Nov. 22, 2005

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DUQUESNE OPENS ITS 90th SEASON

Duquesne tips-off the 2005-06 men's basketball season on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 8:05 p.m. vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-1) at the Palumbo Center.

This is the 90th season of basketball for Duquesne University (1,207-883, .578). The Dukes started play in 1913-14 (DU did not field a team in 1944-45-46 due to World War II).

Duquesne has compiled an impressive 75-14 record in season opening games, including a 70-3 record when opening the season at home. The three losses came in 1927-28 to Ohio Wesleyan (36-23); 1966-67 to St. Francis (81-63) and in 1989-90 to Detroit (108-97). The Dukes are 82-7 all-time in the first home game of the season, including a 13-3 mark at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

DU IN SEASON OPENERS • (75-14)

Home:     70-3*Road:      4-6Neutral:   1-5Overall:  75-14

* - Last time opened the season at home - 2003-04
(77-57 win over Prairie View A&M, 11/25/03)

DUKES AND GOLDEN LIONS

This is the first meeting between Duquesne and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. It is also just the second meeting between DU and a current member of the SWAC (the Dukes opened the 2003-04 season with a 77-57 home win over SWAC member Prairie View A&M). UAPB opened its season with an 87-55 loss at Creighton on Saturday.

DUQUESNE NEWS

Duquesne enters the season without the services of top returning scorer Bryant McAllister (16.1 ppg.) ... the 6-3 senior guard, who was named first team preseason All-Atlantic 10, is serving the final portion of a three-game suspension for an off-court incident this summer (McAllister also sat out Duquesne's two preseason scrimmages) ... this ends a string of 89 consecutive games played by the Pittsburgh native (every game of his DU career) ... the absence of McAllister thrusts true freshman Aaron Jackson into the starting lineup ... the 6-2, 180-pound Jackson averaged 14.0 points and 8.0 assists per game last season at Worcester (Mass.) Academy ... Jackson will be the first true freshman to start a season opener for the Dukes since Aly Samabaly and Simplice Njoya both took the court for the 2001-02 opener vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore ... in addition to Jackson, two other Dukes will be making their first appearance: 6-7 sophomore F Ryan Lambert (a transfer from Western Ky.) and 6-7 redshirt freshman F Brian Kelly ... the coaching staff tentatively plans to redshirt a second true freshman - 6-9 F/C Ronnie Thomas.

MORE ON ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF AND THE DUKES

Arkansas-Pine Bluff was picked to finished eighth in a preseason vote of SWAC coaches and sports information directors. UAPB 6-10 sophomore forward Jarvis Gunter (9.0, 6.9) was named second team preseason All-SWAC. Senior guard Tamarius Brown went 5-of-7 from the 3-point arc in scoring a game-high 21 points in UAPB's season-opening 87-55 loss at Creighton on Saturday. The Golden Lions return four starters from last year's 7-21 squad.

Duquesne returns four starters from last year's 8-22 team. DU, picked to finish 12th in the Atlantic 10 by the league's coaches, has two preseason honorees in senior guard Bryant McAllister (1st team All-A-10) and junior F/C Kieron Achara (2nd team All-A-10). McAllister is serving the last of a three-game suspension (he sat out both of Duquesne's preseason scrimmages) and won't be in uniform for tonight's game.

FOUR STARTERS BACK

Duquesne returns four starters from last season in guard Bryant McAllister (16.1 ppg., 54 steals), forward/center Kieron Achara (11.5, 6.7), forward DeVario Hudson (8.1, 5.3) and guard/forward Chauncey Duke (4.0, 2.7). The foursome combined for 93 of a possible 150 starts in 2004-05. A fifth returnee, senior guard Jack Higgins (9.5, 47 3-pointers), ranks third among returnees in minutes played per game (behind McAllister and Achara), despite coming off the bench in 17 of 27 games played last year. Forward Keith Gayden, who averaged just under 17 minutes per game and 6-10 Sean McKeon (11.9 mpg., in 24 games) are also back.

NEW FACES

The 2005-06 Dukes roster features four new faces in true freshman guard Aaron Jackson, redshirt freshman forward Brian Kelly, sophomore transfer Ryan Lambert and true freshman forward Ronnie Thomas. Kelly, a high school teammate of sophomore forward DeVario Hudson, and Lambert, who comes to Duquesne from Western Kentucky, both practiced with the team last season. Duquesne also has a not-so-new face on the bench in assistant coach Rodney Perry. Perry, who spent his first two seasons at DU as the coordinator of basketball operations, replaced John Mahoney who took a job as director of basketball operations at West Virginia. Perry's old position has been filled by Glenn Gutierrez. Gutierrez was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan prior to coming to DU.

PRESEASON HYPE

Senior guard Bryant McAllister, a second team All-Atlantic 10 pick last season, was named to the 10-man A-10 preseason first team by the league's coaches. Kieron Achara, winner of the 2004-05 Chris Daniels Award as the A-10's most improved player, was named preseason second team. McAllister was also cited in a pair of preseason publications as CBS SportsLine named him preseason second team All-Atlantic 10 and Lindy's tabbed him preseason third team all-conference. A third publication, Street & Smith's, rated McAllister as the "best athlete" in the Atlantic 10.

POINT BLANK

The Dukes, who lose just four players from last year's roster, return seven of their top 10 scorers from a year ago. The problem will be finding someone to get them the ball. Among those gone from last year are starting point guard Martin Osimani and his backup, Tyler Bluemling. Osimani, a two-year starter who finished his career ranked eighth on the all-time Atlantic 10 assist list at 5.5 apg., and Bluemling accounted for over half of DU's total assists and had a combined 215-to-104 (2.1-to-1) assist-to-turnover average. As of now, it looks as though Bryant McAllister will receive extensive time at the point with newcomer Aaron Jackson expected to provide depth. The 6-2 Jackson averaged 14.0 points and 8.0 assists per game in the same backcourt as Rhode Island recruit Jim Baron Jr. last year at Worcester (Mass.) Academy.

NEW-LOOK ATLANTIC 10

Former Conference USA members Charlotte and Saint Louis are making their Atlantic 10 debut this season. The addition of the two new schools makes the A-10 a 14-team league. With the league's larger size, divisional play has been eliminated with each team facing each other at least one time. Each school has been paired with three other schools which they will play home-and-home during the season. Duquesne's scheduling partners are Fordham, La Salle and St. Bonaventure. In addition to the regular-season changes, only the top 12 regular-season finishers will be invited to the Atlantic 10 Championship - to be played at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Mar. 8-11.

NEE NOTE

Duquesne's Danny Nee, who is in his 26th season as a head coach, has racked up some impressive numbers in his college coaching career. Here is how Nee stacks up against active NCAA Division I coaches entering the 2005-06 season: 14th (tied) in Division I 20-win seasons with 11; 16th in games coached with 764; 16th (tied) in total seasons coached with 25 and 25th in career wins with 407.

SCHEDULE NOTES

Duquesne will face four - and possibly five - 2004-05 NCAA Tournament teams during its 11-game non-conference schedule. The Dukes will travel to Rochester, Mich. to take on `05 tournament surprise Oakland on November 26. In early December, DU will tangle with traditional rivals - and Big East members - Pittsburgh (home on Dec. 7) and the Cinderella of last year's tournament, West Virginia (away on Dec. 10) in back-to-back games. In addition, Duquesne will host first-year Atlantic Coast Conference member Boston College, the first-place finisher in the Big East last season, on December 27. A fifth 2004-05 NCAA Tournament team, Niagara, will be part of the four-team Duquesne Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30-31. In the Atlantic 10, Duquesne will play home-and-home series' with La Salle, St. Bonaventure and Fordham. DU will host George Washington, UMass, Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis and will travel to Charlotte, Dayton, Rhode Island, Temple and Xavier.

ABOUT THAT CLASS

Duquesne is off to a solid start on the recruiting trail for 2006-07. The three-man class of Hernol Hall, Antonio DiMaria and Steve McNees is ranked tied for 41st nationally by hoopscooponline. Hoop Scoop assigns a talent rating for each signee and ranks the schools based on total points. Here are the Atlantic 10 schools that appeared in Hoop Scoop's Top 100 as of Nov. 18:

A-10 SCHOOL     SIGNEES AVG     RANKRhode Island    6       3.5     14thCharlotte       4       4.3     27thSaint Joseph's  4       3.3     36thDayton          4       3.3     36thDUQUESNE        3       4.0     41stLa Salle        4       3.0     45thRichmond        4       2.8     53rdXavier          3       3.3     62ndSt. Bonaventure 2       4.5     70thTemple          3       2.7     83rd

HIGHEST INDIVIDUALLY RATED A-10 RECRUITS

Hernol Hall, Duquesne             8Carlos Williams, Charlotte        8Joe Mbang, Rhode Island           6James Williams, St. Bonaventure   6

PRIDE OF THE PROGRAM

This season, every ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU men's college basketball telecast will include a 30-second ESPNU's Pride of the Program segment celebrating an historic moment from each of the 326 Division I programs (in alphabetical order). Duquesne's vignette, featuring DU's first black athlete and later owner of the Homestead Grays, Cumberland Posey, is scheduled to air on Dec. 19.