47 Years

For 47 excruciating years, Duquesne men's basketball fans waited for their team to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They came close a couple of times, but more often than not, the season ended in disappointment. It became a program where mediocrity seemed to be the highlight. Then Keith Dambrot entered the picture. The head coach of a successful program at Akron, Dambrot chose to leave the school-one of the best teams in the Mid-American Conference-to revive the once-mighty program at Duquesne.

He was partly doing it for his father, Sid, a proud alum and player on some of the school's greatest teams in the early 1950s. Sid desperately wanted to see his school return to March Madness. While his father passed away before Dambrot reached his goal, in the 2023-24 season, Dambrot led a talented team that overcame significant adversity and finally ended the misery Dukes fans had endured for six decades.

This story, told by David Finoli, Zachary Weiss, and Robert Healy III, offers readers a captivating firsthand account of this magical campaign. Through a detailed narrative of how the program fell into disarray and how Dambrot helped rebuild it, the authors take you game by game through a season that culminated in an Atlantic 10 championship at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. They also provide detailed biographies of each player, coach, and support staff member who helped make this title a reality.