that the girls in Pittsburgh aren't exactly the hottest?

TM: Not really pissed at all.  While Bolding clearly was an explosive scoring threat and had tons of talent, he was injury prone, took lots of plays off, never played defense, and definitely had a poor attitude. Everhart doesn't take crap from anybody and has shown that he will send talent packing if they don't buy into the team concept or are just straight criminals (see former A-14 ROY, Robert Mitchell, and his recent guilty plea).  If you are a slasher/scorer that can't find a home in Everhart's system, you may not find a good home anywhere.  I think this may be addition by subtraction and will allow some of the highly regarded freshmen to step up and flourish.

By the way, concerning the physical beauty of the 'Burgh's fairer fowl, when I was at Duquesne from 98-02, they made Playboy's honorable mention twice for hottest female student body (which at the time, outnumbered the men at the school 2.5 to 1).  This is not reflected by our cheerleaders, clearly, but is reflected by all my friends and I shooting WAY out of our league for years. By the way, would you want to cheer for the early 2000's Dukes?  Didn't think so. As far as "Pittsburgh girls" are concerned, they are always down for a beer and a Jager, will get their own Primanti's sandwich (and not eat any of your's at 3:00am), love to tailgate, and truly believe that 220 is a perfectly acceptable weight for a guy who is 5'7" and thinks it is OK to wear sweatpants to dinner.  And the weather, yeah, it pretty much does blow (the least number of sunny days in a major metropolitan area), but it is easy to hide a flask in rain jackets and sweatshirts!

DD: Looking at the roster, I notice 4 freshmen (Mike Talley, TJ McConnell, Jerry Jones, and Derrick Martin) on the team.  What can we expect, if anything, from these guys?  Let's hope they are better than Andre Marhold last year!

TM: This is probably the highest rated class, overall, in the Everhart era.  But they will need to contribute on the court and not on paper for the Dukes to be successful.  Everhart is VERY high on Talley, McConnell, and Jones and wants to get "ripping and running" with all three playmakers. Martin is still not cleared academically to play and the Dukes desperately need a big body to take some of the pressure off Saunders.  Rodrigo Peggau will get more minutes, but can't stay healthy and is wildly inconsistent.  Marhold had off-season eye surgery to fix the worst set of cross-eyes in in the history of cross-eyedness.  It's hard to play when you are seeing two basketballs and two people defending you.  Seriously, he did have surgery.  Teflon Ron Everhart has called Marhold the "hardest working player I have ever coached."  I would play hard too if I looked like the illegitimate love-child of Marlon Wayans and Corky from "Life Goes On."  TJ McConnell wowed in high school locally and at the Pittsburgh Summer League, which consists of Pitt, Duquesne, and Robert Morris players.  He is a coach's son (as is Talley) and has to be a major step-up from Jason Duty.  Rumor has it that Jerry Jones is as explosive, if not more explosive, than Bolding but can't shoot and is very unrefined.  Not that anyone could shoot from last year's team though.

With Eric Evans, Sean Johnson, McConnell, and Talley, the Dukes are very deep at guard.  Hopefully, one of these guards can actually knock down wide-open jumpers.  If Bill Clark stinks out the joint, Ron needs to swallow his pride and bench him in order to give these guys more minutes, but that's about as likely as Marhold appearing on the cover of GQ. Everhart likes to make freshmen earn their lumps, but I think both guards and swingman Jones play significant roles.  I don't see late signee, Joel Wright (aka "Air Jamaica"), playing a major role despite being ranked 8th nationally among 5th year players (via Hoop Scoop).  I did, however, hear that Martin is being tutored by Western U's coach Pete Bell's wife in order to become eligible.

The guy does not smile because he is a stone cold killerDD: Last one, let's get your predictions for not only the Dukes record, but who you think is going to win the A-14.

TM: I am never optimistic, ever.  Yet for some reason I think the Dukes have a chance to turn the corner. Renovations to the Palumbo, 3 home games in the new arena (although Dayton fans will no doubt dominate and out-number at least one of those games), record season ticket sales, and a nice recruiting class all show that the Dukes are going in the right direction.  I like their depth at guard and I think they get back to doing what the Dukes do best and that is run, run, run, and run. They will be a fun team to watch.  

I like BJ Monteiro's progression last year and if he learns how to shoot a free throw, I can see him becoming a leader and a solid contributor.  Some of my fellow Bluff Divers are down on McConnell, but I think he becomes at very least a Jimmy Baron-type player.  Saunders will be a beast and if Bill Clark plays his sophomore season instead of last year's, the Dukes win 20 games and go to the NIT. This clearly means that they will win 6 games.  As far as the A-14 goes, I really like your Flyers to win it.  Dukes finish in the top five and go to the A-14 semi-finals.  LET'S GO DUKES!!!

There you have it, our first prediction of the season.  The Flyers, for some silly reason, have a bull's eye on their back.  I, like Mr. Mellon, really like the Dukes this year.  They are young but still have some veteran presence. Everhart is a top 3 coach in the league and if these freshmen coming in are as good as advertised, then look out! As always, thanks to Thorton Mellon helping out and showing us how it's done. I for one am looking forward to the sure-to-be epic battles between the Flyers and Dukes this year.

An Interrogatory with: Duquesne

With a fun three weeks ahead for this Flyers team, the focus turns to Sunday's tilt with the Dukes from Duquesne University.  Did you all know that the Winter Olympics are going on right now?  Don't feel bad.  Homer Simpson did not either.  I put down my curling manual and spoke with the great Thorton Mellon of the uber-sexy, albeit sometimes dormant, Bluff Divers blog.  Thorton and I Triple Lindyed our way down memory lane, bringing up Jason Duty's lackluster free throw shooting skills, the cross-eyed sloth freshman of the Dukes bball team, the Steelers shitting the bed, and whether it is possible to be a man and carry Damian Saunders' baby.  Kurt Vonnegut would blush at this interview because of it's greatness.

Don Donoher: A lot of people (myself included) thought that Duquesne would play off their NIT qualifying season of last year and vie for a top 4 spot in the Atlantic 14.  At 14-12 so far, it has definitely been an up and down season for the Dukes.  In your mind, what are the reasons for such a mediocre season (even for Duquesne standards)?

Underrated blog and underrated movieThorton Mellon: What went wrong?  Boy, I don’t know if the Internet has enough room for me to comment on this one.  But I will try to make it as short and sweet as possible.  In no particular order: The injury to Melquan Bolding, Bill Clark’s shooting slump, Ron Everhart consistently being outcoached, foul shooting (see Dayton game #1), and zero output from their frontcourt (i.e.  Kentucky transfer “Mookalooka” Williams).  What makes this year even more frustrating and confusing is that they have had second half leads in 9 of their 12 losses. Some of these leads were sizeable, as in the case of the Pitt and UMass games.  If you hypothetically take those two games, and the absolute hose job they got at home against St. Louis (the 6-pt swing “charge” called against Sean Johnson in double OT was the worst call I have seen in nearly 30 years of watching basketball), and it’s a very different season.  Add the Jason Duty choke at the end of the Dayton game, and you’re looking at a solid bubble team at 18-8 with four wins against a top 50 RPI, two tough conference road wins (the-would-be Dayton victory and Charlotte),  and a win against a ranked Big East team on a neutral site.  Bolding’s long absence is probably worth two wins alone. But the bottom line is when you lose that many close games, coaching has to be a major factor.  In the Pitt game alone, four second half timeouts lead to four turnovers.  

The Dukes may be the worst team in the A-14 coming out of the second half and nearly every lead they have had at half is squandered before the first media timeout (Everhart refuses to call a timeout beforehand).  That being said, I still think the Dukes are a team that no one will want to face in the first or second round of the tourney, as they are capable of beating any team in the league.

DD: Women throughout Pittsburgh are trading in their Trans-Am's for a chance to be artificially inseminated by Damian Saunders. 15 points and 12 rebounds a game is studly and will surely get him a spot on the A-14 first-team.  We know he is good and will give Dayton fits (as witnessed by his 24/11 in the first game vs. the Flyers). How do the Flyers, and every other team in the A-14, stop this guy?

Fathered more children than Charles LittleTM: While Saunders is a definite man-boy (top ten nationally in double-doubles, rebounding, steals, and blocks), and if possible I would allow him to impregnate any one of my family members, including myself, he has seen a lot of minutes and seems to be slowing down a bit (only 3 boards against UNCC).  He tends to match-up well against more athletic forwards like himself but has problems with the big boys. 

Your best bet to stop him is to try to keep him out of the paint and make him shoot jump shots. He has about an equal chance of hitting jump shots and free throws as he does impregnating my mangina.  He is ultra-effective when the Dukes move to their 3-2 zone defense and put him at the top of the key, so it is best to try to tire him out down low when you have the chance. He should be a favorite for A-14 player of the year next year and I still find it shocking he was pretty much snubbed by the A-14 coaches in the preseason voting. If I were them I would watch my daughters, or would I?

DD: Jason Duty went from hero (getting fouled shooting a 3) to goat (missing 2-of-3 FT's) in the first game vs. the Flyers.  Fans are quick to remember his name because of that, but fail to remember that the Dukes have four guys (almost 5) in double figures.  If Saunders is tied up and cannot take the last shot to win the game, who takes it?  It is kind of hard to pick when the Dukes are shooting a horrid 26% from behind the arc.

TM: Arghhhh!  I don’t want to think about that game. Every time I think about it it's like someone repeatedly keeps stepping on my grapes.  The Dukes struggles from the 3-pt line are well noted, as at one point they were dead last in D1 among teams with five or more attempts per game.  But they have vastly improved in this area the past 3 games and Bill Clark has finally found his stroke (34 against La Salle and 18 against UNCC).  Bolding hit the game winner against the Bonnies and Clark hit a huge 3 to send the St. Louis game into overtime, so one of those guys is the likely candidate. Although the Dukes typically like to turn the ball over with a chance so to win the game, so the chances of the shot actually getting off are pretty slim.

Trans-Am not included, but nasty highlights are present.DD: Random question, how demoralizing was it that the Steelers did not make the playoffs this year?  Is the city still in mourning?

TM: I should refuse to answer that question following the Duty question. But this town is retarded. People walk around for months on end like their dog just got hit by a bus when the Steelers miss the playoffs, despite the Pens’ best effort to keep spirits up. Hey, at least we have Pirate baseball to look forward to!

DD: Saunders, Clark, Bolding, Monteiro, and Evans all have a year or two of eligibility left.  Again, that is five double-digit scorers and yet this team is treading water at .500.  Since the season is a lost cause, unless they win the A-14 tournament (which is not out of the question considering last year's A-14 Finals appearance), do you feel that this team will actually come together next year?

TM: They do seem to have a solid nucleus coming back and have a couple of solid recruits coming in at the point guard position. The only player they lose is Duty and that position, especially defensively, will be improved with their incoming recruiting class (TJ McConnell and Mike Talley are both highly regarded, and freshman Sean Johnson has looked very good at times). Considering the close losses they have had, I don’t think they are that far off from being a top five A-14 team.

They need some frontcourt improvement at the center position, but it can’t get much worse than it has been this year. Mookalooka Williams and Rodrigo Peggau do still have some upside and are technically freshman -- albeit with a combined age of 87. I think anything less than a 20 win season next year will be considered a massive disappointment. Everhart gets a deserved free pass this year for restoring the program to respectability and for dealing with some key injuries, but he will bring back a veteran team with talent and will be expected to win in '10-'11.

DD: In our conversation back in August for the season preview, you mentioned Andre Marhold being the cream of the recruiting class.  I am assuming he has not played to your hopeful standards?  Don't feel bad, Dayton has a current freshman (names will not be given out) that fans were overly optimistic about. That being said, any hope for Andre putting it all together and being a serviceable player for the next 3 years?

TM: Please, please, please do yourself a favor and look up the Dukes media guide online and look at Andre Marhold’s picture. After you clean your soiled pants from peeing yourself laughing, this cross-eyed, slothesque photo will shed some light on the potential of this highly rated recruit. I hate to say it because he is young and has to have some physical skills to be rated so high, but he looks like an absolute bust. He started to get some minutes recently as Everhart has been pressing more, and he typically likes to make freshman earn their stripes, but he looks absolutely lost out there -- quite possibly he is seeing double because of his down-syndromish eyes. How Clemson offered this kid a scholarship is beyond me. How Kentucky offered Mookalooka a scholarship is also beyond me. But what do I know? I am just a bartender and part-time blogger, not a college scout.

Dayton has no fear here.DD: Last one, let's hear a prediction for the game.  Keep in mind that Dayton has actually had some success at Duquesne in recent years (shocking, I know).

TM: This game is on national TV and the Dayton fans will be out at the Palumbo in full force as they always are.  Both teams are playing some of their best hoops of the season.  I think they match up pretty well to a man, but Dayton will win.  

The Dukes will keep it close for about 30 minutes with the Flyers pulling away at the end.  I think the Dukes go on to beat St. Louis, lose to St. Bonaventure, and win against Fordham. That will likely put them at an #8 or #9 seed in the A-14 tourney where they will probably win a game or two, possibly meeting up with the Flyers again.

Duquesne University: Back from the Brink

The Duquesne University Dukes are coming off a stellar year where they quietly turned in a fantastic season.  This year, they will not be able to sneak up on the competition.  I got the exciting privilege to interview Thorton Mellon of the fantastic all things Duquesnse blog, Bluff Divers.  We talked about the Dukes continuing on last year's success, what it means to have a true out of conference schedule, Ron Everhart staying in Pittsburgh forever and ever, and of course, that fucking insane "language" called Pittsburghese.

DD: Let's take a look back at Duquesne's stellar 2008-09 season.  The Dukes finished 21-13 and not many people across the country will remember this but the Dukes were just 6 points away from an NCAA berth.  While an NIT bid (the first postseason berth of any kind since 1994) is nothing to sneer at if you are a Dukes fan, it had to be a little heartbreaking knowing that the NCAA Tournament was so close, yet so far away.  How would you rate last season in terms of all time Duquesne basketball history?

TM: To put everything in perspective, the Dukes season last year was like a really good trip to Vegas.  The Dukes' run in the A-10 tourney championship was like unexpectedly waking up with $3,000 in your pocket after crushing a three card poker table in drunken stupor.  And even though losing in the A-10 Championship was like blowing 2 of those g's at Sapphire without having your love muscle juiced, the trip was well worth the good times.  It was also an invaluable experience for what was the youngest team in D1 hoops last year and really opened a lot of eyes to what type of team the Dukes have the potential to be.  
  
On a side note: The A-10's worst officiating crew that had screwed us ridiculously at St. Joe's, among several other occasions, was calling the A-10 championship game.  You know, the short old guy with white hair comb-over and the two black guys.  The one who doesn't blow his whistle at all and the one who I think accidentally chokes on it then makes up a call.   So I pretty much knew weren't going to win.  FYI Jim Satilin (former disgruntled Dukes head coach who left the program in ruins in 1987) is the head of the A-10 officials, so we never seem to get any favorable calls, home or away.  Every questionable call went in Temple's favor down the stretch and at least four missed calls went against the Dukes in the final five minutes.  Conspiracy theory? You tell me.  
  
Last season was tremendous and I think that the Dukes have a chance to sustain a high level of play for a long time to come.  The first postseason appearance since 1994 is nothing to shake a stick at, but the best season in Dukes history is undoubtedly the 1955 NIT championship year.  As I am sure you are aware, the NIT was really considered to be the premier tournament back then and when the #6 DUKES beat #9 DAYTON at the Garden in the final.  The victory was considered by most pundits to be the true National Title.  Both the Flyers and Dukes that year would have mopped the floor with an NCAA “Champion” San Francisco team that featured Bill Russell. This is according to the late, great Pops Jordanoff (Duquesne junior in '55, legendary Bluff Diver hof'er, Robert Goulet look-a-like, and model for the Bluff Divers logo).  The '55 Dukes team featured back-to-back #1 overall NBA picks in Dick Ricketts and Sihugo Green.  Duquesne remains the only team in NBA history to have back-to-back #1 overall picks.  The Dukes continued to be a powerhouse in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, and as of 1980 were the 5th winningest program in college hoops history (Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Duke, and Duquesne!!!  No seriously, I am not bullshitting you on this one).  So while last season was a great ride and a blast for long time Dukes fans, we still have a long long way to go.

DD: How can Duquesne build on that successful year?  It looks as if Duquesne is returning a lot of players that will only help build on that successful season.  However, Everhart and Co. will not have the services of 2009 First Team Atlantic 14 member and Most Improved player, Aaron Jackson.  Who is going to fill the void of losing an almost 20 points a game player?  Are there any incoming recruits that will help immediately?

TM: As Dayton definitely missed Brian Roberts last year the Dukes will certainly miss Jackson this year, but they will actually be a much deeper team with even greater athleticism with what they have coming in. I personally think they have a chance to be a better "team" now that they can't rely on AJAX to take over. Directly, Eric "Whachu talking about Willis" Evans and Melquan "Willis" Bolding, now sophomores, seem poised to pick up Jackson's slack.  In fact, I went back and watched the entire A-10 tourney run on my DVR, and Bolding and Evans (not AJAX surprisingly) carried the team in many, if not most key moments.  It will be exciting to see their development.   

In other areas, the Dukes should have the most formidable frontcourt they have seen under Ron Everhart. 7 footer Morakinyo "Mele keleke maka" Williams, a Kentucky transfer and former top 150 recruit, and 6'8'' Brazilian native Rodrigo Peggau, a medical redshirt last year who also starred in Only the Strong, will give the Dukes a must needed presence underneath the basket.  This will also free up Damian Saunders to play a lot of 3 in some sets and the 4 position when the Dukes go small, which will present a lot of problems both offensively and defensively for a lot of teams.  

Coming in as freshmen, they have two highly regarded prospects at positions they are already fairly deep at. Small forward Andre Marhold, a Pittsburgh native, chose Duquesne over Clemson and Winthrop, and grades out as an 85 (High Major Prospect) per Scouts.com and is rated #75 SF by ESPN.  He can play the 3 and 4 positions and is extremely athletic, aggressive, and apparently has a great work ethic which is exactly what Everhart looks for.  Also coming in is shooting guard Sean Johnson, an 83 by Scouts.com and #121 SG by ESPN.  He seems to be out of the MelRon Everhart, in an undated photoquan Bolding mode in that he is very athletic, can jump out of the gym and get to the basket, but can be streaky at times with his mid-range to long-range jumper. While these players will see valuable minutes, Everhart will make them earn their spots in the regular rotation as they sit behind returning starters at both of their positions. Regardless, the Dukes will be very deep and very athletic in Everhart's run and gun system.

DD: Looking at the Dukes' non-conference schedule, it looks a lot like Dayton's in terms of lots of so-so teams with a powerhouse team tinkered in there to keep the fans happy.  I doubt it's just me, but do you agree with me in saying that the 2 most important games are December 9 at West Virginia and the December 2 game vs Pittsburgh AT home.  Now, we all know that Duquesne is in Pittsburgh and Pitt rarely flirts with the lower level teams (and when they do, they get beat down...like Dayton did to them), but this has to be a HUGE game, right?  What are you expecting from these 2 games?

TM: First off, Pitt can suck a big fat terd. So can their fan base, which I will contend is by and large one of the least knowledgeable groups of fair-weather idiots that you will ever meet. Yes, their fans are worse than most “yinzer” Steelers fans who scream for Charlie Batch to play every time Big Ben throws an incomplete pass. Most of these fans can’t spell their names and are currently part-time janitors or secretaries for the companies and law firms that most Duquesne graduates own.

Pitt fans cannot seem to realize why their team can never "get over the hump," yet they NEVER challenge themselves out of conference, especially on the road. When they do, the results haven't been good.  Most Pitt fans also think college basketball began in the city started when Ben Howland took over as coach and think the double bonus is when Peter’s Pub runs Iron City AND IC Light bottles before home game. But even with Pitt's least experienced team in quite some time, their out of conference matchups, which I think includes games against the Oakland School for the Blind and the Bluffdivers All-Stars, will not present much of a challenge and should all but guarantee them a 20 win season.

For Duquesne, the Pitt game will undoubtedly be the biggest non-conference game of the year. Last time that Pitt played the Dukes at Palumbo, our Dukes staged a massive comeback after falling down early in the game, eventually losing at the end because of the stellar performance of man-child Sam Young. If the Dukes were to beat Pitt it would be the biggest victory of the Everhart era by far. This would be the type of victory that can significantly boost Alumni support from a very prominent and affluent Alumni base and at very least increase regional exposure for the program. It would also be huge in restoring a once great cross-town rivalry that would be very big for college hoops in the area. 

The WVU game is also a long time Eastern 8 rivalry game that the Dukes blew last year. Everhart and Huggy Bear are good friends, which adds to the game, but it definitely plays second banana to the Pitt game. If the Dukes were able to miraculously pull off both victories, the city would be on fire with Dukes fever!

DD: Ron Everhart is entering his 4th season at Duquesne and has pretty much been a God send.  I really don't feel like researching anymore so help us out.  To me, Duquesne has to be locking this guy up before he moves onto a bigger school. Let's be honest, it's going to happen.  What are your thoughts on what Everhart has done with this program?

TM: The Dukes signed Everhart to an extension after last season which runs through the 2013-14 season. Good Move. But as you know, a contract extension in college basketball is about as binding as the marriage vows between a low budget porn star and a crack dealer. Everhart is kinda local (from about an hour and a half south of the 'burgh in Fairmont, W.V.), is very Catholic, and his wife's from here, so I think he might stay. I have inside information that he wants to stay and build an Xavier/Dayton/St. Joes type program, but I received this insider tip from the same person that had inside info that John Belein was staying at WVU. Needless to say, he is seemingly on his way to fully resurrecting arguably the worst program in all of college basketball and has done an amazing overall job-despite how much I may malign his in-game coaching. If he does put the Dukes fully back on the NCAA map, he will be a hot commodity for many major programs. Prior to last season, he had been linked to Providence, LSU, and Virginia Tech because of his ties to those areas, but those three jobs seem much less likely to be available in the near future after last season. Duquesne's endowment is definitely large enough to bust up some serious green if need be and I think they will for Everhart. If he bolts, look for the Dukes to make assistant Coach and big time recruiter Bill Barton to succeed Teflon Ron.

DD: Last one.  Don't think you are getting out of here without using some Pittsburghese language.  If you can, please give us a few sentences with your prediction for this season and of course, including the words "yinz," "gumbands," "Sliberty," "Irrrrron City," and "Dahntahn."  And more words if need be.

TM: I hesitate to respond to this question as the Yinzers who speak Pittsburghese are the bane of my daily existence and it is clear that this question would be more suitable for the aforementioned moronic Pitt fans. But that being said I will say that if the Dukes go to the “torrrney, chrisht…I doughno….I will beeer bong abahhht 15 Irrrrons n’at, put on some Donnnie Irrris, go dahn to Sliberty to eat ahht one of them there hookers…city of championsh baby….yinz got nuthin…we got tha Stillerrrs Pensh Pannthers, and them Dookesss…screw the bucccoooos, they stink. Can’t believe they traded Mcllaaath and Freddy and Jack Jack…Byooooteeeful park tho."

Translation: If the Dukes win the A-10 Tourney, I will get ridiculously drunk on crappy beer while listening to really bad garbage band rock music.  I will the go to one of Pittsburgh's worst neighborhoods and sequester a street hooker with hopes of performing oral sex on HER.  I am an idiot that knows nothing about football, basketball, or hockey and takes odd masochistic pleasure through complaining about my baseball team and their trading of mediocre players, even though I attend 30 games a year.

Do you know that Donnie Iris was actually announced on opening day last year as "International Recording Artist: Donnie Iris?"  I guess that gig that they recorded on Donnie's camcorder in Hamilton, Ontario qualifies him as "international."  Only in my hometown.  GO DUKES!

Thanks to Thorton for the entertaining interview.  Duquesne is going to be a good team this year, so watch out Flyer fans!