With long strides and a dribble or two, Duquesne's Aaron Jackson chewed up most of the court until he reached the top of the circle. Then he freed himself from a would-be defender with a cross-over dribble and stutter-step to drive the lane, finishing the sequence with a left-handed layup high off the backboard. Moments earlier, he had flipped a nifty lob pass to Pitt's Gary McGhee for a rim-rattling dunk.

Jackson's theatrics in the waning seconds lifted his team to an 84-81 victory Monday night in a Pittsburgh Pro-AM Summer League game at the Greentree Sportsplex.

Jackson, a 6-foot-4 senior this fall, created a buzz among the fans who were there to get a summer fix of basketball by watching future and current players from Duquesne, Pitt and West Virginia stay in shape. For the most part, the intensity of play is high on offense and low on defense for the three games played each Monday and Wednesday.

For Jackson, this is a time to work on his skills as a point guard because that's the position he'll be expected to play this season.

"Coach [Ron Everhart] told me it's my position to lose," said Jackson, the team's most active player last season when he averaged 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds along with a team-high 102 assists and just 52 turnovers and 43 steals as an off-guard and small forward. "I haven't played point since my sophomore year. It will be fun. I like the ball in my hands and I like putting smiles on the faces of my teammates with a pass so they can score. I like the challenge of making the players around you look better."

Although he scored nearly all of his points Monday on acrobatic drives, Jackson said he has been working on his perimeter jump shot with teammate Jason Duty at Duquesne's Palumbo Center.

"I can't say I'll be a shooter," he said with a smile. "But you won't hear people in the crowd saying, 'Take the shot.' "

The Dukes have undergone a major face-lift, losing the top five scorers from a 17-13 team that posted the school's first winning record in 14 years. The returnees with the most experience are Jackson and 6-7 Damian Saunders and 6-5 Bill Clark, both of whom made impacts as freshmen last season.

Jackson likes what he sees of the seven incoming freshmen -- particularly 6-4 Melquan Bolden, who originally committed to Louisville, and 6-5 B.J. Monteiro, the player of the year in Connecticut.

"B.J. and Melquan can play the game," Jackson said. "B.J. is emotional and he doesn't like losing, even in pickup games. All the freshmen are real humble, real hungry and they bring a winning mentality."

This season will be the third time in Jackson's four years at Duquesne that the Dukes have undergone a huge turnover in players. Jackson was recruited by Danny Nee and was an unassuming freshman on a 3-24 team.

As a sophomore, Jackson and Kieron Achara were the only returnees because of a mass defection of players when Everhart became the coach.

"It was like starting all over again except this time I was one of the foundations of the team," Jackson said of the Dukes, who were 10-19 in 2006-07. "I had a big responsibility and was more of a leader. It was fun. We had a new coach and a group of players who wanted to win."

As a junior last season, Jackson was surrounded by another new cast of talented teammates that raised expectations. "We just didn't know how to put on the helmet and work hard," he said. "I didn't get on my teammates because we had a lot of older guys. I know a lot of people were excited with 17 wins, but we thought it was a disappointment because we didn't reach our goals. Now that I'm going to be a senior, the guys look at me as a leader. I'm an emotional player and be myself.

"I'm going to be more aggressive on offense and I'll talk more, yell a lot more."