Big man transferring in for Dogs; DuPont leaving

For the second season in a row, The Citadel will bring in a big-man transfer to play the post for the basketball team.

Mike Dejworek, a 6-11 center from Belmont University, will play one season for the Bulldogs as a graduate student, new coach Chuck Driesell confirmed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are losing freshman forward Harrison DuPont, who is transferring to California-Davis.

DEjworek, a native of Ulm, Germany, sat out last season with a shoulder injury after playing three years for Belmont. In 2008-09, he played in 24 games and started one for a 20-13 Belmont team, averaging 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds. He was a reserve on a Belmont team that made the NCAA tournament his sophomore season.

"He's sort of an unknown entity in that he has not played in about a year," Driesell said. "But he has played on winning teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and I think they were counting on big things from him last season before he got hurt.

"He's a player with good size and a reputation for running the floor and being aggressive defensively, and being able to score around the basket. At this late period, to be able to pick up a player of his size and reputation is a plus for a team that has some experience returning, but needs some help inside."

Last season, former coach Ed Conroy brought in 7-0 center Joe Wolfinger from the University of Washington. He ended up starting 17 of 32 games, averaging 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Driesell also addressed the transfer of DuPont to UC Davis. DuPont, a 6-5 freshman, averaged 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds while making the Southern Conference all-freshman team last season.

"We met and talked, and he's obviously a very fine young man who did well in his year here," Driesell said. "I don't think it was anything other than he just wanted a change of scenery. He never really had an exact reason for why he wanted to leave. I think he just wanted to look around and see if there was a different opportunity for him."

Other Citadel players are at home for about a month after finishing summer school last week, Driesell said. They've been working on strength and conditioning, and guards Zach Urbanus and Cameron Wells paid a visit last week to the kids at the Boys and Girls Club on Mary Street in Charleston.