Bacari Alexander, a starting forward on Detroit's last two NCAA teams, is in his sixth season as an assistant coach at his alma mater.

The personable Alexander's duties include off-campus recruiting, scouting of future opponents and on-court coaching. In the latter area, Alexander is active primarily with UDM's post players.

"Detroit is home, and what better way to give back trhan to work at your alma mater," Alexander said.

"It was great to welcome Bacari back to the Titan basketball family when he joined our staff," coach Watson concurred. "He was a big part of our success in getting to the NCAA Tournament for two seasons. Bacari wasn't a player too long ago, and a lot of people looked at him as a coach on the floor back then. He is able to pass a lot of his knowledge about the game on to our current players."

Alexander is also very active as a motivational speaker and youth mentor in the metropolitan Detroit area, addressing groups throughout the community.

Alexander spent his high school days at Detroit Southwestern - he played on the Prospectors' varsity under coach Watson's longtime assistant, Larry Pierce - and began his college career at Robert Morris. He was named to the Northeast Conference's All-Newcomer Team in 1995 and, after two seasons at the Pittsburgh school, Alexander transferred to UDM.

He spent two seasons as a Titan,

helping Detroit to a pair of MCC regular season championships, a post-season conference title his senior season, and NCAA berths in both of those campaigns (1998 and '99). As a senior, Alexander was voted by the conference coaches to their All-Defensive Team.

Alexander received the President's Award as UDM's most outstanding senior student-athlete, and graduated from the University in 1999 after majoring in Business Administration. He quickly went to work for the NBA Detroit Pistons as a Player Programs Coordinator, then left that job to return to the court as a member of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters.

During his two seasons (2000 and '01) with the 'Trotters, Alexander played basketball in 13 countries, while also directing several camps for the team around the U.S. Additionally, he served as an "Advance Ambassador" for the Globetrotters, performing public relations duties while making media and school appearances. In 2002, the Globetrotters - and all of their past and present players - were inducted into the Naismith Bas-ketball Hall of Fame.

The 30-year-old Alexander resides in Warren with his wife, Kesha, and their five-year-old son, Mekhi.