The highlights of Duquesne men's basketball 29-game schedule this season are a home game against crosstown rival Pitt, a tournament at Drake and 16 Atlantic 10 Conference games.

The Dukes open conference play at home for the first time in eight years when they host Fordham Jan. 9 at Palumbo Center. They will play every A-10 team at least once and St. Bonaventure, Fordham and La Salle twice.

Duquesne will play six teams that participated in post-season tournaments last year -- Pitt, Niagara, Xavier and George Washington in the NCAA, and West Virginia and Massachusetts in the NIT.

The schedule includes first-time opponents Howard, Winston-Salem State, Cal State-Northridge and South Carolina Upstate.

Duquesne coach Ron Everhart welcomes back three starters from a 10-19 team to go with transfers 6-10 Shawn James (Northeastern) and 6-1 Kojo Mensah, who both sat out last season.

No break in James' toe

Everhart, who has received nothing but bad news the past several days, finally got some that made him smile yesterday when he learned that the MRI on Shawn James' left foot revealed nothing more than inflammation of the big toe. The concern was there might have been a fracture or ligament damage. James will rest and rehab the foot for a couple days and is expected to participate in individual workouts Monday.

James, a 6-foot-10 junior transfer from Northeastern who sat out last season after leading Division I in blocked shots as a sophomore, felt some discomfort in his foot and was tentative in the four games the Dukes played in Toronto Labor Day weekend. Everhart said the pain was a result of the scar tissue breaking up in the same foot that was wounded in a shooting spree last September following a party on campus.

Multi-sport doubleheader

Duquesne basketball will hold its annual Red & Blue men's scrimmage Oct. 20 at 10 a.m. at Palumbo Center. The game is free. On the same day, Duquesne football faces Robert Morris at Rooney Field at 1 p.m.