1 / 2

Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot, center, speaks to his team during a timeout in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dayton in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament Thursday, March 14, 2024, in New York.

Peter K. Afriyie, AP Photo

2 / 2

BYU's Jaxson Robinson (2) drives past Texas Tech's Joe Toussaint during a Big 12 men's basketball quarterfinal game at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

❮ ❯

It’s not as if a team that makes the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977 needs any extra incentive to play well, but the Duquesne Dukes got a big one, anyway.

Keith Dambrot, who has led the Duquesne program for seven years and has been a college head coach for 26 seasons, announced his retirement on Monday.

The Dukes, an 11 seed, face No. 6 seed BYU in Omaha, Nebraska, on Thursday.

“I didn’t want to cheat [the job],” Dambrot, 65, told the Pittsburgh Gazette. “And I just felt like I could see myself losing that edge at some point. And that’s why I said, ‘I don’t want to end like that.’ I’m not built that way. My personality type is not good to coach into my 70s. I’m too involved in it. I’m still worried about where the guys are on time for the bus, you know? It’s just, it’s hard to explain, right? Maybe a little neurotic.”

Dambrot also bears the distinction of having coached NBA star LeBron James at St. Vincent/St. Mary’s High School in Ohio.

The Dukes have been on a tear, winning 10 of 11 and eight games in a row. Duquesne finished sixth in the Atlantic 10 during the regular season (10-8) but won four games in five days to claim the league’s tournament title and a berth in the NCAAs.

Sending out their coach with an upset of the Cougars in the Big Dance would be a dream for the Dukes.

“”It’s an encouraging challenge for us,” Duquesne senior guard Dae Dae Grant told the Gazette. “We’ll be ready. We’ll go out there and compete and look forward to the game. We believe in ourselves and each other. We’ve played high-major teams before. We’ve played high-major players. Basketball is basketball and March is March. Anybody can be beaten. You just have to believe in one another.”

Grant (16.7 points per game, 34% from the 3-point line) leads the Dukes in scoring along with fellow senior guard Jimmy Clark (15.1 ppg).

The Dukes hang their hat on the defensive end, where they hold opponents to 41% field goal shooting and 66 points per game.

There are a couple of Utah connections on the Duquesne roster: Sophomore forward Marus Hronsky is a former Wasatch Academy teammate of BYU’s Richie Saunders and Fousseyni Traore. In addition, graduate forward Dusan Mahorcic spent a season at the University of Utah before leaving for North Carolina State and then transferring to Duquesne for the 2023-24 season. It’s his fifth school counting stops at Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College and Illinois State.

“I feel like that (against BYU) is the best possible matchup,” Hronsky said. “They play a kind of similar style as us. They are really good, like a defensive team. They run in transition, they try to play simple, try to find the best options on offense. It’s gonna be a hard, hard game, but I feel like we can really perform and play well.”

In a curious coincidence, both the Cougars and the Dukes have a “Fousseyni” on their roster from Mali: Duquesne’s Fousseyni is Fousseyni Drame, who transferred to Duquesne from LaSalle along with his brother, Hassan.

While the Dukes offense revolves around Grant and Clark, BYU counters with seven players averaging at least nine points per game, including Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Jaxson Robinson (13.8).

“Obviously, being a high seed is always a blessing, but I think I can speak for everybody in the program and say we’re just blessed to even be in this tournament,” Robinson said. “We’re just excited to play the first game. Every team is great, so we’re just making sure we’re prepared, whether we’re playing the Dukes or the No. 1 seed, UConn. So it doesn’t matter who it is. We’re just going to make sure we come prepared and ready to play.”

The Cougars last made the NCAA Tournament in 2021 as a No. 6 seed and lost to No. 11 UCLA, which advanced to the Final Four. The last BYU win the tournament came in 2012, a come-from-behind victory against Iona in the First Four.

“It’s time,” Cougar coach Mark Pope said. “It’s NCAA Tournament time and every game is the most challenging game of your lifetime. It’s all great teams, all championship caliber teams, so we’re excited to go.”

Men’s College Basketball

NCAA Tournament First Round

No. 6 BYU (23-10) vs. No. 11 Duquesne (24-11)

Thursday, 10:40 a.m. MT

CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb.

TV: TruTV

Streaming: CBS.com

Radio: KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU opens as an 8.5-point favorite against Duquesne. … The Dukes are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977. … The Cougars are 15-33 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including a 3-2 mark as a No. 6 seed. … The winner of Thursday’s game will play the Illinois-Morehead State winner in the Round of 32 on Saturday.

Newsletter