Dambrot on Dukes within A-10: 'I didn't come here to finish fifth'

Entering his fourth year as the head coach of the Duquesne men’s basketball program, Keith Dambrot has much to be happy about. In each of his first three seasons in Pittsburgh, the Dukes made significant improvements. 

From opening his first year picked to finish last in the conference to wrapping up the program’s most successful regular season in decades in 2020, Duquesne is finally starting to receive some recognition. 

Their head coach still isn’t satisfied. 

“I’m honored to be picked fifth but I’m also disappointed to be picked fifth,” Dambrot said Wednesday at the Atlantic 10’s virtual media day, referring to Duquesne's preseason conference ranking. “What I mean by that is, there are a lot of great coaches, there are a lot of great traditions, there are a lot of great teams in this league. This is a high quality league that can play with anybody in the country. 

“But by the same token, when my dad played at Duquesne they were playing for national championships. I wouldn’t be much of a coach if I’d be satisfied finishing fifth. I didn’t come here to finish fifth. Now I think it’s an accomplishment to finish fifth in this league but I’m not going to be satisfied finishing fifth.”

Last season, the Dukes finished tied for fifth in the conference with St. Bonaventure. While better than the season before, a 21-9 record was likely not enough to get Duquesne its first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1977. 

However, a fifth place finish this season could mean something different. At least that's how a few coaches within the Atlantic 10 see it. 

Davidson’s Bob McKillop said during his media availability on Tuesday that this season the league should be the deepest he’s seen since 2014, a year where the conference sent six teams to the national tournament. George Mason’s Dave Paulsen echoed that claim later in the day. 

“I think it’s very plausible a fifth-place team in the A-10 is an NCAA Tournament team,” Paulsen said. “It would certainly be an NIT team.” 

When asked for his thoughts on the subject, Dambrot provided no disagreements. He also added that his team will be up for the challenge. 

“The A-10 because of the dynamics in our league and the basketball importance and the basketball centric league that we have, is unbelievable,” Dambrot said. “The coaches in our league, and again you’re talking to a guy that’s coached for a long time, from top to bottom our league is unbelievably well coached. So for me, it’s just an honor to compete against those guys every single day. Just to see what the Duquesne Dukes can do against those teams.”

A team must play at least 13 games this season in order to qualify for the tournament. With two weeks until the season begins, some programs have already started to postpone games due to the pandemic. 

Fears of another early shutdown to the season have likely entered the minds of many players, coaches and fans all throughout the college basketball world.  

Marcus Weathers and Mike Hughes, the two players who spoke at the media day event, said they instead are keeping their focus on the things they can control. 

“The biggest thing that I’ve always been taught growing up is to never live in fear,” Hughes said. “... Things happen for a reason, like everyone’s gotten a year of eligibility back for a reason, because of situations like this.” 

““However many games we get to play, just go out there and give it your all because at the end of the day you can live with the results and you can live with yourself knowing you went out there and played super hard,” Weathers said. “... I always think like it’s a thought in the back of the head but it’s something you really can’t dwell on. You just go out there and play your hardest.” 

Although much of the conversation was on how the Dukes can navigate through this upcoming season of challenges, Dambrot did take some time to reflect on the road that he and his team has already traveled. 

Just a few years ago, the thought of Duquesne being in the same conversation as an Atlantic 10 championship or a NCAA tournament appearance was almost laughable. Now Dambrot believes it’s an attainable reality. 

“If you ask most people, they would be surprised that Duquesne was picked fifth,” Dambrot said. “Not necessarily this year but ever, it hasn’t happened often in Duquesne’s time here. Am I happy with where we’re at? Look, we've made the progress that we’ve had to make. We’ve put ourselves in position to be a contender. Now we have to mature emotionally and become a championship quality team.”

• Just a few hours before Dambrot, Weathers and Hughes spoke on Wednesday afternoon, the Atlantic 10 released its schedule for conference competition. 

The schedule features the Dukes in six nationally televised games: 

Jan. 2 at George Washington, 12:30 p.m. on NBCSN

Jan. 5 vs. Davidson, TBD on CBS Sports Network

Jan. 9 vs. Fordham, 2:00 p.m. on NBCSN

Jan. 13 at Dayton, TBD on CBS Sports Network

Feb. 2 vs. Dayton, TBD on ESPN

Feb. 7 vs. VCU, 4:00 p.m. on NBCSN 

Every conference game not on national television will be available on ESPN+ per the Atlantic 10's media agreement. As the pandemic continues, changes to the schedule are bound to occur. 

The Atlantic 10 has nine conference games scheduled to be played in December, with more likely to be added on to that total. Dambrot mentioned that Duquesne will have to move one conference game to December but said he isn't sure which one that will be just yet. 

Each team in the conference will have two bye dates between Jan. 13 and Feb. 24 that can be used for rescheduling. March 5 through 7 has also been left empty on all Atlantic 10 team's schedules to provide an extra rescheduling period for late in the season. You can view Duquesne's full schedule as it currently stands here.  

• Speaking of the schedule, Dambrot mentioned on Wednesday that the Dukes are still looking to add non-conference opponents. Dambrot confirmed to me last week that Duquesne will open its season by playing two games in a multi-team event based in Indianapolis. The two games will be played on Nov. 25 and Nov. 27. The Dukes will face Cincinnati in one of those two contests, though it's still unknown which one of those games it will be. 

After they wrap up a short trip to Indy, Duquesne will play three games at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, with the first two being part of the Wade Houston Tipoff classic and the third being a regular non-conference contest. Those three games will take place on Nov. 29, Dec. 1 and Dec. 3. 

At this time, the Dukes don't have another scheduled opponent until their first conference game against Saint Louis on Dec. 30. Dambrot says he would ideally like to book as many opponents as possible before that time comes. 

“We’re trying to add games," Dambrot said. "We’re working hard at it. Again, I never thought on Nov. 11 that I’d be saying that we’re trying to add games and not one game but multiple games but again, you better keep those dancing shoes on because you have to be light on your feet.” 

• Now that Duquesne knows some of its home opponents the next step is finding a home venue. Dambrot said Wednesday that he has yet to hear of a solid date that construction on the UPMC Cooper Field House will be finished. 

The Dukes used multiple facilities as a home court all of last season and will likely have to do so for the opening months of the 2020-21 campaign. Duquesne athletics tells me updates on home contest locations and times will be announced at a later date. 

• Due to not having a singular home venue, Duquesne has yet to develop a fan attendance policy. The athletic department provided some information on the idea of attendance in a press release issued on Wednesday. Their statement can be found below. 

"Outside factors such as state, city and University guidelines as well as advice from health experts will determine the timeline and capacity decisions regarding attendance, which may vary throughout the season and at each venue. In the event that fans are permitted to attend games, there will be an extremely limited number of tickets to ensure adherence to the capacity limits and to allow for social distancing. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as information becomes available or evolves."