After a long offseason, Duquesne women's basketball head coach Dan Burt took time to answer questions about the upcoming 2020-21 season. The Dukes return three starters and nearly 72 percent of its offense, on a team that won 20 games. The Dukes have added several key newcomers and seek a bid to the postseason for the 11th time over the past 12 possible campaigns.  

Q: After months off the court and off campus, how nice is it to be back at the Power Center and training with your student-athletes during the preseason?

Dan Burt: It's great to be around your student-athletes and being able to take the time to see how everyone is and to grow relationships off the court. From an on-court perspective it's been nice to start building on what we left behind over the course of those four or five months when we were not able to be with our players and they were at home. It was very difficult for them and for any Division I athlete to find facilities to work out in. It was a tough time for our society. Our almost recovery phase coming back in August and September is based on being really slow in our development and being very deliberate, because we want to avoid soft-tissue injuries and we want to get the kids back into shape slowly. We'll be ready to practice on October 14th and at that point we'll probably still need another week or two before we're in game shape. So we feel good with where we are right now.

Q: Let's bring it back to March and April. With a significant portion of the team hailing from outside of the United States, what kind of challenges did you and the coaching staff face when it came to organizing travel during a global pandemic.

DB: We kind of felt like we had a heads up on this with so many health science majors on our team, including Anie-Pier Samson, who's a redshirt junior for us. She is very, very bright and has presented at conferences nationally, on pathogens and viruses. She gave us a clear indicator of just how serious this was. We took this very seriously from an early stage and felt like we almost had a heads up. We were able to evacuate our kids from campus and get them home in a very timely fashion. I am very proud the people here at Duquesne who helped with that process. They were fantastic in the work that they provided us. Our coaching staff was great with getting kids home. Melissa Franko was vital in helping gather our players belongings from their rooms and to organizing the international players travel home, despite challenging protocols.

Precious Johnson probably had the most difficult journey home. We were literally at the airport counter with Precious, checking her in for a flight and the agent said, 'We're not flying there.' But we were able to change her ticket literally at that moment. Instead flying her into a smaller city in Sweden, we were able to fly her into Stockholm, which is about six hours from her home. We then booked a train to her hometown. We did not have a whole lot of issues with our kids returning home. We just had to learn the protocols and the guidelines of each country and what the United States was doing at that time. Obviously it was very fluid, but I'm very proud of Duquesne, our staff and our players on how the situation was handled.

Q: With the virus still being present and a factor in everyone's lives, there are and will be a lot of possible distractions. How do you keep the team focused with the task at hand?

DB: I'm very fortunate that during our recruiting process, we make it very clear that we're seeking professionals on and off the court and in the classroom. Our young women are very motivated academically and athletically. We have had no issues with protocols, whether it's wearing face masks, social distancing or remaining on campus during weekends. They're motivated because they know that we could have a very good season this year. We are a very talented group with experience. They are also motivated from the academic perspective, because so many of them are in challenging majors, like biomedical engineering and physician's assistant studies. We also have a number that are pursuing an MBA. I am incredibly proud of our student body, not just our women's basketball team. Our student body and administration Duquesne has done an incredible job with complying to all of the protocols that have been put in place. I think it's a great day to be a Duke.

Q: Entering last season, you called the 2019-20 season a "rebirth season", after graduating 5,000 points the year prior. This season, it is a different story. You are returning 72% of your points, including 50% just from just Libby Bazelak, Amanda Kalin and Laia Sole on a team that won 20 games. Your expectations must be high with this experienced crew returning.

DB: The expectations are high when you returned that much scoring and that much rebounding on a team that won 20 games. But also because the head coach didn't coach them right and lost several games at the buzzer. We lost three games on a last second shot at the buzzer. I know our players are very motivated to have a much better year this year and to leave nothing on the table. We had two of our three seniors turned professional in Nina Aho and Paige Cannon, who both got very good professional contracts, and we will miss both immensely on the floor. They brought a lot to our team, but we have arguably the best backcourt in the conference with Libby Bazelak and Amanda Kalin.

Our center in Laia Sole is a future pro. Some of the young people who contributed last year are really going to be asked to step up and they are going to do just fine. We are expecting very big things from Precious Johnson and Amaya Hamilton. Before she was injured last season, Anie-Pier Samson was on track to have a breakout season. She has returned at 100% and frankly she is in the best shape of her life, not only from a physical standpoint but also from a mental standpoint. I am really excited about what she is bringing to the team this year. We are also excited to return Kiersten Elliott after a productive season, along with Ny Langley, who brings versatility with winner's mentality. She's a winner and she can score it.

Q: Libby Bazelak ranked in the top-10 of eight Atlantic 10 categories a season ago, as an all-conference second team selection. Arguably one of the most versatile player in the league, how do you see Libby improving from last season?

DB: We were disappointed that she wasn't an Atlantic 10 First Team pick last season. Sometimes a little slight like that can certainly propel you forward. Libby is to me the best point guard in our league and we are excited about where she's going to take our team this year. The highest compliment I can give her is that she has a lot of April Robinson in her. I think that she could have that type of year. We are really excited about it. Libby will be ready to go when we get to the season on November 25th.

Q: Along with Libby, the senior class is extremely deep with Amanda Kalin, Laia Sole, Kiersten Elliott. Add in Anie-Pier Samson and Halle Bovell who return as fifth-year juniors due to injury, how has this group guided the underclassmen during this crazy time?

DB: Of our four seniors who will graduate this year, obviously we've talked about Libby, but Amanda Kalin had a triple double last year and I think flew underneath the radar a little bit. Teams had to game plan for her. I'm expecting her to have an all-conference type season. I'm expecting her to help lead the team. She has done that in the preseason. She's taken Ny Langley underneath her wing and has done a great job of helping Ny get accustomed to what the culture and what the expectations and standards are at Duquesne.

Kiersten Elliott is as steady as it goes and gives us that work ethic and commitment to the program. We've challenged her to compete more and to not be the nicest person, which is really difficult for her. We want her to be someone who competes a little bit more and gets a little bit nastier. She is going to provide minutes to us like she did last year. She is going to provide important minutes to our team this year.

Laia Sole, like I had mentioned, is certainly going to be one of the better players in the league and we are excited about that.

Halle Bovell is returning from a serious injury and it frankly brings tears to my eyes to see where she is today, as opposed to when we left her in March. Her recovery has been dramatic and exciting at the same time. She will be ready to play basketball for us at some point and she gives us someone who is an elite level defender and rebounder. Her outside shooting, through all this injury recovery, has improved. We are very excited about what Halle will bring to us in the long term.

Q: During their freshmen season, Amaya Hamilton and Precious Johnson both showed glimpses of what they are capable of in the future. How do you see their roles expanding during their sophomore campaign?

DB: Amaya Hamilton is going to play all over the floor. She is going to play guard. She is going to play in the post. We are going to utilize the mismatches that she has, wherever that may be on the floor. It is time for her to step up like she did late last year and not be a secondary piece. Amaya can be a star in this league and we don't want that to happen when she's a junior. We want that to happen for her as a sophomore. That's what our expectations are for her. We want Amaya to be a high-level performer every night as a sophomore.

Precious Johnson, didn't play as many minutes as Amaya this past year, but she showed glimpses of being very good. I know that there is a WNBA team that has already inquired about her for down the road. She made a significant jump being home in Sweden this summer. She was able to train with the senior national team and has come back in great physical shape. Her role will be different. She is not just a very good shot blocker and scorer in the paint. Her ability to handle the ball and play on the arc is much improved. We will be able to utilize her and Laia as our four and five. When you have those two as your post players, it takes a lot of pressure off your guards.

Q: Ny Langley comes to Duquesne after a storied high school career, as a multi-time state champion, along with having her jersey retired at North Pitt High School (Greenville, N.C.) She had an excellent freshman season at Cape Fear Community College, before suffering her injury prior to her sophomore season. What's her game like and how do you see Ny fitting into the talented backcourt?

DB: The highest compliment I can give Ny Langley is that she reminds me of Coach Cherie Lea. Cherie was the best player I've ever coached and Ny has some similarities to Cherie. She's a strong, physically-built point guard that can play multiple positions. You'll see that her being left-handed gives her a distinctive advantage. She is a kid that goes North to South as opposed to East to West. She hasn't played basketball in over a year after being injured during her sophomore year of junior college. Along with the pandemic, she hasn't played a lot of basketball during the past year, so that has affected her. We're bringing her along slowly, so that we can get her into shape without having any sort of injury. In pickup games, the reports that we're getting is that she's clearly a gamer. Even when she's not in game shape, she plays like she's in game shape. The future appears to be very bright for Ny. We're excited about what she's going to bring to the team from multiple positions.

Q: Along with Ny, Diamond Brag and Aniya Walker have transferred into the program from Wisconsin and Western Michigan, respectively. There are also three freshmen joining the Dukes with with tremendous high school careers in Lindsey Linard, Megan, McConnell and Tess Myers. Add in Snezhana Serafimoska, who redshirted last season, what can fans expect from this new group?

DB: We're excited about Diamond Bragg and what she brings. I offered her a scholarship based on her emotional intelligence, her leadership capabilities and boy, she has not disappointed. She is a high-level athlete. She is a kid that can has great explosiveness and can score getting to the rim. This whole entire year, we'll be working on her outside shot and we have very high expectations for what Diamond Bragg is going to bring to us.

Aniya Walker, unfortunately, is in the process of rehabbing a serious injury. This will be at least a six-to-eight month process of her recovering and rehabbing, and then having her ready to play for next season. She is a legitimate 6-2 guard that plays so effortlessly. She's a high-level athlete, who very frankly, when she gets on the floor, it'll be the first time in two years. We'll be excited when she gets on the floor, but right now it's a rehab situation.

Snezhana Serafimoska is a young woman who redshirted last year through an injury and is just coming back into her own right now. It is really tough when you've got two post players ahead of you that are future professional players. I think that is going to benefit Snezhe going against those two every day in practice and she's going to provide minutes to us. They will be important minutes and quality minutes and she can expand upon that. We haven't seen Snezhe play in a game with officials in a game that means something in two years, but we're looking forward to seeing what she can bring to the program.

The three freshmen are expected to be redshirted this season. I am pleasantly surprised by Tess Myers. The highest compliment I can give her is that she reminds me of Amanda Kalin. She has a motor and competes every moment that she is on the floor and in every activity. She's going to be a very good player at Duquesne.

I would echo the same type of sentiments about Megan McConnell. I believe Meg was under recruited in high school and a lot of people talked about her basketball IQ and knowledge because of her family and the success that her family has had playing the point guard position on the men's and women's side. What people do not recognize is Meg is a better athlete than many give her credit for. She is fast. She is quick. She has great endurance and she is an absolute winner. Meg McConnell has not lost a game since her sophomore year in high school. When she becomes our point guard in a year, I do not expect her to lose many games then either.

Lindsey Linard is going to be a very good basketball player for us. She is going to get better every day, playing against future pros in Laia and Precious. Laia has taken Lindsey under her wing and she is working with our post coaches on really expanding her game. She is expanding her game with better foot work and improving her moves facing the basket.

Machaela Simmons and Caroline Elliott are redshirt sophomores. With the season being the way it is and being condensed and the possibilities of games being played in a close proximity date-wise to one another, we're going to count on Mac and Caroline to provide some minutes for us. Mac has come back in the best shape of her life and has improved her game. We're expecting both of them to give contributions this year and we're excited for what they bring.

Q: Nina Aho and Paige Cannon signed professional contracts this past summer, marking the second consecutive year, that Duquesne has had multiple players advance to the next level. What does it say about your program to consistently produce players professionally?

DB: When Nina Aho came to Duquesne, we knew she would be a professional basketball player after graduation. She had that kind of physical ability. We could not say the same for Paige Cannon, but Paige Cannon's work ethic, her drive and her commitment to being the very best along with the player development that we have here at Duquesne and the program that we put them through, has enabled her to sign a very good professional contract. We're very proud and very excited for her. We produce pros here. Some other schools will say that, but the proof is in the pudding. When you have the number of former student-athletes that have signed contracts and that are currently are playing professionally, it says a lot about how we prepare our players.