For the first time since 1977, the Duquesne Dukes have made the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 11 seed Dukes will face off with the No. 6 seed BYU Cougars on Thursday morning in Omaha.
It’s been a tremendous season and a tremendous story for Duquesne, made even better by the fact that head coach Keith Dambrot will be retiring after their run ends, making for a tremendous sendoff.
Before taking the Duquesne job in 2017, Dambrot spent 13 years as head coach of the Akron Zips, a job he took in 2004 following a successful coaching stint at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
If the name of that school at that time rings a bell to you, it should! Dambrot was the high school coach of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and four-time MVP LeBron James.
With Dambrot set to retire, James wanted to do something special for his old coach’s team, so he sent the Dukes a pair of shoes for every player on the team to enjoy. The school shared a video of the awesome gesture Wednesday night on X.
Appreciate it King 🙏@DuqMBB x @KingJames pic.twitter.com/yTiQFMBno0
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 20, 2024
Shortly after the video, James responded on X, wishing the Dukes luck against BYU.
Yessir!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 Best of luck guys!! https://t.co/ngxGghmCd7
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
This had to be a cool moment for these players, who have grown up watching LeBron play. He’s been in the NBA for longer than some of them have been alive, even.
[Duquesne Dukes, LeBron James]
About Robert O'Neill