ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Duquesne freshman guard Melquan Bolding summed up his program’s resurgence in one simple line Friday night.
The Mt. Vernon native was asked about the Dukes’ comeback story, one three years in the making.
“We just tried to keep it simple with our mindset,” the freshman guard said. “Basically, if you think you’re going to win, you’re going to win.”
There certainly weren’t a lot of people — other than themselves — who thought the Dukes would win … ever. Let’s face it, four years ago, in coach Danny Nee’s final season, they went 3-24. The last time they made the NCAA Tournament (1977), “Saturday Night Fever” was a hit at the box office. And the last time they won 20 games (1981), Eli Manning was an infant.
“It’s been a long road,” Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said. “Getting people to change the way they thought about us, was a tremendous, tremendous challenge.”
Clearly, they are on their way. On Saturday night, Bolding — one of several area players on the roster — and the Dukes lost to Temple, 69-64, in the Atlantic 10 Championship game here at Boardwalk Hall. A lifelong member of the 32-year-old league, the title game appearance was just Duquesne’s third.
But trying to become the 14th team in NCAA history to win four games in four days in order to qualify for the Big Dance proved too much. Instead, Duquesne (21-12) accepted a bid to the NIT last night. They will play Virginia Tech (18-14) on Wednesday night in Blacksburg, Va.
“It’s still the postseason,” senior guard Aaron Jackson said. “We wanted the NCAA, no question. But it’s still a banner we can put up in the gym, it’s still something we can look up to and use as motivation.”
Jackson, a Hartford native, is the only one on the roster who won’t be back next season, which will be Everhart’s fourth. And certainly, considering the run they orchestrated here in four days — defeating UMass, Rhode Island and Dayton, before succumbing to Temple — they will be among the favorites to win the league next season.
“In my mind, I think the kids accomplished a lot of things that they wanted to accomplish at the beginning of the season. I’m not going to sit here and say we didn’t want to go the NCAA Tournament because we obviously did,” Everhart said. “We have a lot of very disappointed guys right now. They’re hurting. They felt like we had a legitimate chance of doing that and were capable of doing that.
“We’re not going to hang our heads. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We don’t want anybody feeling sorry for us. This is not the last time you’re going to see us here.”
Again, for this Catholic school of 10,368 students, nestled in downtown Pittsburgh, that’s a thought that many never would have associated it with. This is a program, keep in mind, that could forever be in the shadow of Pitt — a No. 1 seed this season in the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers are just a few miles up the road, they belong to the mighty Big East Conference, and they own a 46-31 edge in the rivalry between the two schools.
But the Dukes have done an admirable job of worrying about only themselves throughout this process. In a city where not only Pitt will be in the Big Dance, but suburban Robert Morris will, too, Duquesne knows this step — the NIT, their first appearance there since 1994 — is a big one for them.
“It’s not the NCAA,” said sophomore forward Damian Saunders, a Waterbury, Conn., native. “But we still get a chance to extend our season. It’s always valuable to get into the postseason when you have a group as young as us. I think it will be a great experience for years to come.”
Everhart took this position after successful stints at Northeastern and McNeese State. It was clearly the toughest task of his career, as he adopted a program that combined for 46 losses in Nee’s final two seasons. And while Everhart, 47, has still yet to make the NCAA Tournament, he is certainly turning heads around the nation.
“He’s got it going there, no question,” said Manhattan College coach Barry Rohrssen, familiar with the Western Pennsylvania area and Duquesne’s role in it thanks to a stint as an assistant at Pitt. “It is a great thing to see.”
His opinion isn’t in the minority.
“They’re a great team with great players, that is obvious,” said Temple senior guard Dionte Christmas, who scored 29 points in the A-10 final vs. the Dukes. “We knew they’d never quit. We knew this was going to be our toughest challenge of the tournament.”
But what changed within this program to make it that tough? Why are all these statements — once thought unthinkable in the college basketball world — rising to the surface?
“It’s Coach (Everhart),” Jackson said. “He brought in a group of guys that just wanted to take that next step. And even though I’m not going to be here, I know that Coach is going to keep doing that for years to come.”
tsullivan@nypost.com