DuquesneSports Newstand - April 28th

Today's shorter newstand includes basketball, football and baseball news. One reporter looks back at the decision that made Sihugo Green the no. 1 overall NBA pick and Bill Russell no. 2, some recruiting news, Coach Wilson's son Josh gets a call-up, grad school enrollment is up ...

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DuquesneSports.net Newstand
April 28, 2009
Includes excerpts from stories

MEN'S BASKETBALL

• Who Picked Who
  • ... new Virginia Commonwealth University head coach Shaka Smart landed his first recruit when Darius Theus committed to the Rams last Monday. The 6-3 guard out of Norcom H.S. in Virginia, was also being recruited by Washington State, Liberty, Duquesne, East Carolina, among others ... Theus visited VCU and Virginia while also considering Marquette ...
• Notes
  This week marks the 53rd anniversary of arguably the worst decision in the history of pro sports in Rochester: Rochester Royals boss Les Harrison selecting Duquesne guard Sihugo Green No. 1 overall; in the 1956 NBA draft. St. Louis had the No. 2 pick and selected University of San Francisco center Bill Russell. He was promptly traded to the Boston Celtics. The rest is history.

FOOTBALL

• Rombach sharp during Duquesne scrimmage
  It was former Duquesne starter Kevin Rombach — not last year's starter, Connor Dixon, the injury-plagued former Michigan State quarterback from South Park High School — who took the majority of the snaps in spring football practices for the Dukes. And it was Rombach, a first-team all-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League selection in 2007 before being replaced by Dixon for the 2008 season, who threw three long touchdown passes in Duquesne's annual Red-Blue spring scrimmage on Saturday at Rooney Field.

BASEBALL

• Simoni's grand slam lifts Valley to win
  Riverview 9, East Allegheny 3 — Duquesne recruit Gus Benusa hit a pair of two-run homers to lead Riverview (7-7, 5-3) past East Allegheny (1-10, 1-6) in Section 4-AA.
• Josh Wilson Replaces Stephen Drew on Roster (subscriber story)
  Because of injury, Josh Wilson, son of Duquesne baseball coach Mike Wilson, has been added to the Arizona Diamondbacks' 40-man roster.
  • Wilson, Vasquez up from Reno; Slaten optioned (Diamondbacks release)
    Wilson, a non-roster invitee this spring, impressed the staff during camp with not just his defense, which he has always been known for, but his production at the plate ... (he) was hitting .260 with three doubles and 10 RBIs at Reno ...

OTHER

• Grad school looks better now
  Applications for graduate school have jumped from 2,072 last year to 2,607 this year at Duquesne University, a 26 percent increase. Paul-James Cukanna, associate provost for enrollment management at Duquesne, said that's the biggest jump in applications in his eight years there, and he credited the increase to the (down) economy. he most popular graduate programs at Duquesne are in the health sciences, where applications increased from 153 to 380.
• Former State Supreme Court Judge to address Susquehanna graduates
  Cynthia A. Baldwin ... received her law degree from Duquesne University, where she was a member of its Law Review. She went on to teach as both a visiting and an adjunct professor at the university’s School of Law, and is a trustee emerita of the school’s board of directors and past president of its law alumni board.