Jason Duty

Classroom

Duty enters his senior year with a 3.72 grade point average as an accounting major—one of the more rigorous majors offered at Duquesne.  He was named ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 2 and to the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball All-Academic team in 2008-09.  Additionally, Duty is just the fourth men’s basketball player in school history to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.  He is a multiple member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s and Duquesne Director of Athletics honor rolls.  Upon graduation, Duty already has a job offer from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world’s largest professional services firm.

Character

Duty is a true success story having worked his way from freshman walk-on status to a scholarship team leader as a senior.  He joined the team in November of 2006 when the Duquesne program, which was decimated by a September campus shooting that left five players injured, was looking for available practice players.  Duty, who did not participate in an open tryout in October because he was not sure he was good enough, gave up a gig playing guitar and singing vocals for a local band to pursue his college basketball dream.  Duty played in 20 games as a freshman and 25 (with nine starts) as a sophomore before starting all 34 games in 2009.  He has emerged as a team leader as well as one of the top three-point shooters in the Atlantic 10.  Duty was granted a scholarship in May.

Community

Duty was a Natural Leader as a member of a student-athlete peer-mentoring group.  Natural Leaders serve as role models for their teammates as well as fellow student-athletes.  The main concentration was on alcohol education and prevention with a focus on making healthy choices and intelligent decisions.  Also, Duty organized an on-campus non-alcoholic tailgate in the spring in conjunction with residence life as an alternative gathering for students.  Off campus, he traveled with his teammates and coaching staff to conduct a basketball clinic at the Woodlands Foundation in Wexford, Pa.  The nonprofit Woodlands Foundation was created with the mission of enriching the lives of children and adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses in western Pennsylvania.

Competition

In 2009, Duty started all 34 games for a Duquesne team that posted its most wins since 1971 and made the school’s first postseason appearance (NIT) since 1994.  He finished fourth in the Atlantic 10 with a 41.4 shooting percentage from three-point range.  Duty hit at least one three-pointer in 28 of 34 games played last season and made at least three 3-pointers in a game nine times.  He averaged 7.4 points per game and shot 82.9 percent from the foul line.  Duquesne was 10-2 when Duty scored in double figures.  In addition, he shot 56.3 percent from three-point range during Duquesne’s five postseason games.  He is the active team leader in games played at 79.