OMAHA, Neb. -- In a moment that is inherently supposed to be filled with sadness, that emotion took a backseat.
The post-game locker room down the hall from the CHI Health Center court on which Duquesne's remarkable run through the NCAA Tournament ended was filled with pride. Despite what reads as an 89-63 blowout at the hands of Illinois on Saturday, the Dukes players kept perspective in moment of what was just accomplished.
And, what they hope will be accomplished down the road.
Hugs were exchanged by all. Some players took part in their ritual handshakes. Some took down the "March Madness" placards that were stuck with velcro command strips to the locker-room walls and tucked them into their bags to preserve as keepsakes. A scene that could have been somber was not; it was filled with a sense of accomplishment.
"I can't describe it because in life it is what it is," Fousseyni Drame told me in that locker room. "All I know is we gave everything we've got. Somebody said, 'you never lose, you learn.' I don't think we lost. From where we came from and where we were at, winning a championship, that's a team that nobody can take away (from). Now we're one of the 32 teams that remained in the country out of 360. Yes, it hurts. Nobody wants to lose. But at this point it is what it is. Happiness is temporary. This is called joy."
That's perspective from Drame, who was a part of the Saint Peter's team along with his brother, Hassan Drame, when the Peacocks stunned the world by making a run to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. This feeling is nothing strange to the well-traveled brothers from Bamako, Mali, who were brought in as graduate transfers to aid in Keith Dambrot's build.
An 0-5 start to Atlantic 10 play turned into a championship banner to be hung from the rafters of the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. An Atlantic Tournament championship turned into the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977. That appearance netted the program's first win in the dance since 1969.
Dambrot took seven years to build a winner, and he is retiring on top. His players, entrusted with the task of taking on the identity and he process that had worked for Dambrot before, grew along with this program in the process.
"We talk about this sport a lot, we talk about life a lot," Jimmy Clark III said. "So just being able to accomplish what we did here and probably in a few years from now looking back on it we are probably going to say we could have did certain things better than we did, but more than ever we're going to remember the memories that we have, especially with our teammates. Being able to come here and complete what we did even though we wanted to go further, it was just a blessing."
Sitting in the stall across from Fousseyni Drame in that post-game locker room was someone slightly less traveled but meant just as much to the team. McKees Rocks native Jake DiMichele walked on to this program after playing a prep season and holding zero Division I offers out of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. He won two state championships and lost just one game in the state tournament in his high-school career. Contrary to the Drame brothers, this feeling is something strange to the hometown kid, who took on a major role down the stretch for these Dukes.
"We'll be remembered forever in Pittsburgh sports history," DiMichele told me. "We were the first team to go back in however many years and we won. Doing it for 'Coach D,' he saved the best for last. This was his best run ever. He had never won a tournament game up to this point, so I'm just happy that I was able to be a part of his best run ever. ... I know (Dambrot is) happy. I think this is a good place for him to go out, to be able to go out on top. Not too many people get to go out winning a championship, so I'm happy he's able to go out on a run like that."
Dambrot is retiring after 22 years as a Division I head coach. The 65-year old ends his career with a 411-269 overall record and a 116-96 mark in seven years at Duquesne. He completed a longstanding build of a Dukes program that had not experienced the NCAA Tournament since 1977 after taking Akron to the NCAA Tournament three times in 13 seasons.
"To me, we've set the foundation for great things to come in the future for Duquesne basketball, for Pittsburgh basketball, and (it) really didn't matter what the score was," Dambrot said. "It's irrelevant because we've laid a good foundation for Duquesne to be a good program in the future.
"This is it for me. Like I told these guys, I said, 'don't forget about me. I need somebody to go watch next year.' So I'm going to watch all my guys that are still playing and spend time with them and figure out what I'm going to do next. Get my wife healthy first and then go from there. I was just thankful to be around a bunch of guys that never quit. Just to see the brotherhood really grow, see these guys do anything for anybody."
Duquesne's coaching search will begin, but Dambrot teased in his retirement speech last Monday that the potential successor could be associate head coach Dru Joyce III. Whoever the next person is, they will have to replace a number of significant pieces from this tournament team.
The Drame brothers, Clark, leading scorer Dae Dae Grant, Tre Williams, Dusan Mahorcic, and Andrei Savrasov have wrapped up their college careers. That large amount of production will have to be replaced amid this coaching search, so it's feasible to believe the search for Dambrot's successor won't be a long one given the long offseason ahead otherwise.
But those players laid a foundation for returners like DiMichele, David Dixon, Kareem Rozier, Jakub Necas, and Halil Barre, among others. That core contributed heavily to this run and have plenty to absorb from Grant, Clark, and Co. who are leaving.
With his retirement, Dambrot is leaving the program in a far better place than he found it. His players sent him off in a proper manner.
"How else would you like to end your career as a head coach?" Grant said. "As far as his legacy in the collegiate game and the high-school game, as well, from coaching LeBron (James), I think him leaving that mark and leaving this mark is a blessing for him."
