Putting DiMichele on scholarship was top priority for Joyce

This offseason has brought a lot of change for the Duquesne basketball program. The largest piece to the puzzle was replacing the retiring coach Keith Dambrot with understudy Dru Joyce, a move that became evidently a priority for athletic director Dave Harper and his administration.

Once Joyce was settled in as the Dukes' head coach, he had his own priority. On May 17, Joyce and the university rewarded Jake DiMichele with a full scholarship after DiMichele proved to be a pivotal piece to Duquesne's run to the NCAA Tournament as a true-freshman walk-on.

"Watching his development, he's a high-character young man, he's an excellent student," Joyce told DK Pittsburgh Sports. "Guy's a genius, by the way. He did things the right way and when you sit down and you want to evaluate him, why doesn't he deserve this scholarship? He gave 100 percent so I really think it wasn't a question. I think he earned it. He proved that he could not only play at this level of Division I basketball but he could succeed. And I just thought the necessary thing to do was reward him with something he earned."

DiMichele received the news without pomp or circumstance. His mother picked him up on her way home from work as he was working out at Duquesne on that Friday morning. He said he arrived to his parents' house in McKees Rocks, Pa., and a package was sitting on their porch.

He thought it was initially a package from the university to his mother, but the surprise was delivered upon closer inspection.

"We opened it up and the scholarship letter was in there and there was a bunch of hand-written notes from all the players and all the coaches giving me a personalized message saying what ever they wanted to say," DiMichele said. "I feel like that was the best way to do it, honestly, and I could tell the guys and the coaches, they really put their heart and their mind into the messages."

This did not come as much of a surprise to DiMichele, however. He said Joyce met with him shortly after the offseason began and made it clear that DiMichele was his priority.

"He set up a meeting with me right away and basically the first thing that he told me was hat he was going to take care of me," DiMichele said. "I'm a guy that, once someone gives me their word, that's all I need. I knew the type of guy that Dru was. I knew he was going to make it happen regardless and it was just a surreal feeling, honestly. A great feeling once I received that letter."

DiMichele was every bit of a difference maker since entering the Dukes' starting lineup January 16. He started in 21 games from that point and Duquesne went 15-6 as DiMichele averaged 7.8 points and shot 31.3 percent from 3-point range. He scored in double figures in two of his first four games as a starter and posted a career-high 15 points in a game against Fordham Jan. 27 and followed it with another 15-point outing three games later against Davidson.

DiMichele posted results for the Dukes when called upon, but it took him a while to develop his game. He spent the prior season at First Love Christian Academy, a prep school in Washington, Pa., after leading Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Coraopolis, Pa., to four straight PIAA Class 2A titles and a pair of state championships in his junior and senior seasons.

He said he began to see results with a shift in his game last summer, shortly after committing to Duquesne. Assistant coach Rick McFadden alerted Dambrot, Joyce and the Dukes' staff about DiMichele during DiMichele's prep season. DiMichele considered attending Lehigh, Holy Cross, Furman, Delaware State and IUP before committing to Duquesne.

"Very early we recognized and we didn't know what he could possibly bring to the table but it was just his skillset and the talent of who he was as a player," Joyce said. "Shot the ball at an extremely high level from Day 1 since he walked in the gym during the summer time, was able to find openings, made good reads. So his offensive skillset was there. There was still a learning curve, mainly on the defensive side of the basketball. Sometimes he was also behind a loaded backcourt when you think of Tre Clark, Dae Dae Grant, Kareem Rozier, Hassan Drame. Those guys all had in-game experience and they were taking the bulk of the minutes from each other."

Joyce is losing Clark, Grant and Drame to graduation. Rozier and DiMichele will compose the new core of the Dukes' backcourt along with transfers Jahsean Corbett (Chicago State), Cam Crawford (Marshall), Tre Dinkins (Canisius), Max Edwards (George Washington) and Alex Williams (Furman). Corbett averaged 15.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and Dinkins averaged 15.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last season.

DiMichele committed to Duquesne as a walk-on on May 12, 2023. One year and five days and a lot of work later, he was rewarded. The next step for DiMichele is to ensure he returns the favor.

"I'd say it's pretty much a testament to two things," DiMichele said. "One, it's definitely a testament to our coaching staff and how much they believe in me. ... It's also a testament to how much work I've put in over the years in dedicating myself to this sport. It's a great and fulfilling feeling but it only pushes me to work harder, too, and let them know that they're making the right decision."