Post by MIKE MACALUSO on Oct 14, 2005 1:47:07 GMT -5
McAllister key man in Duquesne's plans
Friday, October 14, 2005
By Phil Axelrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A new basketball season spawns renewed hope for Duquesne coach Danny Nee, and the Dukes are upbeat despite being beaten down so often the past two decades.
The past, which included an 8-22 mark last season and the team's 13th consecutive losing season, is just that, as the team opens practice today.
"The program is maturing, creating an atmosphere of success," said Nee, who is entering his fifth season, the first under new athletic director Greg Amodio.
"I want the same things my boss wants, what my president wants, what the boosters want -- a winning basketball program."
The key to Duquesne's season most likely will be Bryant McAllister's adjustment to point guard, where he must structure his game more than he did as a free-wheeling shooting guard.
McAllister will run the show because the only other true point guard on the roster is Aaron Jackson, a 6-foot-2 freshman who averaged 14 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists per game last season at Worcester (Mass.) Academy.
The Dukes are thin at the point because junior-college transfer Vandrell Rivers didn't qualify academically and isn't at Duquesne.
Jackson will be thrust into the lineup much earlier than expected because McAllister was suspended for two preseason scrimmages and the season-opener against Arkansas Pine-Bluff Nov. 22 at Palumbo Center.
McAllister, a 6-3 senior who was second-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference last season, was arrested in May on drug charges that were dropped July 7. He is on a six-month probationary period.
"I let a lot of people down -- my family, my teammates and the university," said McAllister, who averaged a team-high 16.1 points last season.
Nee will get a good look at Jackson during the two preseason scrimmages that will be closed to the public and the opener.
The point guard chores last season basically were a one-man show with Martin Osimani controlling the tempo and distributing the ball. McAllister is returning to the point, a position he struggled with as a sophomore.
"He's way, way more prepared now than he was two years ago," Nee said. "He'll adjust a little bit to the move, but we're not going to change his game. We're just going to put the ball in his hands more."
McAllister and 6-9 junior center Kieron Achara are going to be the foundations for this team, with senior guard/forward Jack Higgins, senior forward Keith Gayden and sophomore forwards Chauncey Duke and DeVario Hudson expected to improve with age.
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(Ray Fittipaldo contributed to this report.)