OK, a little bit later today there will be a formal announcement that five players - Quevyn Winters, Derrick Martin, Martins Abele, Marvin Binney and Kadeem Pantophlet are leaving the program.

No doubt this will sound an alarm through some members of the media who seem to love to pile on Duquesne because, like the Pirates, the Dukes are an easy target given their lack of recent success.

But let's be honest here - this is needed if the program is going to move forward and this is no different than what goes on at just about every school in the country when there is a coaching change.

Guys who were not recruited by the new coach fall to the bottom of the depth chart and look to go elsewhere so they can finish their careers as players somewhere else.

So there is no reason to panic, no reason to ask what is wrong with the program and no reason to read anything more into this situation than what it is -- a lot of guys who didn't figure to play a prominent role moving on to a better spot for them.

The lone exception is Winters, who obviously would have been a part of the rotation, but he wants to move closer to his home (Milwaukee) to be closer to his family. Winters lost his grandmother recently and she was instrumental in raising him and he feels like he should be closer to home in order to help his family get through thsi. 

That happens and there is not much more to say about it - he is homesick and even though he was a starter and averaged 22 minutes a game, he wants to go home.

Abele, Binney and Martin were not going to play much next year because don't forget, there are six players coming in and all of them figure to step right into the rotation (though Drake transfer Micah Mason will need a special waiver to be eligible right away).

I'm sure those three saw the writing on the wall and figured they'd rather go elsewhere and have a chance to play than stay around and sit the bench.

Jim Ferry will help all four find a good spot to continue their education and basketball career and that's how these things work.

One other guy - Kadeem Pantophlet, who is from the Netherlands, is going back to his roots and his first love and joining the Dukes soccer team.

So again, you subtract these five players and add junior college point guard Tra’Vaughn White, point guard Desmond Ridenour from Cleveland, Canadian post players Jordan Robinson and Isaiah Watkins and UAB transfer Ovie Soko, another post player who sat out this season and will be eligible next season, and all of the sudden it iis clear this is going to be an entirely new team next year with the exception of the two Jones and Derrick Colter.

That's how you turn things around quickly and I expect the Dukes to take a good step forward next year as a result.

Micah Mason, who is one of the most prolific scorers and shooters in WPIAL history is headed to Duquesne.

He spent this season - his freshman season - at Drake University and averaged 5.4 points per game in about 16 minutes and was the fourth most accurate 3-point shooter in the country (he made about 51 percent from 3-pointers).

He obviously won't be able to help Duquesne next season as he will have to sit out but he could help in the future as guys who can put the ball in the basket like he can are always invaluable.

The two knocks on Mason are obviously his size - he is listed at 6-foot-2 -- and the fact that he is considered a bit of a defensive liability but I think both are a bit unfair. 

For one, he said he is working hard to become a better defender and there are plenty of guys his size or smaller who play guard in major conferences and do fine.

That's especially true when measuring him because he is a guy who can light it up quickly and a guy who can just flat-out shoot the basketball.

So if you have to sacrifice a little bit on defense to get a guy who could come off the bench and give you six 3-pointers , well, you do it.

This is a good pick-up for Jim Ferry and company and I'd expect Mason will be able to help this team a lot when he becomes eligible.

I'll have a story up on the web-site soon as I talked to Micah earlier today.

And the first season of the Jim Ferry era came to an end quietly Saturday with another loss, this time to Richmond, in a season of mounting losses and many disappointments.

But that doesn’t mean it was a total loss.

Yes, losing 17 of your final 18 games, winning only once after Jan. 1^st and going winless at home in conference games is never good and there is no way to put a positive spin on the season.

And there is also no reason for me to go back and rehash every bad thing that happened.

So here is an analysis – with a look ahead to next year and beyond….

1.) Greg Amodio and by extension Jim Ferry knew this was going to be an awful year and knew the team was going to struggle. There is no doubt about that and the expectations were low. But this low? I’m not sure I buy that.

Yes, the best players from last year were gone, yes this was a young team and yes this is a team devoid of talent – but 1-15? I don’t know if they thought it would be that bad but it is what it is (to use a stupid meaningless cliché). I will say I thought they team could have won more games than it did and for whatever reason, they could never figure out how to finish a game (see Charlotte game last week).

This is not good for the freshmen because I wonder if they are going to have to be taught how to win and you hope they don’t get beaten down by all the losing.

Transitions are never easy though, and my gut is that Ferry has had a track record of success and will teach this team how to win games and it will be fine in the long run.

One thing to remember – I get asked why some transitions are smoother than others and I point to three factors (1) returning talent (2) how drastic is change in philosophy and (3) returning leadership.

In this case, I’d say the triple whammy was hit ---

A) It is well documented that there was a large talent deficiency on this team. Again, no need to beat a dead horse and make it deader…..

 B)  Jim Ferry’s defensive philosophy is so different than Ron Everhart’s that it is almost like they are coaching two different sports. Ferry values physicality, rebounding and building a wall around the hoop – Everhart values pressure, athleticism and forcing mistakes. Completely different and the old mindset was hard to break as guys still took way too many chances and weren’t good at staying in front of their man.  Offensively Ferry does like transition game, but he doesn’t want a team that jacks 90 3s a game and that was what his leftover talent was so I give him credit for adapting his offense to accommodate that but I would be willing to bet this team will be a much tougher, more physical team in the near future and scoring on the block will not be an issue like it was this year.

C) The senior class was small and while both of those kids made the most of a tough situation, neither really was a leader until way too late in the season when they tried to lead by example and it was almost too late.

Throw in the fact that the Atlantic 10 was much tougher than it has been in years and well it makes for a very, very long year. That’s reality.

2.) Ferry needs to recruit two things – some bigs that can play (he has two coming in and a third who is sitting out and will be eligible so he has a good start there) and a back-up point guard. Derrick Colter had too much pressure on him this year and never got a break because they couldn’t take him out of the game. The first thing the team needs, tough, are some tough guys who can rebound the way Ferry wants them to rebound. It was painfully obvious this year that the Dukes bigs were not physical players nor were they blessed with freakish athleticism and that hurt them on the glass. Colter is a good player but he can’t be asked to play 35 minutes every night like he seemed to down the stretch. A tough “glue” player, a garbage man – someone who does all the little things and defends like a maniac – would be a nice addition as well. Again, you can’t address all the needs in one class but these three things – a defender, a couple of posts and a back-up point guard are a must.

3.) The returning players need to get better. All of the guys have some talent they hang their hat on – too many of them are one dimensional. Quevyn Winters is really good at letting them fly – he needs to develop a post game and work hard to become a threat to beat guys off the bounce. Jeremiah Jones needs to work on his overall offensive game.  Kadeem Pantophlat needs to continue to work on getting stronger and become a more physical player rather than a guy who just jacks 3s – I could go on and I think all of these guys could develop into a good players, but they cannot waste a day in the offseason. They all need to work on the parts of their games that need to improve. It is that simple. You can’t rely on a team full of freshmen to win a lot of games – unless you are John Calipari – so these veteran guys need to progress and most of them have a long way to go.

4.) One thing that will actually help Duquesne next year – the Atlantic 10 will be weaker with no Xavier, Charlotte, Temple and Butler in it and this is something the Dukes must take advantage of. Now is the time to begin to make a move upward so that when the expansion dust settles, the Dukes are in position to become one of the top teams in the new Atlantic 10. This is something that cannot be underestimated - who–you play is sometimes as important as who you are.

5.) This season was the toughest one of the Jim Ferry era and that is the good news. I think that Ferry showed a lot of patience this year, I think he showed an ability to adapt and I think that he also showed that he is not afraid to mix things up and hold guys accountable. I can’t say for certainty what is going to happen next year – my gut is that it will be another rough one – but I bet the Dukes are much improved and I bet they win a lot more of those 50/50 games than they did this year and that will help improve their record. I don’t expect them to get to a postseason tournament other than the Atlantic 10 next year but I think the following year – year three – assuming Ferry recruits the right guys, will be the year where the program will begin to take noticeable steps forward.

I wish I could sugarcoat this.

I feel as though I have been very fair with this Duquesne team.

Young team, first-year coach, a lot of talent left the program, rebuilding job - I get it, I understand it, I know it.

I have given a lot of slack for all of those reasons and tried to keep perspectives and highlight whatever the positives might be.

But this loss tonight wasn't about youth, it wasn't about bad players - well maybe to some degree - it wasn't about anything else than a team playing six or seven minutes of the dumbest basketball imagineable and losing a game that it should have won because it wasn't mentally tough enough to hit free throws down the stretch.

Duquesne led Charlotte 60-43 with 10:15 to play and somehow blew that lead and lost 89-87 in overtime.

In case your math is bad, that is a 17-point lead - -the largest lead the Dukes had in any Atlantic 10 game this year by the way - and with 10 minutes to play, seemingly insurmountable but these are the Dukes and well, the Dukes seem to have cornered the market on losing games and once again, they lost.

I know everyone wants to blame the coach but I don't, not for this one.

I don't blame Jim Ferry because he clearly the right game plan and when the team executed it they were up by 17 points and blowing Charlotte out.

And I know, I know - the team has lost 16 of 17 or 17 of 18 or whatever the heck it is and have not won a home game since mid-December and have had plenty of close calls so it must be the coach.....

Not really.

It isn't Jim Ferry that can't handle the ball under pressure - the 49ers put some pressure on the Dukes and they tossed the ball around like it was a hot potatoe.

It isn't Jim Ferry who has, and I've used this line several times but it is true - a shot selection that would make World B. Free blush. 

It isn't Jim Ferry who can't make a free throw - the Dukes were 21-of-36 from the free throw line. Yep, that's not even 60 percent and that's 15 shots guys were given from 15 feet away (and more when you consider some were front end of 1-and-1s) and they missed them.

This loss highlighted everything that is wrong with this team:

Can't handle the ball - without Derrick Colter I'm not sure this team could break a press even once and we saw that when he sat out for a few minutes in foul trouble. There is only one point guard on this team - amazing if you think about it.

Can't defend in the post - Andre Marhold blocks a million shots but teams all year have scored in the post againist the Dukes and tonight Ferry tried everything - Abele, Marhold, double teams, 2-3 zones - heck I am surprised he didn't go to the middle school junk defense of three guys running like nuts and two just standing around the big guy --- but the Dukes, who were outscored 48-24 in the paint, couldn't stop Chris Braswell, who scored 28 points.

Can't maintain a lead - the Dukes just play so well at times and then play so poorly and a lot has to do with two things -- shot selection at times was awful like I said and they just don't value possessions enough so they throw the ball around.

Can't score consistently in the post - I'm not in the business of calling out college kids, you can go to the play by play and figure it out, but the last time I saw a team miss this many layups, bunnies and little shots around the rim I was coaching my 8th grade girls team. Big guys have to finish, period. 

Have defensive breakdowns at the worst time - Ferry has improved the defensive philosophy but there are still too many guys who are playing that old style defense and not valuing protecting the hoop instead freelancing and going after steals and getting out of position.

Twice the Dukes left Ivan Benkovic standing at the 3-point line to knock down huge shots in the second half. Now, let me explain why that is key - because from what I could tell Benkovic's ONLY marketable skill is standing out there and hitting 3s. He isn't beating anyone off the dribble, he isn't driving and he isn't defending anyone - but if you leave him stand there dude can clearly shoot it. So how in the world, down the stretch, was there any rotation on defense that didn't include someone staying with the one guy who was scary from the 3-point line?

I could go on and on but the bottom line is this is a really bad basketball team and unfortunately, the basketball IQ is worse than it should be as well.

The positives from tonight is that Ferry has kept this team playing hard and trying and working hard through a dismal season and in the final minute it looked like two freshmen - Colter and Quevyn 'making it rain in the' Winters were going to be heroes as both hit big 3s.

There is a lot of work to be done in this offseason, no doubt, but the biggest job Ferry has may be to find a way to teach these guys how to win games because as much as this team is physically limited, this loss was as much about mental mistakes and a lack of mental toughness as any limitation you can name.