Less than 24 hours after learning that 6-foot-10 junior Shawn James signed with an agent and won't be returning in 2008-09, Duquesne coach Ron Everhart is showing a new recruit, 6-7 Ahyaro Phillips, around campus and the city.

"When someone leaves your program, it opens up an opportunity for someone else to fill," Everhart said. "I don't think you can go out and replace a Shawn James with one guy, but I can assure you the next big guy coming in you're going to be talking about him as a potential pro in three or four years if he works as hard as James did."

James signed with New York-based agent Steve Cronin and is projected by analysts to be selected late in the second round of the NBA draft on June 26 or go to a camp as a free agent. James, who turns 25 in the fall and plans to be married this summer, also will be exploring opportunities to play professionally overseas. His older brother, Gordon, is playing pro basketball in Japan.

James, who transferred from Northeastern and sat out 2006-07 after leading Division I with an NCAA-record 6.5 blocks per game as a sophomore, was nagged by a series of injuries this past season and averaged 12.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.0 rebounds for the 17-13 Dukes, who had a winning record for the first time in 14 years. James posted his numbers while playing just 24 minutes per game in Everhart's 10-player rotation.

"I don't think he really hit his stride," Everhart said of James, who recorded the only triple-double in Duquesne history with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in a 102-88 victory against Saint Joseph's. "He showed in spurts what he's capable of doing. I just love him as a kid and I'm going to miss him more because of his wonderful personality than I will as a player as great as he has been. He deserves to have success in whatever he does."

Junior guard Kojo Mensah, a Brooklyn native and James' best friend on the team, also has declared for the NBA draft but hasn't hired an agent. If he withdraws his name form the draft by the June 16 deadline, he could still return to Duquesne for his final season.

"I really don't know what to expect, one way or the other," Everhart said. "That's why you're always recruiting players."

Phillips is a power forward who lists Winthrop, East Carolina, Nevada and Duquesne as his final college choices, in no particular order of preference.

"He's an unbelievable athlete. He's a leaper and jumper," said Fletcher Arritt, Phillips' coach at Fork Union (Va.) Academy. "He's a rebounder extraordinaire."

Phillips played the past two seasons at Fork Union after playing his first two years of high school basketball in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina forced him and his mother to move to Richmond.

With the departure of James, Duquesne's most productive returning frontcourt player is 6-7 Damian Saunders (6.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg), a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference all-rookie team who had surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ligament in his left ankle.

He is expected to be ready for practice in October.

"He elected to play through the season with a very painful ankle. It was an old injury," Everhart said. "He's an awfully tough kid and the layoff will give him a chance to get bigger with his upper body in the weight room. He wasn't even close to being at his best during the season."