Nov. 26, 2015 ABOUT UNM THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT
The 2015 UNM Thanksgiving Tournament is a two-day event that will be played Nov. 27-28. In addition to Duquesne and host New Mexico, North Carolina A&T and Southern Utah are also participating. Each team will play two games. On the event's first day, Duquesne will play NC A&T and UNM will play SUU. In the second day, Duquesne will play either New Mexico or Southern Utah. All games will be played at the legendary Wisepies Arena AKA The Pit.
DUQUESNE VS. TOURNAMENT TEAMS
The Dukes have never played North Carolina A&T, New Mexico or Southern Utah.
DID YOU KNOW?
This trip is the furthest west Duquesne has traveled since November, 2003 when they played in the Odwalla Classic in San Francisco, Calif.
AGAINST THE MEAC
The Dukes are a perfect 7-0 against teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
AGAINST THE BIG SKY
The Dukes are 1-0 against teams from the Big Sky Conference.
AGAINST THE MOUNTAIN WEST
The Dukes have never play any team from the Mountain West Conference.
SIX DEGREES OF Dan Burt
Duquesne head coach Dan Burt can be connected to New Mexico coach Yvonne Sanchez, Southern Utah coach Chris Boettcher and North Carolina A&T coach Tarrell Robinson based on the "six degrees of separation".
Dan Burt coached with Tasha Butts in his first year at Duquesne. Butts played at Tennessee under head coach Pat Summitt. Former Mississippi State head coach Sharon Fanning was a graduate assistant under Summitt. Fanning had current University of North Florida assistant David Lowery on staff at Mississippi State. Jillian Baach played under Lowery at University of Florida. She currently serves as assistant director of basketball operations under George Washington head coach Jonathan Tsipis. Prior to coaching GW, Tsipis was an assistant at Notre Dame under Muffet McGraw. He was replaced by former VCU head coach Beth Cunningham at UND. Cunningham had North Carolina A&T head coach Tarrell Robinson on her staff as an assistant coach.
Burt coached with Tasha Butts in his first year at Duquesne. Butts played at Tennessee under head coach Pat Summitt. Southern Utah assistant coach Robert Yonce was a practice player with the Lady Vols before he became an assistant at SUU with Chris Boettcher.
Burt was an assistant coach with Pat Sullivan at UNC Wilmington. Sullivan was a player under Dean Smith at North Carolina - as we George Karl. As head coach of the Denver Nuggets, Karl had Michael Cooper as an assistant coach. Cooper went on to coach USC and had Ervin Monier on staff who was the associate head coach at La Salle under Jeff Williams. Prior to La Salle, Williams was the associate head coach at Pittsburgh under Agnus Berenato. Berenato came to Pitt after 15 years as head coach at Georgia Tech. She replaced her sister Bernadette McGlade who is the current commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference. McGlade had former Old Dominion head coach Wendy Larry on her staff at the A-10. Larry had Regina Miller on her staff at ODU. Miller would later become head coach at UNLV and had Anthony Turner on her staff. Turner is a current assistant at New Mexico under Yvonne Sanchez.
