Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette New basketball coach Ron Everhart is out trying to sell Duquesne to recruits. Click photo for larger image.

Duquesne basketball coach Ron Everhart is reaching out to long-time friends who helped him recruit players at Northeastern and McNeese State.

"I'm recruiting my brains out," said Everhart, who returned from a trip to Florida and Texas to escort three recruits around campus and the city this weekend. "I'm turning over all the stones."

The players making visits are 6-foot-7 forward Stuard Baldonado of Miami Dade Community College, 5-7 point guard B.J. Valentine of Howard College in Big Spring, Texas, and 6-2 guard Destin Damachoua of The Masters School in West Simsbury, Conn.

These are the first players to visit Duquesne since Everhart was hired two weeks ago to replace Danny Nee, who retired at the end of a 3-24 season.

The spring signing period starts Wednesday and continues through May 12.

Everhart's odds of landing a high-profile player such as Baldonado improved greatly when he took the job at Duquesne after spending the past five seasons at Northeastern. Baldonado, who averaged 20.1 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 1.9 steals and shot 62 percent from the floor this season, has visited Oregon State and Hofstra and plans to visit Kansas State, where Bob Huggins is the new coach, and UTEP.

Baldonado, a two-time junior college All-American and Southern Conference Player of the Year, was going to visit Northeastern but changed his travel plans to Pittsburgh when Everhart came to Duquesne. Everhart has strong ties with Miami Dade coach Butch Estes, and Art Alvarez, Baldonado's coach with the AAU Miami Tropics. One of Alvarez's former players, point guard Jose Juan Borea, was the player of the year in the Colonial Athletic Association this season as a senior at Northeastern.

Baldonado is a native of San Andreas, Colombia.

In addition to bringing in prospective recruits, Everhart made a stop in Jacksonville, Texas, to talk to 6-10 center Hernol Hall, who is considering being released from the letter of intent he signed in the fall.

"I don't think anything was resolved one way or the other," Everhart said. "We'll be talking quite a lot. We left it open for dialogue."

Everhart plans to talk to the other two players who signed with Duquesne in the fall -- 6-5 Antonio DiMaria of Bishop Canevin High School and 6-3 Steve McNees of Shenango High School. DiMaria has asked for a release from his scholarship.

It didn't come as a surprise to Everhart that he will lose a player from the current Duquesne team. Chauncey Duke, a 6-6 sophomore, wants to play somewhere else next season.

"When he didn't want to do the 6 a.m. run that was a pretty good indicator he didn't want to play basketball any more at Duquesne University," Everhart said.

Duquesne's players have been instructed to run each morning. "For every study hall a player missed since the start of the semester, he owes me a mile in six minutes," Everhart said. "Some of the guys owe 18 or 19 miles. It takes a lot more than just showing up to practice to wear the Duquesne University uniform. It takes a lot more work."

NOTE -- Everhart is bringing his four-man staff from Northeastern to Duquesne -- assistant coaches Kim Lewis, 33, Daryn Freedman, 29, and Richard Pitino, 23, and director of men's basketball operations Anthony Serro, 24.