There was no apparent limp, no favoritism for that once-troublesome foot. Jake DiMichele, the darling of local fans at Duquesne and a key part of the Dukes’ 2024 Atlantic 10 championship and NCAA Tournament team, has (knock on wood) proclaimed himself 100% healed.
Finally.
For DiMichele, the WPIAL’s third all-time leading scorer and a sparkplug from that ‘24 team, it has been a long road back.
He has endured a plantar fascia tear compounded by a stress fracture that required surgery that forced him to miss much of last season and this, though he slowly has worked his way back into the team’s rotation with six regular-season games remaining.
“God has a plan for everything,” DiMichele said. “I’ve leaned on my faith a lot with the Lord and been trusting my family.”
On Tuesday, the 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, who led Our Lady of the Sacred Heart to four consecutive WPIAL Class 2A championships and a pair of PIAA titles as a junior and senior, reminisced about a better time. He delighted in musing about that splendid and long-awaited championship run of two years ago that saw Duquesne pick up steam and begin to steamroll opponents at just the right time.
“For sure, and it’s crazy,” DiMichele said, “because I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not. We almost went through the same type of struggles that year that we did this season. It was more so in the nonconference this year. Two years ago, it was at the start of the conference schedule.”
The Dukes (15-10, 7-5), winners of four in a row entering Wednesday night’s scheduled matchup against La Salle (7-18, 3-9) at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, seemingly have locked in for perhaps another special conclusion after some shaky performances early.
“We couldn’t get any stops. We recognized it, that we had to shift our identity to become more of a defensive team,” DiMichele said. “I think in the past four games, we’ve done that. It’s also kind of crazy that both times we were getting hot at the same time. We’re hitting our stride at a similar time.”
In 2024, when current coach Dru Joyce III was serving as former coach Keith Dambrot’s associate head coach, Duquesne rebounded from an 0-5 start in the A-10 to win just its second conference tournament championship.
The 1977 Norm Nixon-led team knocked off Villanova at The Spectrum in Philadelphia to win the conference’s very first postseason title when it was known as the Eastern 8.
DiMichele thinks this season’s team, comparable in some ways and very different in others to the ‘24 championship squad, could find itself among the favorites by the time the A-10 Tournament invades PPG Paints Arena from March 11-15.
“We’ve been in every conference game,” he said. “Nobody’s blown us out.”
The Dukes’ five A-10 losses are by an average of 8.8 points with a 13-point outcome against VCU representing the worst defeat in a game that was tight almost up until the end. Among the other losses is an 82-78 decision to No. 18 Saint Louis on Jan. 20.
Is a third conference title and second in three years in the cards?
If the profound shift in almost exclusive high-octane offense (Duquesne still ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 82.4 points per game) to a mix of concentration on both sides of the ball is an indication of progress, then maybe.
“We know that once we get to the tournament, we’ll belong on the court with anybody,” DiMichele said.
Joyce insisted he has been preaching the importance of tough defense all along. He just doesn’t seem to possess that fiery approach that Dambrot, his predecessor and mentor during his high school and college playing days in Akron, Ohio, and for a time as a coach himself, did.
“I just think we communicate differently,” Joyce said. “I can be fiery at times, but maybe I don’t show it on the sidelines. I pay attention to my players. They wear a lot of their emotion that I carry. If I’m depressed and down and I don’t have the right energy for them, I notice that their mood isn’t right. I have to mind my message, my body language in order to make sure they stay at a certain level. Sometimes, they need me to be calm, they need me to smile. Coach Dambrot has that, too, but he’s so fiery and his movements sometimes don’t allow people to see that side of him.”
All that aside, Joyce eventually forced his hand when it came to an uptick in defensive strategy.
“If we’re bad defensively, it starts with me,” he said. “I’ve got to teach better. You realize something’s not hitting home. But my value defensively has never changed because my thought process is to always win, and to win big, you’ve got to be strong defensively.”
For a time, the Dukes “D” was like a sieve, ranking last in the league. While it might not appear much better, it has been. Duquesne is yielding an average of 76.4 points per game, but that number has improved markedly and bodes favorable when paired with the Dukes’ potent scoring offense.
“We had to be better on the defensive side of the ball,” Joyce said. “That message came from two people in particular — my dad (legendary Ohio high school coach Dru Joyce II) and our sports psychologist — He’s my coach, too — Dr. Joe Carr.”
Joyce III then hearkened to the words of Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper.
“He always asks me, ‘Is what you want to happen happening?’ ” Joyce said. “That’s a great question if you’re the leader of the program. It makes you step back. No finger-pointing. Yes or no? No, it was not happening the way I wanted it to. As a staff, we started to dig into that. We started to ask ourselves, ‘How do we get better, defensively?’ ”
Something has clicked. Through 16 games, Duquesne’s scoring defense stood at 79.1 points per game. The average during the nine games since is 71.8.
There have been some rough patches this season — most teams endure them — but Duquesne seemingly has found some cohesion in time to become a threat to snag one of the four coveted A-10 Tournament double-byes. The Dukes were in a three-way tie with Saint Joseph’s and Dayton for the fourth and final spot.
In some ways, it is reminiscent of the ‘24 team.
There are some subtle reminders, such as the explosive backcourt tandem of Tarence Guinyard and Jimmie Williams, who conjure thoughts of the dynamic 1-2 punch of Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III.
There’s David Dixon’s shot-blocking prowess all-of-a-sudden back on display after he returned to the 5-spot when John Hugley IV began serving a team-imposed suspension lasting for six games.
And, of course, there’s the re-emergence of DiMichele, whose energy was missing while he nursed that ailing foot. He’s averaged 15.7 minutes over 18 games since returning to the lineup Nov. 26.
“We’re the most connected group,” he said. “We have a lot of seniors (six) this year, just like we did then (seven). We’ve had one common goal of winning the tournament, and that goes all the way back to the summer. That’s why we’ve been able to win on the road,” where Duquesne is 5-4.
“Every time we go on the road, we stay connected as a group,” DiMichele said. “We don’t falter. When you get into a tournament style, the most connected team is the one that’s going to win.”
With time winding down in the regular season, Joyce, too, acknowledges a resemblance to that stellar 2024 season.
“The one common thread is the connection,” he said. “Outside of the talent, what may be comparable from the guards and how the season is going, there have been similarities in the struggles. The guys’ commitment to one another and wanting to be coached is much like those earlier guys who wanted to be coached, and coached hard. They wanted ‘Coach D’ (Dambrot) to hold them accountable. When he stepped on the gas, the cohesion, the connection got even stronger. Sometimes, you may think that would pull some guys out. They wanted to win, and I’m seeing that with this team.”
Though only in his second season as the head of his own program, Joyce speaks with a confidence now of a seasoned leader. He knows he’s had to learn the good and bad on the fly, and he’s been doing so.
Along with his players.
It is perhaps becoming one big happy family, though nothing ever is a guarantee.
“I push them, but the accountability has grown,” Joyce said. “For them, the truth is this has to be different, it has to be better, and you have to own it and you also share the responsibility of making it better. I’m seeing our guys take the reins on that. When they do, they become responsible for the team. We’re not there yet, but you can see it starting to unfold.”