ALTOONA, Pa. -- Could this be the year? Finally?
It's been a long, long time since Duquesne reached the NCAA Tournament -- all the way back to 1977. And for most of the 46 years since then, the Dukes were never even close to reaching that level.
Things could be a whole lot different this season.
As the Dukes get set for their season opener Monday night at home against Cleveland State, hopes and expectations for this year's team are extremely high.
"I think they're excited," coach Keith Dambrot told DKPS about his experienced team. "They know how hard of a non-league schedule we have, so they're they're excited to get ready early."
A year ago, Duquesne was entering the season riding a 17-game losing streak and was picked to finish last in the Atlantic 10 after a 6-24 campaign. But Dambrot turned things around in a hurry, relying on a heavy dose of talent from the transfer portal, as the Dukes finished 20-13 overall and 10-8 in the A10, good for sixth place.
It was the second 20-win season in Dambrot's six years at Duquesne -- the other coming in 2019-20 (21-9) -- and the coach also won the 500th game of his career last season.
The Dukes return a bunch of talent this season, led by senior guard Dae Dae Grant, plus more transfers, and are expected to contend in the Atlantic 10. They were picked to finish fourth in the league's preseason poll.
During the summer, ESPN's Joe Lunardi included Duquesne in one of his very early NCAA Tournament bracketology breakdowns, picking the Dukes as the A10's automatic qualifier. Lunardi has since changed that pick to Dayton, the preseason favorite to win the league.
As Dambrot pointed out "nobody really thinks Duquesne will win it" until the Dukes actually go out and do so, citing the long NCAA Tournament absence.
"We have to go out and prove it," the coach added.
The high expectations this season are, in large part, a result of Duquesne's massive 14-game improvement last year. Dambrot has enjoyed a lot of success in his career -- including 12 consecutive 20-win seasons at Akron -- and that 6-24 mark with the Dukes a couple of years ago was by far the worst record of his career.
"At Akron we were one of the best teams every year," Dambrot said, "so the biggest thing now is just putting it together quick, which was hard because you always have a new roster."
The coach hit the transfer portal hard to compile a new roster last year, and he figured all along that he had built a competitive team, based on the players' success at their previous stops. The team then went out and proved how competitive it could be by winning 20 games.
What was the mindset going into the portal?
"We kind of made the determination that we were gonna look a little bit more at the mid-major level, guys that had success at the mid-major level, not as much at the high major level, guys that have had issues at the high major level," Dambrot said.
"We just felt like, through our experiences, we had good players that transferred in from the MAC before the portal. ... So we thought that if a guy was successful in the MAC or they were successful in a good mid-major league, they were gonna do well here."
Finding the right fits personally, not just on the court, was a big emphasis.
"You gotta do your homework," Dambrot said. "The biggest thing is just doing your due diligence and understanding that you're not going to win with low character, regardless of how talented they are. So, if they have character issues, you have to try to stay away from it. You have to make sure that you're getting good information on him and not fluffed up information."
Grant turned out to be a huge addition from Miami, Ohio, and he wound up being the Dukes' best player last season, averaging 15.5 points per game.
Jimmy Clark III, who came in from Northwest Florida State, was second on the team at 12.2 points. He's back this year, and along with Grant should be the go-to scorers for this team.
Indiana State transfer Tre Williams (6.6 points) and point guard Kareem Rozier (3.9) are two other key returners this season. Dambrot also had to hit the transfer portal hard once again, trying to find the right pieces to fill in for key departures such as Joe Reece, RJ Gunn and Tevin Brewer.
One key newcomer figures to be Dusan Mahorcic, a 6-foot-10 forward who has played at Illinois State, Utah and N.C. State, averaging 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds for his career.
The challenge for Dambrot, as with any coach who brings in a lot of players from the portal, is trying to mix and match the new players with the holdovers to find the right combinations.
"We have some issues where we got eight seniors and grad students that are used to playing, so they're battling for playing time, which makes them uncomfortable for some of these guys that have played a lot throughout their career," Dambtor said. "So, that's probably the biggest thing for us is trying to figure out who, when, why and where. Trying to figure out who's going to play, who's going to score when it matters, all that kind of stuff, which makes it a little more difficult."
Making things more difficult is the Dukes have a very challenging non-conference schedule, so Dambrot and his staff will have to figure out the roster and best rotation in a hurry.
"We can't get any high majors to play," Dambrot said. "So, if you can't get any high majors, you got to get the next best thing, which are the good mid-majors. And obviously, we're playing a conglomerate of good mid-major teams. When you're talking about Charlson and Santa Clara, Bradley and UC Irvine, these are teams that have won for years and years. So, it's gonna be a challenge. It's hard, but by the same token, it should get as A10 ready."
