After spurning transfer portal, David Dixon ready to chase another A-10 title at Duquesne

Transfer portal? What transfer portal?

Since the advent seven years ago of the application, database and compliance tool that regulates player movement from one school to the next, seemingly everyone is on the move in the revised NCAA.

Not David Dixon.

Although five of the Duquesne senior forward’s teammates landed elsewhere this season via the portal, Dixon has remained true to the “D.U.Q.,” one of only four Atlantic 10 men’s basketball players to stay put for four seasons.

“My grandmother wanted me to stay because she was enticed by the fact that Duquesne was called the ‘University of the Holy Ghost,’” Dixon said.

For the record, according to the Duquesne University website, the school was founded in 1878 as Pittsburgh Catholic College by the Rev. Joseph Strub and the Congregation of the Holy Ghost.

Nevertheless, Dixon said, “She likes stuff like that.”

He said his father also chimed in with a similar sentiment, though Dixon was assured that his dad would support whatever route he’d take.

“To be honest, it was a hard decision,” Dixon said. “But I kind of saw it as a way to work through it by myself without giving up. I wanted to win another championship. I wanted to achieve my goals and I felt like if I stayed here and worked at it and just didn’t worry about anything else, I’d have nothing to lose.”

In 2024, Dixon and the Dukes won the team’s first A-10 title in 47 years with Keith Dambrot coaching in his final season before Dru Joyce III took over the program after serving as Dambrot’s associate head coach.

Following a stinker-of-a-season last year — Duquesne followed its championship run with a 13-19 record — Dixon resisted entering his name in the transfer portal.

But he acknowledged, nonetheless, that other schools had been showing interest.

“It was a really tough decision, and I did think about it for a really long time,” he said. “But there’s nothing I can do about it right now. Whatever decision I made, I was going to go all in with it. I’m not trying to think about it anymore. It’s a good place, it’s a good league.”

Though the sweet feeling of success just two seasons ago still lingers with Dixon, there remains the little matter of playing time.

Of lack of it.

For his college career, Dixon has averaged 16.9 minutes per game, and most often, he watches the opening tip from the Duquesne bench.

The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Dixon — he’s up 15 pounds from last season — has started just 24 times in 96 career appearances over three seasons with the Dukes.

Yet, he’s one of only two Duquesne players to accumulate career totals of at least 100 blocks (129) and dunks (104).

Joyce praised Dixon for his unselfish ways, saying it’s a rare commodity in today’s game.

“When you ask guys to not be about self all the time, and then there’s Dave as a walking example of ‘This isn’t about me, Coach. I’m here to win. I’m here to do what’s best for the team. What do you want me to do?’” Joyce said. “That’s a young man who says, ‘Listen, I’m going to give you my best energy and effort. All I just need to know is what do you need me to do?’”

Dixon shrugged and said, “I kind of pride myself in being a good teammate. I’ve always learned to feed the hot hand. Whoever’s going off, I try to get them that shot.”

Joyce has indicated that Dixon again will be better served off the bench this year, but don’t think he won’t be on the court often with 6-10, 265-pound John Hugley IV, the former Pitt big man, who finds himself preparing to play across town now at Duquesne, his fourth school in six seasons.

That’s bound to happen as early as Saturday, when Duquesne visits Virginia Tech for a preseason exhibition game at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, site of one of the most dazzling achievements by a Duquesne player.

In a 2009 first-round NIT game, Virginia Tech survived Aaron Jackson’s 46 points to come away with a 116-108 double-overtime victory.

Jackson’s stirring performance invoked high praise from then-Hokies coach Seth Greenberg — the current ESPN analyst and former Pitt assistant — who stepped onto the floor to help Jackson to his feet after the Dukes point guard crumpled in a heap moments after fouling out in the second OT.

It was the most points scored against Virginia Tech since Houston’s Elvin Hayes poured in 51 in a lopsided Cougars victory in 1968.

It’s unlikely that Dixon would match those lofty scoring numbers anytime soon, though he said he’s capable of more than his career average of 5.9 points per game indicates.

“When I came to Duquesne, I had my ideas how I wanted to play,” said Dixon, a Memphis, Tenn., native. “They’ve wanted me to play a specific role. I focused on what they wanted. But I’ve got my own goals. I’ve wanted to win a championship. I’ve done that. I want to win another and I have a little time to do that.”

But, he said, “I think my role has changed. I’m still looking forward to the same stuff, but I’ve got to be that leader. I still want to try to be unselfish, but I think I’ll be able to score a little bit.”

With Hugley nearby, that may be true. But defense is Dixon’s middle name.

“Dave is a heluva player and one of the best defenders in the conference,” Hugley said. “His versatility brings so much. He’s unique in that he can guard 1-through-5, he can switch on the bigs, he can switch on the guards and move his feet. He can go alter shots at the rim and erase shots at the rim. So having that different physical presence in there with him, it’s amazing.”

So, why has Dixon been omitted from the A-10 all-defensive team each year?

“I know I’m a better defender than probably three-quarters of the players in the A-10,” he said. “The fact that they didn’t put me on there last year is really annoying.”

Which brings us to Duquesne’s opening five for Saturday’s exhibition game, a group that surely will not include Dixon’s name.

“I’m sure there’s moments where he wants to start,” Joyce said. “His human nature will kick in, but his will, his attitude, he fights against it. He’s more in line with, ‘How can we win (another) championship?’ Not ‘I just need to have my name called.’ And that’s why he’s able to play the way he does. That’s why he’s able to always make energizing plays, block shots, get big rebounds. Because he’s always locked into the game. It’s never about, ‘Did I get my way or not?’ He just goes and plays. That makes him really special.”