With Duquesne off to its best start in 28 years, senior guard Aaron Jackson has been quietly entertaining thoughts of a postseason bid.

"It's been a while, but it's something that we think of," Jackson said. "We want to make it -- it's a goal of ours."

Without question, it has been a very long postseason dry spell for the folks on the Bluff. The Dukes have not been to the NCAA tournament since 1977 and their previous National Invitation Tournament appearance was in 1994.

To merit NIT consideration, Duquesne likely is going to have to win six of its final nine games to reach the 20-win plateau. About the only way the Dukes could earn an NCAA berth is by winning the Atlantic 10 tournament next month and securing the automatic bid that goes with it.

Sophomore swingman Bill Clark isn't about to get too carried away with lofty -- or perhaps unrealistic -- expectations.

"To even have the thought about going to a tournament, we've got to win some games and beat some good competition the rest of the way," he said.

The Dukes (14-6, 5-2 Atlantic 10) return to action tonight at Saint Louis (12-9, 3-4) before playing host Saturday night to No. 9 Xavier (19-2, 7-0) at the Palumbo Center.

"This is the toughest week of our season so far, without question," coach Ron Everhart said.

Clark, averaging 19.5 points in his past two games, carried it even a step further.

"This is a chance for us to see if we can be at the top of the league or if we are just one of those teams that are battling for the third or fourth spot," he said.

A victory against coach Rick Majerus' Billikens would give the Dukes their best conference start since joining the Eastern 8 -- now the Atlantic 10 -- before the 1976-77 season.

They also would improve to 7-3 on the road, marking their highest win total since the 1970-71 team went 8-2. And they would move within one win of clinching their second consecutive winning season.

Everhart, in his third season, is focused on making sure his team finishes strong. He hasn't even addressed the issue of postseason play.

"The hardest thing to do with a group of young kids is keep them focused on the day-to-day stuff," he said. "We're up and down the way it is, so we don't talk about it. We don't even look at it. It's all about the next play, the next game.

"There will be things that we do that we look absolutely great at, and we do it really hard and we're executing and doing what we need to do. And there will be things that we have been doing since Oct. 1 that we continue to mess up. It's been an interesting year so far."

Jackson, a four-year starter who has been bothered by a bruised tailbone, leads the team in scoring (17.1 average) and assists (5.8) and is the second-leading rebounder (5.7).

He said the Dukes have to play much better tonight than they did Saturday -- a 74-68 home victory against St. Bonaventure. Freshman guard Eric Evans hit back-to-back layups in the final two minutes to help the Dukes erase a late five-point deficit.

"Even though we got the win this past weekend, it felt like a loss," Jackson said. "It was something that really bothered us. I felt like we took a step backward instead of a step forward. We need to come out and give Saint Louis our best effort."

The Billikens have just two players averaging in double figures -- guards Tommie Liddell III (13.0) and Kevin Lisch (12.8) -- but they have been tough at home in their new building, winning 10 of their 12 games at Chaifetz Arena.

Duquesne is going to have be good down the stretch, particularly if the Dukes are serious about playing in the postseason. Eight of their final nine games are against teams with winning records, including Xavier and Dayton. The latter already has 20 victories.

"We're playing good, but we're not playing great," Clark said. "We need to kick it into overdrive."