For the first time in a decade, the Duquesne men's basketball team has cracked the top five in the Atlantic 10 preseason rankings. Following a tie for fifth at the end of the 2019-20 campaign, the Dukes came in behind Richmond, St. Louis, Dayton and St. Bonaventure in the poll that was released Tuesday morning at the start of the conferences media day.
The entire Atlantic 10 preseason rankings look like this:
1. Richmond (19)
2. Saint Louis (7)
3. Dayton (2)
4. St. Bonaventure
5. Duquesne
6. Rhode Island
7. Davidson
8. UMass
9. VCU
10. George Mason
11. George Washington
12. St. Joseph's
13. La Salle
14. Fordham
In each of the past three seasons under coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has exceeded its preseason pick. In 2018, the Dukes were picked to finish 14th but ended the year tied for 10th. In 2019 Duquesne was picked 11th and finished tied for sixth. Finally, last season the Dukes opened the year ranked eighth in the conference and finished tied with St. Bonaventure for fifth.
Duquesne returns all five of its starters from last seasons team, whose record of 21-9 was the best the program had seen since 1971.
For some, Duquesne's spot in the preseason rankings could be viewed as too low. However, the Dukes came in right where Dambrot expected them to. When I asked him for a preseason rankings prediction in September, this is what he had to say:
"My guess is it won’t be higher than fifth. There are a lot of good teams in this league but nobody is really sold on the Duquesne Dukes yet. That’s the fact of the matter. I feel like we’ve had our best team that we’ve had but the fine line is that we have to win close games, stay away from injuries, improve and play well together. If we do those things I think we’ll be right in the mix."
The Dukes will open their season on Nov. 25 playing the first of two scheduled contests in the Indianapolis multi-team event. Their conference schedule has yet to be released.
While there is no telling when conference play will start, the Atlantic 10 does know when and where things will finish. The conference announced that the Atlantic 10 tournament is scheduled begin on Wednesday, March 10. The event will take place at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and will wrap up on Sunday, March 14 just hours before the National Tournament selection show.