Photo credit: Pittsburgh Sports Now/Ed Thompson

Dan Burt spent last offseason pondering what next steps his Duquesne Women’s Basketball Team could take, having just inked a new four-year extension and what he came up with was something five teams across Division I men’s and women’s basketball operate under.

Duquesne presses on every make and miss, something fans saw last year to a degree, though Megan McConnell and to a degree Jerni Kiaku would see more playing time than the assigned line changes, Burt installed.

McConnell has graduated and is in Australia’s WNBL with the Bendigo Spirit and Kiaku transferred to Indiana, so now it is all systems go.

“I finally had enough self-confidence and belief to actually do it,” Burt explained. “It takes some gumption to play this way with so few teams playing this style. It’s a style where as a coach you must trust your players, and you can’t really criticize shot selection because you want them to play with a great amount of freedom. You are giving feedback, and it must be in real time and about seven seconds or less, so a lot of our practice is scrimmaging with real feedback in seven seconds or less because we want everything to be exceptionally fast.”

Behind graduate assistant coach Cole McFadden, Burt is starting to learn the analytical aspect of his team and this style between reading, listening to podcasts and watching those who play similarly to the Dukes. This results in taking bits and pieces and incorporating it into what is most desired, especially in the fourth quarter of games as ultimately it comes down to measuring what success or a lack thereof looks like on a game-by-game basis.

Duquesne plans to bring five players in and substitute five players out every two minutes, until the fourth quarter when the analytics will call for who is playing well at that designated time. The two-minute stoppages are to keep everyone fresh and make everything a sprint for opposing teams, with the designed effect being a fresher Dukes side as the game draws closer to a conclusion.

As part of this, Duquesne will have certain lineups for three-point shots, pressing and late-game free throws.

Conversely, Burt explains he plans to not call any timeouts all season unless necessary so that opposing teams cannot catch their breath.

Burt made it clear that once May came and went, it was a changing of the guard, and all 13 players have taken leadership roles across the roster.

Not only are all 13 on the roster taking such a role, but in this style of play, each will see the court.

“It’s really cool when one person can have a bad day, but the other 12 have your back and have a good game,” redshirt sophomore guard Gabby Grantham-Medley stated. “It’s going to be really rough for teams to guard us and try to shut down one person when they’ve got to worry about all of the other ones.”

Duquesne fared well in its pair of exhibition contests, which has only maximized the amount of excitement come Monday’s season opener against Saint Francis.

“I feel like we’re going to be really freaking good because of the fact that we’ve been playing against ourselves, and we can literally do this,” sophomore guard Nadia Moore offered. “We just have to keep pushing forward, keep trying to become better and keep thinking we can become better.”

BUILDING A ROSTER

When Burt met with his eight guards in the offseason, he made them a promise, when he and his staff recruited, it would strictly be at the post position.

It was an endorsement and sign of trust in the octet, but more so an acknowledgment that Duquesne needed to have a clear post presence.

The Dukes were outrebounded by almost five boards per game last year, so under the direction of recruiting coordinator R.J. Bell, it was addressing that among other needs.

Duquesne was able to get the top two rebounders among freshmen transfers in Harriet Ford and Maya Rohkohl as well as Dunja Zecevic from UTEP. They join freshman forward Raevin Washington who is listed at 6-foot-5 on the program’s website.

Burt praised Ford and Rohkohl for their consistent play throughout practice and also called Washington a “generational talent” given she can run and jump like a guard, while understanding the game at a high level and also has a bit of a mean streak to her.

Duquesne has one new guard in freshman Alexis Bordas who joins Grantham-Medley, Moore, Mackenzie Blackford, Raymi Coueta, Reina Green, Kellie McConnell, Fatou Sane and Faith Walker.

All told, Burt is very pleased with the results, the improved balance his team has and just how much this team has embraced its roles.

“We’re the youngest and tallest team in the A-10 and I would venture to say one of the most talented teams also,” he beamed. “We’re kind of like Noah’s Ark, we have two of everything.”

PLAYER LED

Grantham-Medley sat on the bench watching last season, while behind the scenes she honed her craft and understood the belief and confidence the coaching staff has in her.

Watching from afar, there was a lot to take in and lessons that have shaped the upcoming season.

“I’ve learned that we have to create relationships first because no one will care about what you know until they know how much you care,” she said. “I think it’s really important to create those relationships and be able to speak to your teammates in different ways.”

For the guard, she also explained now possessing the ability to lead without having to play, doing so with her voice, which has transformed into the present.

I feel like we’ve created a little sisterhood. It’s a lot of new faces for our team, so creating that bond this summer and preseason has really been a big part of this.

Moore was someone who received guidance from Grantham-Medley developing patience both personally and within the team.

All of this and the empowerment which has come from it has led to a connected unit that is ready to display that on the court.

“I feel like we’ve created a little sisterhood,” concluded Grantham-Medley. “It’s a lot of new faces for our team, so creating that bond this summer and preseason has really been a big part of this.”