The Duquesne Dukes will be belles of the ball for at least a day.
The 11th-seeded Dukes, coached by former University of Akron coach Keith Dambrot , upset the sixth-seeded BYU Cougars 71-67 to notch his first NCAA Tournament win.
In three previous NCAA tournaments with UA, Dambrot's teams were winless. Given he announced his retirement earlier this week, it represents the pinnacle of Dambrot's career — until the next round.
"They just don't want me to retire yet. I'm trying to get to the promised land (of retirement) and they're going to keep me coaching," Dambrot said on truTV after the game.
While Dambrot's Dukes were playing in Omaha, Neb., his former team was playing a first-round tournament game in Duquesne's home of Pittsburgh.
After the Zips' 77-60 loss to Creighton, UA coach John Groce congratulated the Akron native for his milestone victory.
"... I'm happy for him, obviously, and what he's been able to do," Groce said. "I think you look at the last time that they were in the tournament, I think, was the '70s. Is that correct? Yeah. So it's really — it's awesome, you know, what he's been able to do.
"And I'm happy for him and [wife] Donna with the retirement, and Keith's a big reason why I ended up come to go Akron. I said that earlier, [it] was because of Keith and all the success that he had had and the battles that we had when I was at Ohio, and the familiarity with Akron and Northeast Ohio because of my time in the state at so many Ohio universities. And so, I had great familiarity with Akron and was attracted to that. But in large part because of Keith."
Duquesne's victory was its first in an NCAA Tournament in 55 years and the team, playing in Omaha, had fans near and far. In PPG Arena in Pittsburgh, where Duquesne is located and where the Akron Zips were playing Creighton, cheers were heard from fans when the Dukes closed out their win.
LeBron James — who began his career at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School with Dambrot as his head coach — sent well wishes prior to the game, gifting the Dukes with new shoes and providing even more encouragement after the game:
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said he noticed the reaction by the crowd in Pittsburgh, cheering Duquesne's victory hundreds of miles away, didn't seem to match the action on the floor.
"It was a little strange to play the game with that going on, by the way, because the cheers and the ooohs and ahs didn't really match up to what was going on on the floor in front of us," McDermott said. "So that was somewhat challenging for our guys. But I had saw in the locker room before I left that they had the lead and obviously saw the reaction."
He, too had nothing but praise for the well-liked Dambrot.
"Keith's been a friend of mine a long time," McDermott said. "We coached against each other back when I was at Northern Iowa and Creighton was in the Valley and he was at Akron. We've known each other a long time. What a great way for him to go out as his career is winding down. But he's always been a terrific coach. He's tremendously respected in our profession, and good things happen to good people sometimes, and he deserved that.
"So I'm really happy for him and his program and especially his family with some of the things they're going through."
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Keith Dambrot gets his first NCAA Tournament win with Duquesne
