Division I athletics all in the family for EIU’s Duany

Becoming a Division I athlete is quite an accomplishment for a member of anyone’s family. But in Bil Duany’s family, it’s rather ordinary.

Duany, a sophomore guard for Eastern Illinois, is the youngest of five siblings with two brothers and two sisters, all of who played Division I basketball.

So you know those pickup games in the front yard were competitive.

“I always had the best competition,” Duany said. “When you play against your older brother of six years every day, he’s killing and then you gain some ground and then you play some guys your age that are smaller than you, you have that advantage from that experience.”

Both his brothers played in the Final Four, Duany Duany for Wisconsin in 2000 and Kueth was the team captain of national champion Syracuse in 2003.

Kueth is currently playing professional basketball in Germany.

His oldest sister Nyagon played for Bradley and Nok played for Georgetown.

Nyagon was recruited out of high school to play basketball, volleyball, and track and Nok was recruited more heavily for volleyball than basketball, Duany said.

A common upbringing in Bloomington Ind., where the rich tradition of Indiana basketball is located, resulted in the unanimous passion for basketball for the transplanted Sudanese family.

“Growing up in Bloomington, Ind., it’s a basketball state, it’s what people do in Indiana,” Duany said. “It just sort of caught on.”

Although his brothers and sisters were a tough act to follow growing up, Bil said he was never really bothered by the high expectations.

“Its pressure you accept, you want to be successful,” Duany said. “It was a good model to follow.”

Bil came off the bench for the Panthers and had an assist in his seven minutes of play.