College Basketball

Duquesne wins Atlantic 10 title for first NCAA tourney bid in 47 years

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

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Updated18 Mar 2024

Duquesne wins Atlantic 10 title for first NCAA tourney bid in 47 years team

The sixth-seeded Duquesne men’s college basketball team defeated fifth-seeded VCU 57-51 at Barclays Center to earn their first NCAA tournament bid in 47 years. It was the Dukes’ first invite to March Madness since 1977.

Duquesne colored red, white and blue streamers fell from the rafters with the Dukes leading by 15 in the second half of the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game. However, there was still roughly 18 minutes left to play.

A-10 officials said the streamers and confetti used for the postgame celebration are red, white, and blue regardless of which team wins, to match the conference logo. A technical glitch caused the streamers to fall early, they said.

Duquesne is an 11-seed in the NCAA tournament and will face sixth-seeded BYU on Thursday in the first round in Omaha, Nebraska. This matchup will air live on TruTV at 12:40 p.m. ET.


The Dukes (24-11) won 83-73 over No. 14 Saint Louis in the second round, defeated No. 24 Dayton 65-57 in the quarterfinals, and they eliminated No. 7 St. Bonaventure 70-60 in the semifinals prior to taking on VCU.

The 1939-40 Dukes team finished with a 20-3 record and appeared in the Final Four of both the NIT and NCAA tournaments. Duquesne has the most Atlantic 10 scoring champions in conference history, per the Sports-Reference database.

Duquesne is also the only school to have back-to-back No. 1 overall picks in the NBA draft (Dick Ricketts by the Saint Louis Hawks in 1955 and Sihugo Green by the Rochester Royals in 1956).

“This isn’t a situation we haven’t been in before so we knew exactly what to do,” said senior guard Jimmy Clark III, who scored nine points and made four free throws in the final 21 seconds to secure the championship.

Duquesne led 36-22 at the half. The Dukes’ largest lead of the game was by 18 points in the first half. They also recorded 12 steals. Duquesne finished 17-of-57 (29.8%) shooting from the field and 8-of-25 (32%) from 3-point range.

Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot coached LeBron James for two years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School

The Dukes matched a school record for victories set in 1953-54, when Dambrot’s father, Sid, played for Duquesne.

“We’ve all year won at the defensive end,” said seventh-year head coach Keith Dambrot said. “We’ve had some monstrosities on offense.”

Furthermore, Dambrot coached LeBron James for two years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.

“YESSIRRR!! Punch that [ticket] to the Big Dance @DuqMBB!!!” James posted on X.

Dambrot coached at St. Vincent-St. Mary from 1998-01 before accepting a job as the men’s assistant coach for the University of Akron. In 2004, he was promoted to head coach.

He led the Zips to the NCAA tournament three times in 13 years. Dambrot left Akron in 2017.


“I knew it was going to be hard, especially when we’re building off of not much tradition,” Dambrot said.

In Sunday’s win, Clark made free throws with 21 seconds left to make it a five-point game. Fousseyni Drame then made two to put the Dukes up 55-48. Duquesne went on to seal the win at the foul line.

Dae Dae Grant led the Dukes with 26 points, 10 of which were scored in the first half, and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. The Ohio native shot 3-of-12 (25%) from the floor and drained three 3-pointers against VCU.

“We were mature. Unemotional. We got in a rock fight, which is probably good for us rather than a smooth, flowing game,” Dambrot added. “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.”

Duquesne will enter the NCAA tournament as the only team from Pittsburgh in the field. Despite a 22-11 overall record and 12-8 record in ACC play, the University of Pittsburgh missed the NCAA tournament and declined the NIT tournament invite.