Dukes end 47-year NCAA Tournament drought with incredible turnaround

Forty-seven years. Seemingly a lifetime.

That's how long it's been since Duquesne last appeared in the NCAA Tournament, way back in 1977. The parents of some of the players on the current team probably hadn't even been born yet the last time it happened.

But the drought is now over. And what an incredible journey it's been for this year's team to make history.

Duquesne will play BYU on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The Dukes are an 11 seed in the East Region, while the Cougars are a 6 seed.

"Super proud of our guys resiliency and toughness," coach Keith Dambrot said following Sunday's thrilling 57-51 victory over VCU in the Altantic 10 Conference Tournament final at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. "We were in so many games and had so many disappointments early in the year that we learned how to win even when things didn't go very well for us.

"We were mature. Unemotional. We got in a rock fight, which is probably good for us rather than a smooth, flowing game. We're one of the best defensive teams in the league, and if it's 57-51 that's good for us. We did a good job defensively the whole tournament, and I think that's why we won."

“It's crazy to be able to come here and make history,” guard Jimmy Clark III said

What's really crazy is how this season has unfolded.

There were a lot of big expectations for this team entering the season, with Dambrot returning a strong nucleus from last year's 20-win team. During the summer, some were even predicting Duquesne could win the Atlantic 10.

But then ... disaster. The Dukes lost their first five conference games, and all the promise of a great season disappeared in a hurry.

Since that 0-5 start, however, Duquesne was terrific in conference play. The Dukes went 10-3 to close the A10 slate, won their last four games and earned the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament. They did what every team wants to do -- play their best ball when it mattered most, at the end of the season.

The Dukes beat Saint Louis to start the conference tournament, then took down mighty Dayton -- which received an NCAA Tournament at-large bid -- in the quarterfinals. A win over St. Bonaventure put the Dukes in the finals, and they came out on fire Sunday against VCU.

The Dukes jumped out to a big lead early at 24-9 and were up 36-22 at the half.

What looked like it could be a smooth ride to a championship turned very rocky in the second half.

Duquesne's offense fell apart -- shooting 1 for 15 from the field to start the second half -- and VCU mounted a big comeback. The Dukes scored only six points in the first 13:53 of the second half, and saw the lead dwindle to 43-39.

Duquesne regrouped to go back up 49-41, but VCU rallied to close within 49-48 with 1:36 to go.

The Dukes had some issues during the season with long offensive droughts late that cost them a few games. But this time, the defense remained tough, and the offense did just enough to hold on.

“We've all year won at the defensive end,” Dambrot said. “We've had some monstrosities on offense.”

Jake DiMichele made a layup with 1:09 left for a 51-48 lead. VCU had a couple of empty possessions, and Clark hit two free throws with 21 seconds to go for a 53-48 edge. Fousseyni Drame made two free throws with 14 seconds left to cap the most important 6-0 run in decades for the Dukes.

“This isn't a situation we haven't been in before, so we knew exactly what to do," Clark said of the tight finish.

When it was over, the Dukes found themselves transformed into one of the great stories of this NCAA Tournament.

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Duquesne basketball has been largely irrelevant for so long, rarely making any noise since that 1977 NCAA appearance. But a lot has changed under Dambrot, a coach who has been successful everywhere he's been, including as LeBron James' high school coach back in Akron, Ohio.

Dambrot, who took over as head coach in 2017, has now had three 20-win seasons, and the 24 wins this year is the most since the early 1960s.

But the Dambrot story goes even further back than that. His father, Sid, was a member of the Duquesne team that excelled in the early 1950s and reached No. 1 in the nation in 1954.

The Dambrot name is now firmly entrenched in Duquesne lore, with the son finally being able to end the long NCAA Tournament drought.

"My dad played here, and that's probably why I took the job, because I left my hometown of Akron to come here," Dambrot said.

Duquesne will undoubtedy be one of the more interesting story lines heading into first-round games this week, with the 47-year drought coming to an end and Dambrot's personal story with his father.

So, we can probably expect to see a good bit of national attention paid to the Dukes in the coming days.

By the way, Duquesne has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1969, so Dambrot and Co. will be looking to end that drought next.