It appears that John Groce, a longtime friend and current assistant at Ohio State, has moved to the top of athletic director Greg Amodio's list of candidates to be the men's basketball coach at Duquesne University.

The job opened when Danny Nee retired at the end of a 3-24 season.

Groce, 33, has talked to Amodio about the Duquesne situation in the past several months and reportedly will come here for an interview early next week. Amodio, who has remained tight-lipped throughout his search, was unavailable for comment yesterday. From all indications, Amodio has yet to officially interview a candidate.

Groce has been an assistant under Thad Matta the past two years at Ohio State. He was Matta's assistant from 2001-04 at Xavier and 2000-01 at Butler. Groce also was Herb Sendek's assistant at North Carolina State from 1996-2000.

Amodio and Groce forged their friendship when Groce was an assistant at Xavier and Amodio worked in the athletic department.