Kojo Mensah, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his good friend Shawn James, is following the same path his former Duquesne teammate took last week and signed with New York-based agent Steve Cronin, according to InsideHoops.com.

"It's obviously true," Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said last night.

Asked if Mensah told him first that he was signing with an agent and wouldn't return for his final season at Duquesne, Everhart said, "Apparently not. It's a drop-off whenever anybody doesn't come back, but you have to move on."

Everhart already has recruited three guards who will be freshmen in the fall.

Mensah, a 6-foot-1 junior guard who transferred from Siena and sat out the 2006-07 season, declared himself for the 2008 NBA draft but didn't lose his eligibility until he signed with an agent. Mensah struggled last season when Duquesne entered Atlantic 10 Conference play in January and his average dropped from 14.6 points to 12.1 points for the year. He was second on the team with 99 assists but had a team-high 89 turnovers. He made just 23.9 percent of his 3-point attempts. Mensah never seemed to be comfortable in Everhart's wholesale substitution pattern.

Draft analysts don't project Mensah being taken in the two-round draft.

Mensah was one of five Duquesne players shot after a dance on campus in September 2006. It took him several months of rehabilitation after surgery to regain strength and mobility in his shoulder.