Jump Start
Dukes' Everhart Rebuilds Again
By Anthony Jaskulski

It didn't take him long to make his mark.

After enduring their worst season in school history at 3-24 overall during the 2005 season, the Duquesne basketball program turned to coach Ron Everhart to right a capsizing ship, and in just two years he pushed the Dukes to their first winning season in 14 years.

His reward?

The graduation of three key players, two more stars leaving school early, and an all but definite transfer. Yet Everhart has avoided hitting the panic button and instead moved straight to the rebuilding phase. And things are only looking up.

With the graduation of senior guards Gary Tucker and Reggie Jackson, as well as center Kieron Achara, the Dukes were prepared to lose their third, fourth and fifth leading scorers. The top two scorers were guard Kojo Mensah (12.1 points per game) and center Shawn James (12.6), who was just one triple-double shy of tying the all-time NCAA record. However, instead of playing out their senior seasons, both withdrew and proceeded to this years NBA Draft.

"I guess as a coach you don't really want to sign 8 to 10 players every year, but we've had to do it twice in a row just to complete a roster," said Everhart. "With Kojo and Shawn leaving early, and losing our seniors, we have really had our hands full and have had to go out and find the right guys."

Everhart also watched promising sophomore Stephen Wood complete his official transfer paperwork for another program yet to be determined.

Everhart and his coaching staff-which also lost two members as Kim Lewis joined Greg Gary, who was named head coach at Centenary College in Louisiana-scrambled to find young talent capable of making an immediate impact on the floor this year.

"Wherever I've been we've always depended heavily on freshmen every year," said Everhart. "Having eight freshmen this year, it's definitely going to come down to a freshman stepping up at some point this season."

Headlined by Notre Dame Prep's Melquan Bolding, the recruiting class includes Alabama's Class 5A Mr. Basketball guard Chase Robinson, international forwards Rodrigo Peggau (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Aleksandar Milovic (Centje, Montenegro), all-state guard Eric Evans of Detroit and his high school teammate Shawntez Patterson, and Connecticut guard B.J. Monteiro.

The group is rounded off by Kentucky transfer 6'11, 260-pound sophomore Morakinyo Williams, who played as a true freshman in five games for the Wildcats last season, but will sit out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

"From a building standpoint, coming off a 17-win year and the lot of new guys here, with the energy we have already, I'm really excited," said Everhart of his new group. "I see the tide kind of turning for this team, both in the guys we got here and our general mentality."

While the future looks bright with a fantastic recruiting class, Everhart will still face the challenge of turning his young talent into mature, prepared athletes that can compete with such teams as A-10 powers St. Joes, Temple and Xavier, who reached the Elite Eight last season, proving to be not just a conference power, but a national power as well.

"Having the experience we had last year, it would have been great to have this new class able to learn from those guys," Everhart said. "Even though we don't have that experience, I'm hoping and I think this year we have a group that can fit the mold of stepping in as a mature, gelled group."

Two of those experienced players were Mensah and James, who both contributed as team leaders last season. But each hired agents for the NBA Draft and won't return for their senior seasons, a decision that disappointed Everhart.

"The one thing I did say to them both (James and Mensah) was that it is never a good decision to not look at your college education as being something that's necessary for the rest of your life," he said. "And if you diminish the value of a college education by choosing to go and do something else, you're making a huge mistake."

Despite the lack of leadership, the Dukes will also look for their first back-to-back winning seasons, something that has not been accomplished since the 1979-80 and 80-81 seasons. Everhart notes that change is not just taking place upon the hardwood, but around the entire campus.

"I think the biggest change has been with the institution itself," Everhart said. "The offices upstairs (at the A.J. Palumbo Center), the $81 million dollar fitness center, and the new turf and stands being added to the football field, as well as the education here being second-to-none, top-notch. It all works as a great selling point and really sends a positive buzz around here. You can feel the changes and energy and see things getting bigger and better."