By Steven DiMiceli
A quick glance over the PBC Pro - Am summer league rosters and a few differences jump out at you from this year to last. The first is the Mountaineers are more spread out across all the rosters. You'll also notice that the Duquesne players are confined to 3 teams where they are normally on 4 or 5 and that only 10 Dukes are registered. When you look a little deeper at the make up of the teams they're on, the Dukes who are playing may see limited minutes.
Below are the 3 sides with members from Duquesne:
UPMC
Malcolm Gilbert (Pitt)
Cameron Wright (Pitt)
Andre Marhold (Duquesne)
Sean Johnson (Duquesne)
Quevyn Winters (Duquesne)
Anthony Myers (Robert Morris)
Mike McFadden (RMU)
Blake Allen (Youngstown State)
Fletcher Larsen (YSU)
Ashen Ward (YSU)
Eric Malinger
DA
Aron Nwankwo (Pitt)
Kevin Noreen (WVU)
Jabari Hinds (WVU)
Matt Humphrey (WVU)
PJ Torres (Duquesne)
Marvin Binney (Duquesne)
Jeremiah Jones (Duquesne)
Derrick Martin (Duquesne)
Mike Podolsky (YSU)
Lance Jeter
Nick Brown (West Liberty)
Center Court
Martins Abele (Duquesne)
Jerry Jones (Duquesne)
Derrick Colter (Duquesne)
Keaton Miles (WVU)
Dominique Rutledge (WVU)
Velton Jones (RMU)
Lijah Thompson (RMU)
Vaughn Morgan (RMU)
Kendrick Perry (YSU)
Kamren Berlin (YSU)
Mike Lecak (Wheeling Jesuit)
The UPMC team should not be a problem as it appears to be built around Sean Johnson. Both Duquesne seniors should see plenty of action with Andre Marhold giving UPMC a long front court while playing alongside Pitt's Malcolm Gilbert. Anthony Myers of RMU and Cameron Wright of Pitt should round out their starting lineup. Quevyn Winters should see a fair amount of minutes off the bench.
DA is a very different story as the playing time given to Dukes seems to revolve heavily around how often Lance Jeter shows up. While Derrick Martin started most of his games last year, he'll likely play behind the heavily recruited Kevin Noreen this year. BC transfer Matt Humphrey would slot ahead of Jeremiah Jones and PJ Torres while Jabari Hinds should start at PG in front of Marvin Binney. It's disappointing to to see our young guards listed behind some of the more high profile guards in the league. Jeter will play a ton and I would assume the same for Matt Humphrey when he arrives. The good news is that he just completed his transfer so he may not be around for a few months.
Center Court is built around the two best small school player's in the league, Robert Morris' Velton Jones and YSU's Kendrick Perry who may be the best player in the league period. Jones will likely consume a huge portion of the minutes at point over Derrick Colter, but Jerry Jones should start and Martins Abele could as well.
It's disappointing that the Duquesne point guards are buried on the bench but there is a practical reason behind it. Typically, the Duquesne newcomers arrive later than everyone elses. It makes sense to have a solid option on the teams ahead of the Dukes since they may not be there for the first couple of weeks. You'd really leave teams vulnerable if they were built around a first year player at point and the folks who run the league do their best to keep the playing field level. From a fan's standpoint, I love the league and think it's great that 5 D-1 programs are represented. However, from a player development standpoint, it can be frustrating to have so many teams. Typically freshmen don't get many opportunities to play, and it will be no different for our young Dukes this year.
Our players will find minutes but with more experienced players ahead of them and a handful of players not playing, I think it could be a slow summer league for Duquesne. Mamadou Datt is still rehabbing his knee surgery and Ovie Soko is trying to play in the Olympics. I will do my best to find out what is going on with Kadeem Pantophlet.
