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Dejan Kovacevic's Blog

Pittsburgh sports talk with the Trib columnist



Wakeup Call: What’s next for Dukes?

March 9th, 2012

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Brief and to the Point …

>> My Friday column, aimed entirely at generating additional street-level newspaper sales and cheap online page views, is about Duquesne basketball.

I get a lot of the eye-roll responses from readers when I take topics like these, and even something Pitt-related. I understand that, but part of covering Pittsburgh sports is to, you know, cover Pittsburgh sports. That’s not just the three big teams.

Hope you give it a chance. And I’d love to hear from anyone who’s seen a game at Palumbo, describing what you liked or disliked about the experience.

Everhart

. Ron Everhart

>> Looking for a glimpse of Duquesne’s future?

The people inside the program sound genuinely excited about the two players already signed toward next season’s class. This was the official press release on 6-9 forward Donovon Jack and 6-3 guard Willie Moore.

Ron Everhart sees them fitting immediately with what the Dukes do, which is run all night, pressure all night. Jack, despite his height, has good speed and great natural endurance, Everhart said, the result of playing soccer. Moore was ranked the No. 1 wing guard in Ohio, and Everhart called him a perfect complement to T.J. McConnell.

“Willie’s a really good passer. He passes like T.J. does,” Everhart said. “I could see these two making all kinds of plays for us, no question about it.”

Of Jack, who Everhart expects will be Pennsylvania’s Class AAA player of the year at Reading, recently set a state record of 42 consecutive field goals made. That came over a six-game span.

“It’s not just the’s 6-9. He’s a  lefty who can run and jump and bounce. He can really play.”

“I would never say J.J. Barea wasn’t the best guy I ever signed or coached,” Everhart said, referring to the guard he coached at Northeastern and is now with the NBA’s Timberwolves. “But D.J. and T.J. could muddy the waters there. That’s how strongly I feel.”

This is Duquesne’s official page.

>> The Florida Panthers should skate out of the tunnel in a really bad mood tonight. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2000, they’re trying to finally achieve that for players like Stephen Weiss who have zero career postseason games, and they’ve …. well, just check out their site’s splash page. But they’ve lost three of four now and did next to nothing last night in Philadelphia.

This could be a better game than you might think.

>> Mel Kiper, who works TWO DAYS ALL YEAR, thinks the Steelers will go with the middle linebacker, Alabama’s Dont’a Hightower. All in favor on this end. Great place to add impact talent.

>> Here’s the chat transcript from yesterday. I’ll be doing all kinds of pucks this weekend, then it’s off to Bradenton on Tuesday for 10 days of ball.

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