NOTABLE MOMENTS

8 Days in March
Over an eight-day span in March of 2009, Duquesne received unprecedented media coverage. DU's run to the final game of the Atlantic 10 championship - the school's first appearance in the title game since 1981 - was chronicled by CBS College Sports regional television (which aired quarterfinal and semifinal games) and the title game 69-64 loss to Temple was aired nationally by ESPN2. A Damian Saunders dunk and an Aaron Jackson drive from the championship final against the Owls were both featured on the Gym Gems portion of ESPN's College GameDay that evening. In addition, a photo of a smiling Melquan Bolding cradling a loose ball during DU's A-10 semifinal win over Dayton graced the front page of ESPN's web site the morning of March 14. The media coverage continued as the Dukes made their first National Invitation Tournament appearance since 1994, at Virginia Tech on March 18. The double-overtime 116-108 loss - during which DU's Aaron Jackson scored 46 points - was also televised live nationally by ESPNU. Highlights from that game were the lead story on ESPN's SportsCenter that evening. In all, it was a whirlwind stretch of five games in eight days that saw the Dukes elevated to another level, as Duquesne earned part of the national spotlight for its own version of March Madness.

2/7/09 - No. 9 (AP) Xavier at Duquesne
Aaron Jackson scored 21 points and Bill Clark added 18 as Duquesne rode an 81.0 percent shooting first half to a 72-68 win over No. 9 (AP) Xavier at the Palumbo Center. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 5,358, marking just the second Palumbo Center sellout since 1994. The win, which snapped an 11-game Xavier win streak, was DU's first over a ranked team since 1997 and first over a Top 10 team since December of 1992. Xavier was the highest ranked team to fall to Duquesne since the Dukes posted an 88-87 overtime win over No. 9 (AP) Providence on Jan. 31, 1974. Duquesne shot 53.3 percent from the field against a Xavier team that entered the game ranked ninth nationally in field goal percentage defense. The Dukes, who led from the 17:43 mark of the first half on, led by as many as 15 in the first half (halftime) and 15 in the second (with 11:49 to go). Xavier cut it to four on a banked-in 3-pointer with 17 seconds left before Jackson buried four consecutive free throws. Clark hit one of two from the line with three seconds left to seal the win. Clark scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. Melquan Bolding added 12 and Jason Duty 10 for the Dukes.

2/28/04 - Duquesne at Xavier
In a game that put a serious damper on Xavier's NCAA Tournament hopes, Bryant McAllister scored 21 points to lead four Dukes in double figures in a 74-68 win at Xavier. Duquesne limited Xavier to two field goals over the last 10:51 and converted nine of 10 free throws down the stretch to pull off the upset. In becoming just the fifth visiting team to win in the four-year history of XU's Cintas Center, Duquesne also completed its first ever regular-season sweep of the Musketeers. All was not lost for then 17-10 Xavier, however, as the Musketeers would re-group and go on to win their next nine in a row - including an 87-67 win over No. 1 Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 Tournament second round. After the loss to Duquesne, Xavier did not taste defeat again until a 66-63 loss to No. 6 Duke in the NCAA Tournament Atlanta Regional Final.

3/16/94 - Charlotte at Duquesne (NIT opening-round)
In Duquesne's first post-season appearance in 13 years, Derrick Alston comes up big with a game-high 28 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals to lead Duquesne to a 75-73 win over Charlotte in the opening round of the 1994 NIT. Duquesne, which led by 16 in the opening moments of the second half, survived a furious Charlotte comeback to take the lead for good on a 10-foot jumper by Alston with 10 seconds left. Alston went on to be drafted in the second round (33rd player overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers. He was the highest Duquesne draftee since Norm Nixon was taken in the first round (22nd overall) by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1977.

12/15/92 - No. 10 (AP) Florida State at Duquesne
Things looked bleak for Duquesne when Florida State's Bob Sura scored 10 of his game-high 34 points in the first 1:47 of the second half to give the tenth-ranked Seminoles a 58-41 lead over the homestanding Dukes. In fact, many were headed for the exits when Doug Edwards threw down his second of back-to-back dunks with 12:25 left to make the score 68-52. It was then that Duquesne's Effrem Whitehead put on a long-distance shooting show. Whitehead, who hit all five of his 3-pointers in the second half, made four from long distance over the next 6:49, the last of which tied the game at 76-76 with just under five minutes left. From there it was all Duquesne, as the Dukes set a then-Palumbo Center record with 10 3-pointers. Derrick Alston led the Dukes with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Whitehead scored all 15 of his points in the second half for DU. Edwards finished with 17 and Sam Cassell, Sura's backcourtmate, added 14 for FSU. The Seminoles, who dropped to 3-3 following the loss, went on to finish the season 25-10 (2nd in the ACC at 12-4) and advance to the NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional Final.

4/30/56 - 1956 NBA Draft
Sihugo Green is taken by Rochester as the first pick in the 1956 NBA Draft making Duquesne the first - and only - team to have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in back-to-back seasons. Green's teammate, Dick Ricketts, was taken with the first pick in the previous year's draft by Milwaukee. Green, the only two-time consensus All-American in school history was selected ahead of San Francisco star Bill Russell. According to UPI, teams were wary of Russell for three reasons: 1. He wouldn't be available until late December because of his commitment to the U.S. Olympic team, 2. It was feared that the Harlem Globetrotters would bid high for his services and 3. There was doubt among some pro coaches that Russell would star in the pro game as he did in college.

3/20/55 - Duquesne defeats Dayton to win the NIT title
Consensus First Team All-Americans Sihugo Green and Dick Ricketts score all of Duquesne's 35 first-half points - and the first nine points of the second half as the Dukes go on to defeat Dayton 70-58 and claim the 1955 NIT title. Green, a Bronx native, finished with the game-high 33 points, Ricketts added 23. Said Milton Gross of the New York Post following the game: "Si Green, at six-two, must be the best college basketball player in the country today. In a sense, he is to college basketball what Ray Robinson was to boxing - the best fighter pound for pound."

4/25/50 - Chuck Cooper becomes a part of history
"I don't give a damn if he's striped or plaid or polka-dot, Boston takes Charles Cooper of Duquesne!" were the history-making words of Boston Celtics owner Walter Brown when he made Duquesne's Chuck Cooper the first black player drafted by a National Basketball Association team in 1950. Cooper, who attended Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School, attended DU on the GI Bill. He led the Dukes to a 78-19 record and two NIT appearances in his four-year career and captained a 1949-50 squad - the first Duquesne team to be ranked for an entire season by the Associated Press - to a 23-6 record and No. 6 national ranking. Cooper, who played in the NBA for six seasons, died on Feb. 5, 1984.

12/23/46 - Duquesne takes a stand
Duquesne head coach Charles "Chick" Davies, honoring the stand of DU administration, refused to yield to Tennessee coach John Maurer's refusal to send his team on the floor in protest of DU's black center Chuck Cooper taking part in the game. Judge Sammy Weiss, acting chairman of the Duquesne athletic committee, addressed the 1,500 disappointed fans on hand: "In accordance with the athletic policy of Duquesne University, we do not bar anyone because of race, creed or color. Therefore we cannot jeopardize our principles by agreeing to Tennessee's demand." Cooper told his teammates he would not be offended if they played without him. The players immediately took the stand that they did not wish to play unless he was in the lineup. Said Duquesne's legendary trainer Brue Jackson - who was also black: "I appreciate the pressure on all of you. I wish to say, speaking both for myself and Cooper, that Duquesne is to be congratulated on its stand."

3/22/40 - Duquesne vs. Western Kentucky
Duquesne, which was coming off a three games-in-five-days second-place finish at the NIT in New York City, made the trip to Indianapolis to face Western Kentucky seven days later. In so doing, the Dukes - along with Colorado - became one of the first two teams to appear in both the NIT and NCAA Tournament in the same season. DU went on to defeat the Hilltoppers 30-29 before falling to eventual national champion Indiana in the national semifinal. Duquesne head coach Chick Davies, who knocked off St. John's Joe Lapchick and Oklahoma A&M's Hank Iba to advance to the championship game of the NIT on March 15, added another notch to his belt with the win over WKU - and another Hall of Fame Coach - in E.A. "Ed" Diddle.

Cumberland Posey, Jr.
Duquesne, which was at the forefront among predominately white colleges in the recruitment of black athletes, lists Cumberland Posey as its first recorded black athlete. Posey, who led the Dukes in scoring for three seasons from 1916-18 under the name of Charles Cumbert, went on to greater fame as the manager and later owner of the fabled Homestead Grays of the Negro Baseball League. Prior to his stint at Duquesne, Posey formed the Monticello Rifles - one of the first great black barnstorming basketball teams. The Rifles, under Posey, absorbed all of Pittsburgh's best black fives to form the Loendi Big Five, a team that became a dynasty by winning four straight Colored Basketball World Championships between 1920 and 1923. Posey, along with Harvard grad Edwin Henderson, is considered to have been instrumental in introducing basketball to the black community in the early 1900s.