Ron Everhart -- Official Website -- Men's Basketball Coach -- Duquesne University

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TERRIFIC SEASON FOR DUKES

Duquesne, which began the season as one of the youngest teams in the nation with eight freshmen and one scholarship upperclassman on the opening day roster, posted the school’s most wins since 1971 and first 20-win season since 1981 in going 21-13. The ‘09 Dukes, picked to finish 12th in a preseason poll of league coaches, advanced to the A-10 Championship final where they came up six points shy of the school’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1977. Duquesne was rewarded with a National Invitation Tournament berth - marking the school’s first postseason appearance since the 1994 NIT.

MAKING STRIDES

Duquesne was 3-24 with an RPI of 308 the year before Ron Everhart’s arrival on the Bluff. In his first season, Everhart took a team that had two returning players (one of whom was senior Aaron Jackson) and was rocked by a preseason campus shooting to a 10-19 record including five consecutive A-10 regular season wins. In 2007-08, he led the Dukes to the school’s first winning record since 1994 at 17-13 as DU’s RPI improved to 130. This year, despite losing his top five scorers from the 17-win team, Everhart guided one of the nation’s youngest teams to 21 wins and a 75 RPI. DU has improved by a total of 14.5 games in the win-loss column in three seasons under Ron Everhart.

21 WINS

Duquesne’s 21 wins in 2008-09 were its most since the 1971 NCAA team went 21-4. The ‘71 Dukes, who lost in the first round of the East Regional to Penn, finished the season ranked 15th by AP and 18th by UPI. This was also the first time since 1981 (20-10) and second time since 1972 (20-5) that Duquesne won 20 games in a season.

AWAY FROM HOME

Duquesne, which clinched the school’s first winning road record since 1971, went 11-8 away from the Palumbo Center including an 8-7 mark in true road games. DU experienced a little bit of everything at opposing venues this season ranging from two of the most intimidating (at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium and at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center), to two of the most quaint (DU was the first D-I team to play a non-conference game at USC Upstate’s 1,535-seat Hodge Center and the Dukes also took on Radford in the Highlanders’ 500-seat Peters Hall due to renovation conflicts to RU’s regular home - the Dedmon Center). The early season treks paid off as the Dukes, who had seven true freshmen on the season-ending roster, surprised everyone by posting the most road wins by a Dukes team since the ‘71 NCAA tournament team went 8-2. The ‘09 Dukes also tied the school record for Atlantic 10 road wins with four. This was just the fourth time since 1970 that a Duquesne team won six or more road games.