A Look into the History of Duquesne in the NCAA Tournament

Duquesne is headed back to March Madness for the first time since 1977.

With a 57-51 victory over VCU in the A-10 Championship game, the first conference title since the 1977 season, the Dukes clinched a spot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

It’s a full circle moment for head coach Keith Dambrot, whose father Sid led the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament as a player in 1952.

“My dad played here, and that’s probably why I took the job,” Dambrot said following the game. “I left my hometown of Akron to come here. I’m happy. I’m sure he’s in his grave spinning around right now.”

It remains to be seen exactly where Duquesne will be seeded, one of the double-digit seeds with a tough first round matchup, but it’s a chance.

It will be the sixth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Duke, the first since 1977 obviously, and it’s the first since moving to the A-10 in 1976 — with the lone season outside the A-10 in that span coming in 1992-93 (Midwestern Collegiate Conference).

Duquesne lost in the first round of the 1977 tournament, a 73-66 defeat to VMI, and the run in 1971 ended in similar fashion — a 70-65 loss to Penn.

The Dukes knocked off  St. Joseph’s in the first round of the 1969 NCAA Tournament, fell to North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen and claimed a regional third place finish with a victory over St. John’s.

Duquesne advanced to the Elite 8 in the 1952 NCAA Tournament, knocking off Princeton before falling to Illinois, and to the Final Four in 1940 — winning against Western Kentucky before falling to Indiana.

It’s the first NCAA Tournament for the Dukes in nearly 50 years, and the tourney has certainly changed quite a bit in the time since then, but the chance for glory remains the same.