Duquesne freshman smooth in transition

The transition from prep school to college life at Duquesne University Steelers Jerseys has been a relatively smooth trip for freshman Aaron Jackson, who continues to struggle with being a fan of the New England Patriots in the midst of Steelers Super Bowl hysteria.Although his heart still belongs with the Patriots because he grew up in New England, Jackson will be wearing a No. 36 jersey at Super Bowl parties Sunday."I want to blend in," said Jackson, a 6-foot-3 playmaker who is standing out as the Atlantic 10 Conference rookie of the week. He is the first Duquesne player to receive the award since Bryant McAllister in December 2002. He smiled and said: "We want to share our Super Bowls. I let everyone know [the Patriots] won three. They don't want to hear it."Jackson proudly wore No. 12 in honor of Tom Brady while watching New England win its three Super Bowls.He will be wearing his No. 1 Duquesne uniform when the Dukes (3-15, 1-6) play host to La Salle (11-7, 3-4) in an A-10 game at 7:05 p.m. today at the Palumbo Center.La Salle defeated Duquesne, 84-61, last month in Philadelphia in one of the more bizarre games of the season. The Dukes played one of their most efficient halves to lead by eight points at intermission, then fell apart in the final 20 minutes. Jackson had career highs of 16 points and eight rebounds."That was Ben Roethlisberger Jersey a strange game to play," he said. "We just lost focus."The Dukes gained a measure of confidence with an 86-82 victory Saturday at St. Bonaventure that ended a nine-game losing streak. Jackson had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in 37 minutes.For the season, Jackson averages 6.6 points, 3.5 assists 3.2 rebounds and has established himself as Duquesne's point guard of the future. Jackson, who has started the past 12 games, ranks third in the A-10 with a 2.21-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio for the season."I was a little more flashy in high school, but I quickly learned to do things the easy way in college. I'm not turning the ball over," said jackson, a graduate of Northwest Catholic in Hartford, Conn., and Worchester (Mass.) Academy. "I've put on pounds of muscle and I can't jump like I could in high school. I could really dunk, like two-handed tomahawks. I can still dunk, but not like I used to. Now it's just one-handed dunks."He continued with a laugh, "I miss the oohs and aahs."He also misses the consistent winning he experienced before coming to Duquesne."It's hard on everybody," he said. "Mentally it gets you down a few times, but we're sticking together. The win at St. Bonaventure took a Troy Polamalu Jersey rock off our chest."Because he is a freshman deferring to the older players on the team, Jackson said: "I think you've only seen about 40 percent of my game. I've got a good feeling I'm going to excel at Duquesne. You'll see me scoring more. You'll see me shooting more. You'll see me taking over the game more at the end."