Player Spotlight - Nick Schneiders - South Carolina Upstate

Nick Schneiders easily earns the Player Spotlight for USC Upstate.

Meet Nick Schneiders:

• Nick is a 7'2 - 240 pound sophomore
• a native of Rietberg, Germany
• a fan favorite
• Nick has started in 10 of USC Upstate's 12 games this season
• averages 5.4ppg and 5.3rpg
• leads the team in offensive rebounds with 27

Nick will provide a unique foe for the twin towers of Duquesne Shawn James and Kieron Achara. I am sure James and Achara are not used to playing against larger opponents, I am anxious to see how they react this afternoon.

Picture of the game

This was one of the most exciting plays of the season in my mind. The Dukes were just starting to pull away from Robert Morris in the 2nd half when Shawn James received a pass under the hoop. James was being harassed by 2 Robert Morris players and he was in a bad position to make a play. James leaped in the air and slammed the ball home, reverse dunk style.

Props to Matt Freed of the Post Gazette for documenting this joyous Duquesne moment.

More Shawn James NBA Talk

Because another week couldn't go by without posting something about Shawn James' NBA prospects, here is a great writeup on James from DraftExpress.com. The writeup was written on 12-12-07.

Shawn James compared to Sean Williams

Foxsports.com's Jeff Goodman listed Shawn James as the 17th pick in his 2008 NBA mock draft published in July.

Goodman on Shawn James:

"The former Northeastern star bulked up this past season while sitting out due to transfer rules. He’s extremely athletic and is arguably the best shot-blocker in the country. If [Boston College’s] Sean Williams can be chosen 17th with his baggage, why can’t James?"

Not only was Williams chosen 17th overall, he has now been made a starter by the New Jersey Nets. In his third start of the season last night, Williams had 11 points, seven rebounds and eight blocked shots in 42 minutes of the Nets' 106-101 loss to Sacramento. His eight blocks tied a team rookie record set in 1981 by Mike Gminski.

Yep, that Mike Gminski

I have been beating this Sean Williams - Shawn James comparison to death, I know. What can I say this 13 day layoff is killing me.

The King of Shot Blockers

Is Kenny George going to be the King of the Shot Blockers this year?

Shawn James has fallen behind the massive 7'7 Kenny George of UNC-Asheville in the fight to be named the king of the NCAA shot blockers. George is averaging 6.5 blocks per game in his first 7 games this season. Shawn James is not far behind with 4.8 blocks per game, and a total of 43 blocks this season. James only had one block in the Dukes last game a debacle against WVU.

I wouldn't be surprised if a surge in James' blocked shots coincides with a string of wins for the Dukes.

Shawn James going pro?

Dukes fans everywhere are hoping that "I'm Back" means James is "back" for his senior season

NbaDraft.net updates their Mock Draft board throughout the season and as of December 10th Shawn James is not listed in their first round projections. The real problem is that he isn't listed in their 2nd round projections either. Is this a case of a player from a lesser known school like Duquesne not getting noticed, or of Dukes fans getting too excited about having a legit post player for the first time since Derek Alston?

Should Shawn James Go Pro?

One of the questions that surrounds the Duquesne basketball program this season is one that Dukes fans haven't had to deal with in a long time, if ever: should one of their star players leave school early to pursue a career in the NBA? The player in question is 6'10 225 pound Shawn James.

Reasons to go:

• James is already 24 years old
• James is one of the NCAA's best shot blockers
• Boston College's Sean Williams (pictured below) was drafted 17th overall last year by the Nets and is a similar player to Shawn James. Williams was a noted shot blocker in college and measures in at 6'10 235 pounds.

Reasons to stay:

• James simply isn't big enough or strong enough to play down low in the NBA.
• James should take his extra year of eligibility and finish his degree, that way if he can't make it in the NBA he has something to fall back on.
  

Personally I think James should stay at Duquesne, and not just for selfish reasons. Unless a player is guaranteed to be a 1st round draft pick there is no reason to leave school early. 1st round draft picks in the NBA receive 3 year guaranteed contracts, however 2nd round picks do not get guaranteed contracts. In my mind the thought process on a decision to go pro or not is simple: if the word is that you will be a sure first round pick you should go pro, 3 years guaranteed in the NBA should never be turned down. However if you are slotted as a maybe for a late 1st round pick or early 2nd round, why not stay at school for another year to get stronger and work towards your degree at the same time?

One player comes to mind when thinking about awful draft decisions: Chris Taft formerly of Pitt and the Golden State Warriors. Taft had a fantastic freshman season at Pitt, and many felt he had a future in the NBA. Taft regressed as a sophomore and at that time many scouts felt he did not have the work ethic needed to play pro basketball. Taft hired an agent after his sophomore season and went pro. Taft was taken in the 2nd round of the draft by Golden State, and played 17 games there as a rookie without much fanfare. Taft was injured for most of his rookie year and has yet to play another game in the NBA. Golden State waived him in October of 2006.

This was 1 of Taft's 6 career free throw attempts in the NBA

This is one of the clear cases of a player leaving too early for the NBA, failing, and ruining his potential pro career. I would hate to see this happen to Shawn James.

The All Decade Team - The 2000's

PG - Bryant McAllister - #22 - 6'3 - 190 pounds

McAllister played more SG than PG with the Dukes but he gets the nod at the point because I wanted to get Jimmy Tricco on the squad. McAllister played significant minutes all 4 seasons with Dukes, sadly they were all under the forgettable tutelage of Danny Nee. McAllister's athleticism set him apart from most players. McAllister would have been a great addition to a competitive team, however he was stuck on some woeful Dukes teams.

McAllister is current playing in Germany for Munchen Basket in Munich. McAllister is one of the stars of the German league he plays in, and is in the top 10 in ppg this season.

SG - Jimmy Tricco - #44 - 6'8 - 205 pounds

Ok let the debate begin, I made a controversial choice here putting Jimmy "Threecco" on the all decade team. Tricco started his college basektball career at vaunted Gonzaga before transferring to Duquesne after his sophomore season. Tricco was a fantastic three point shooter for the Dukes and was also a great student earning several awards for his high GPA. Tricco is not currently playing professional basketball.

SF - Elijah Palmer - #4 - 6'7 - 220 pounds

Palmer was the prototypical swingman while playing for Duquesne. Palmer was originally a JC Transfer and one of the talented players that Danny Nee was able to bring into the program when he came to Duquesne. Palmer could play inside and out and was very athletic.

Palmer has played for several seasons in Europe and is currently playing for Wels in Austria. Palmer had arthroscopic surgery to clean his knee on May 11, 2007.

PF - Kieron Achara - #2 - 6'10 - 240 pounds

Achara has been a wonderful addition to the Duquesne Dukes basketball program. Achara has 1000+ career points for Duquesne and has received several awards while playing for the Dukes. Achara received the comeback player of the year award and All Defensive team honors from the Atlantic 10 Conference. Achara has also been recognized several times for his outstanding academic standing.

C - Shawn James - #21 - 6'10 - 225 pounds

James is in his first season with Duquesne but is still the obvious choice for the center on the all decade team. James leads the Dukes in points per game 14.4, rebounds per game 7.7, blocks 43, and field goal percentage 58%. James originally played for Ron Everhart at Northeastern and transferred to Duquesne when Everhart took the job as head coach.

Head Coach - Ron Everhart

--

Guards off the bench:

Martin Osimani - (pictured right in orange box) currently playing pro basketball in Uruguay

Kojo Mensa - current member of the Dukes

Aaron Jackson - current member of the Dukes

Forwards off the bench:

Devone Stephenson - currently playing pro basketball in the CBA for the Atlanta Krunk

DeVario Hudson - currently playing for Valdosta State where he transferred after Danny Nee was fired. I along with many Dukes fans hoped he would stay in the program when Everhart took over.

Ron Dokes - currently playing pro basketball in the Dominican Republic

Some analysis:

I decided to leave Kojo Mensah off the starting team because it is his first season with Duquesne, and because he was benched in the last game by Coach Everhart. There is no doubt in my mind that Kojo will be one of the best players for the Dukes this decade but he is only 9 games into his Duquesne career and he hasn't show me enough in those 9 games to take Jimmy Tricco's place. Shawn James makes the team because he has been dominate at center, and frankly there haven't been any other good centers for Duquesne this decade.

Feel free to debate my choices in the comments section.

Dukes visit Huggy Bear and his Mountaineer's

I wish this was Photoshop, but it isn't

Duquesne will travel to West Virginia to play WVU Saturday evening. WVU represents another formitable Big East opponent for the Dukes who lost their last game to nationally ranked Pitt on Wednesday. The Mountaineer's have a new coach, Bobby Huggins, you may have heard of him before. Huggins has his squad off to a 6-1 start, 4-0 at home. WVU's only loss was to Tennessee in the StubHub Legends Classic 74-72. WVU is coming off of a 88-59 home victory over Auburn Thursday night. Yes, 88-59.

The Mountaineer's are led by 6-6 Alex Ruoff (#22 pictured right) and 6-7 Joe Alexander. Ruoff leads the team in scoring with a 16.7 ppg average, and is 22-47 from beyond the arch for a 47% 3 point percentage. Yes, he shoots 47% from 3 point land, pretty scary. Alexander is averaging 14.3ppg and 7.1rpg. Ruoff and Alexander present a difficult combination for the Dukes.

The Dukes pressure man to man defense tends to allow for open 3's which are Ruoffs specialty. Alexander (#11 pictured left) is going to be tough on the Dukes because I just don't know who will guard him. Shawn James and Kieron Achara are both too big and slow to cover Alexander on the outside, however none of our smaller quicker players are tough enough or tall enough to cover Alexander underneath. I'd say that Phillip Fayne would be a good matchup for Alexander, but he barely played 10 minutes against Pitt. Coach Everhart will know what to do. Actually maybe Bill Clark can do the job for the Dukes against Alexander.

The WVU game calls for another strong performance from Shawn James. The Mountaineer's have only one player over 6-8 who sees any amount of significant minutes, 7-0 265 pound senior Jamie Smalligan (#43 pictured right). Smalligan originally a transfer from Butler, plays an average of 14 minutes per game for WVU and is basically just a body down low. I've seen Smalligan play before and he doesn't really do much, he is big though.

I like Shawn James's and Kieron Achara's changes against Smalligan.

I said before the City Game that if the Dukes win one of their games against Pitt and WVU I would be VERY happy. We came up short against Pitt, it is time to put it all together against a tough WVU team.

Coach Everhart and "Hugs" are friends according to the PG

The always handy Game Notes

For the WVU side of the story check out this WVU Blog - Bastard Sons of Pinfall Marks

One random note:

WVU's Alex Ruoff and Kieron Achara were both on the 2006-07 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 2 Basketball Team

The Day After

While I attempt to recover my voice from screaming at the refs and Jamie Dixon last night I will give a day after perspective on last night's City Game.

First things first I need to give a lot of credit to the Pitt team. They came into the game confident, prepared, and most importantly they executed. At the start of the game Pitt took advantage of their experience in big games and hostile environments and ran to a 14-0 lead. Sam Young (pictured right) in particular deserves credit for Pitt. Young hit every open shot he was allowed and made the Dukes pay for their mental mistakes. Early in the game Young hit a big shot and flexed for the crowd, essentially taunting the Duquesne fans at the A.J. Palumbo Center. This upset me at the time, but Young backed up his cocksure attitude with strong play and a Pitt victory.

Levance Fields (pictured left) may not have had a great night statistically for Pitt but his ball handling skills were invaluable. Duquesne applied full court pressure on Pitt the entire game, and Fields dribbled the ball up the court on most possessions. His superior dribbling skills forced Aaron Jackson into foul trouble, and helped Pitt eliminate the type of costly turnovers that the Dukes prey upon. Fields also helped seal the game with 4 consecutive points in the final minute of the game.

Keith Benjamin impressed me. He came off the bench for Pitt and provided strong defense. The fact that Kojo Mensah and Gary Tucker shot a combined 3-18 from the field last night had a lot to do with the great defense played by Pitt's guards. A young Gilbert Brown also showed flashes that he will be a key part of Pitt's future with confident mistake free play in limited action.

Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart abandoned his two platoon system last night. During a post game interview Everheart admitted that he decided before the game that Pitt's bench was too deep for the two platoon system to be effective. Everhart leaned heavily on Shawn James, (pictured below left) who played 38 minutes, and Kojo Mensah who played 32 minutes. James responded well to the tough Pitt team, and the adversity early in the game with huge blocked shots that got the crowd into the game. James also, for one of the first times this season, was a major force on the offensive side of the floor, especially in the paint scoring on the younger and less experienced Dejuan Blair of Pitt. Blair got into foul trouble midway through the game and seemed hesitant the rest of the way on the defensive end of the floor. Kojo Mensah had a tough game for Duquesne, he was 2-12 from the field, and was called for traveling late in the game on a crucial possession for the Dukes.

Kudos to Dejuan Blair, an 18 year old true freshman who scored 10 points and had 9 rebounds, 5 on the offensive glass for Pitt last night. Blair also led Pitt with 3 steals. Clearly Blair is going to be a major contributor for Pitt this season. Cracking the starting lineup of a top ten team as a true freshman and giving effective minutes is a rarity and deserves to be mentioned. It is also nice to see a local kid play so well for a local school.

All in all the Dukes played valiantly, but could not overcome their mistakes and poor shooting against a tough highly ranked Pitt team. I'll say it again though, if Pitt is a top ten team, and the Dukes only lost by 5 after making a lot of mistakes, I like Duquesne's chances for a strong season in 2007-08.

The PG's Phil Axelrod blames the 14-0 start

The Trib's game story

Joe Starkey writes up the City Game

Starkey's article includes this prediction:

"Let's make a prediction right here: Duquesne (6-2) will finish with a winning record, a feat they haven't accomplished since 1993-94 under John Carroll. Don't be surprised if they wind up in an NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977, either. "

I like the way Starkey thinks

The Official Dukes Court Prediction

Surprise surprise, I like the Dukes in an upset over nationally ranked Pitt.

Shawn James will disrupt Pitt's interior game. Kojo Mensah will lead the Dukes' offensive attack, and Duquesne's two platoon system will stifle and disrupt Pitt's half court offense.

Don't make me eat my word Dukes!

The X Factor?

#21 Shawn James - Tonight's X Factor?

Shawn James is the X Factor in the 2007 version of The City Game. The 6-10 James will tower over his opponent at center for Pitt, 6-7 DeJuan Blair, and continue to provide a major defensive presence in the paint for the Dukes. Through the first six game this season with James' help Duquesne is ranked seventh in Division I in field-goal percentage defense, at 34.5 percent. There is more than just a height difference when considering James and Blair. Blair is a true freshman with less than a half season of college experience, and only 18 years old. James is already 24 years old, and has played two full seasons at Northeastern before transferring to Duquesne. James is in the first of two years of eligibility with the Dukes.


DeJuan Blair, (pictured right) is off to a fabulous start with Pitt. Blair is averaging 10.3 ppg, (2nd on the team) 8.3 rpg, (also 2nd on the team), he leads the team with 16 total steals, and is shooting .569 from the field. Blair does most of his damage in the paint using his massive frame and soft hands. While James has a significant height advantage, Blair has the bulk advantage. Blair weights in at a stout 265 pounds, James is only 225.



Pitt would be wise not to challenge James in the paint, Oakland tried that earlier this season and Shawn James had 12 blocks breaking Duquesne and Atlantic 10 records for blocks in a game. Engaging James and then passing around him may be a Pitt strategy for The City Game tonight. If James leaves his man to go for a block he will also be leaving Blair open, which is a scary thought for Dukes fans.


The fight down low does not stop with Shawn James and DeJuan Blair. The 2nd half of the twin towers for Duquesne is 6-10 5th year senior Kieron Achara (pictured left). Achara is averaging 13.9 ppg and 5 rpg for the Dukes this season. Achara and James rarely play together, alternating time on the floor under Ron Everhart's two platoon system. James and Achara played together at the end of the Niagara game earlier this season, and their time together on the floor helped seal the victory against a tough Niagara team which had been in the NCAA tournament last year.

Pitt's front court depth includes 6-8 240 pound junior Tyrell Biggs, and 6-10 270 pound junior Cassin Diggs. Biggs sees regular time off the bench for the Panthers while Diggs has only seen limited action this season.

Needless to say there is going to be a fight in the paint tonight, and for the first time in many years I like Duquesne's chances down low. All hail the twin towers Shawn James and Kieron Achara.

Duquesne loses to Drake 77-73

AP recap and box score

Game recap

PG article

Trib article

Duquesne drops to 6-1 on the season after their first loss.

Drake was led by super senior Leonard Houston who scored a game high 23 points, two of which were the game clinching free throws with 1.6 seconds left. #24 Klayton Korver, (pictured right), the younger brother of current Philadelphia 76er Kyle Korver, dropped 22 points and had 6 rebounds.

Duquesne shot 47% from the floor and was 13-16 from the free throw line while holding Drake to a 35% field goal percentage but still managed to lose.

Duquesne turned the ball over a season high 24 times.

"You can't win when you turn it over 24 times," said Everhart. "Our biggest achilles heel was the turnovers. That just can't happen."

Shawn James led the Dukes with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.