Keith Dambrot Brings in a World of Talent to Duquesne Basketball Program

This offseason, Duquesne basketball head coach Keith Dambrot brought in a loaded transfer class, headlined by Georgia Southern transfer Andrei Savrasov, La Salle’s twin forwards Hassan and Fousseyni Drame, and NC State transfer Dusan Mahorcic.

That group of four transfers is made up of entirely international prospects — with the Drame brothers coming from Bamako, Mali, Savrasov from St. Petersburg, Russia, and Mahorcic from Belgrade, Serbia. Overall, the Dukes have eight international players on this year’s team, which is, by far, the most on a Dambrot-led team ever. In fact, according to Dambrot, he has never had eight international players combined prior to this group.

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“I’ve had some, but I’ve never had eight total,” Dambrot said. “I think it’s a unique deal. I like it a lot because you learn about other cultures. It’s really educational for our guys. We’ve got Andrei Savrasov, he hasn’t been home in four years. First with COVID, now with the war. That’s a hard deal. It makes other people understand that it’s hard. Then, we’ve got the three African kids. They’ve been through some things. The Serbian, he grew up when there was a war in the country. I think it’s interesting because you learn a lot about other people.”

Duquesne currently has players from Serbia, Benin, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Mali, and Ontario on its roster. That list includes the transfer group, as well as sophomore Matus Hronsky, sophomore Halil Barre, and freshmen prospects Kailon Nicholls and Jakub Necas, When recruiting Necas, the most recent European prospect to join the Dukes, Dambrot sent associate head coach Dru Joyce III overseas to visit and recruit him. The former Akron star played 12 seasons overseas himself before getting into the coaching game several years ago, and seems to be the perfect man for the international recruiting task.

“Matus and Jakub basically have the same ‘guy,’ which we have a good relationship with,” Dambrot said. “So Dru went, I never went. Then, the transfers, you’re dealing with their people, but they’re already here [in the U.S.]. It’s different. You look at some teams in the league like Davidson, they’ve made a living with good European players.”

Necas, the latest addition to the Dukes’ roster, committed to the program in July after playing two seasons of professional basketball in Czechia.

“He’s a terrific young man,” Dambrot said of the freshman. “He played on a pro club for a couple of years. He played in a good league, and he saw some guys that, all they did was basketball. Then they’d get hurt, or they didn’t cut it and they didn’t have an education. So, he wanted an education. So, the way the European thing works, is there are people that you have to deal with in order to get those guys. We knew one of his guys — the same guy that basically worked with Matus — they liked the way we treated Matus. So we hung in there, it was a pretty long process but we recruited him for a long time.”

Jakub Necas delivering big against the elites 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/7a13B0cEuk

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Hronsky speaks English well, but Necas is just beginning to learn the language. In addition, Barre and the Drame twins each speak multiple languages — french, different African dialects, and English. Mahorcic speaks “really good” English as well, according to Dambrot.

“It’s a unique blend. You can see how they gravitate towards their own groups. Then, you just have to stay on them to make sure they’re all co-mingling.”

For Dambrot, whose staff has compiled a roster with kids from the high-school level, the prep-school level, the transfer portal, and international ranks, he knows that he has a lot of work to do to get the team to mesh and play together. He also understands that the heavy international presence gives his team a unique situation in which these players may have received advanced training and different teaching while learning the game across the pond.

“I think every situation is a little different. What I mean by that, there are some kids that play for really good high-school coaches and really good prep school coaches that are really prepared, and there are some that aren’t. Maybe they didn’t have a great coach, or didn’t play at a great program, but, I will say, the Europeans are coached very well. Especially the ones that played on pro clubs. If you look at IQs of the Europeans, they have very good IQs. Both Matus and Jakub have really good IQ.”

Dambrot mentioned the D’Antoni’s, Mike and Dan, as the first coaches to bring the European style of coaching to the United States. Mike, a former two-time Italian League champion-turned two-time NBA Coach of the Year, is now working with the New Orleans Pelicans as an advisor. Dan is entering his tenth season leading the Marshall program, who will host Duquesne for a non-conference battle in early December.

“The United States, now, is playing more European-type basketball,” he said. “So, I think they’ve been ahead of us skill development wise. They play position-less basketball, so, you see guys like Jokic and Luka, they all have great skill. I think that’s kind of how these guys are. I don’t think it’s much different, but I think the bigger guys handle the ball a bit better, pass the ball a bit better. It’s coming this way.”

The Dukes will kick off their season on Nov. 6 against the Horizon League’s Cleveland State at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Following that matchup, Duquesne will head to Annapolis on Nov. 10 to compete against College of Charleston on CBS Sports Network.