What Duquesne coach Ron Everhart has been seeing from his players in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am Summer League at the Greentree Sportsplex won't necessarily translate into what he expects to see when he assembles his team this fall.

But he smiled often as he watched Aaron Jackson fly by a defender for an acrobatic layup, Melquan Bolding windmill a reverse dunk on the baseline, Shawntez Patterson make rainbow 3-pointers and Jimmy Sherwood and B.J. Monteiro hitting stop-and-pop jumpers.

"The only thing I would take a look at is to see if a guy can keep up athletically. Everything outside of that is overstating," Everhart said. "A lot of good players don't do well in pickup games because they need more structure, like a screen, to get off a shot. Others guys dominate in a pickup situation with one-on-one plays. Defense is not a top priority by any stretch. There's not a lot of help defense."

Jackson, a 6-foot-4 senior this fall, took advantage of the loose style of play to receive rave reviews from the spectators who came to watch players from Duquesne, Pitt and West Virginia strut their stuff.

"Aaron is a senior now and he really gets it," Everhart said of Jackson, who is penciled in as Duquesne's starting point guard. "He's playing at a pace he hasn't played before with the ball in his hands. He's playing with a lot more confidence and he's more mature and more equipped to be a leader."

Jackson will be asked to provide leadership for the youthful Dukes, who lost their top five scorers from a 17-13 team that posted the school's first winning record in 14 years. Everhart's plan of fielding a veteran club in his third season was derailed when 6-10 Shawn James and 6-1 Kojo Mensah hired agents and forfeited their final season of eligibility. James is headed to Israel this fall to play professionally; Mensah is looking for a place to play.

Duquesne also lost Kieron Achara, Reggie Jackson and Gary Tucker.

Damian Saunders, a 6-8 sophomore who was on the Atlantic 10 all-rookie team, is the tallest returnee with experience. Saunders, who had surgery on his right ankle this spring, was cleared this week by doctors to participate in pickup games at the Palumbo Center.

"He's not limping at all," Everhart said. "His best basketball is in front of him. He's gotten in the weight room. In a weird way, being sidelined maybe even benefited him because he's been able to pack on some pounds while he wasn't running. Lack of size probably will be an issue for us, an obstacle we'll have to address."

Duquesne's other player among the top eight in last year's rotation is 6-5 Bill Clark, who didn't play in the Summer League because of conflicts with classes. Clark will return home next month and will play in the prestigious Los Angeles Pro League, which includes players from UCLA and Southern California.

Saunders and Clark weren't the only Duquesne players absent. Phillip Fayne has not played because of medical reasons, 6-8 freshman Rodrigo Peggau is still recovering from surgery on his right knee that limited him to just five games last season as a senior at The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., and 6-11 Morakinyo Williams, a transfer from Kentucky who will sit out 2008-09, is with the British team competing in the under-21 World Championships in Romania.

Duquesne's freshmen -- 5-10 Eric Evans, 6-7 Aleksander Milovic, 6-3 Chase Robinson, 6-5 Monteiro, 6-7 Patterson and 6-4 Bolding, who initially committed to Louisville -- all had impressive moments in the league.

"I watch our young guys a little closer because I want to check out the nuances in their game," Everhart said.