Duquesne HC Keith Dambrot Reflects On Stretch Run, Milestones, LeBron James and What’s to Come

Upon arriving to Duquesne Men’s Basketball practice Monday morning, it was clear that the team is aware that it is in the stretch run and now it comes down to executing its infamous EGB’s (energy generated behaviors) if it wants to reach long sought-after goals.

The first step came with a decision 93-67 victory at George Washington after a week off. These dreaded stoppages have messed with Duquesne throughout the season, but instead, coach Keith Dambrot dove in with a checklist of what it takes to win on the road.

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“We had to communicate at a high level, we had to be connected and have a high-juice level,” he said. “I feel that we came out and took two of the best scorers in the league out of the game in the first half which is a tribute to our perimeter guys. We did a good job of bothering them in our ball screen defense. Once you cut the head off of the snake, we had a chance to win the game.”

It was also a return to form for Quincy McGriff who needed time to round into form following an illness. His 17 points certainly helped his case and also could provide him more time down the stretch as Dambrot expressed that he will need McGriff’s multiple dimensions during the stretch run.

“It’s hard when you don’t win, to rally yourself and put the time in,” said Dambrot. “The balance is making sure we’re playing hard as hell in practice but we’re fresh for the game. That’s the juggling act. The best thing we have going for us is we have high-character people who have the ability to rally and strive for greatness. If we continue to hunt EGB’s and the little things, then we’ll shoot and pass better because we won’t be emphasizing all the big things. If we do that, we have a real chance to have success.”

MILESTONE TRACKER

Dambrot’s next win will be the 500th in what has been a 25-year career, six of which have been spent at Duquesne.

While there is still Wednesday night’s game against George Mason to tend to before the round number could potentially be achieved, he somewhat begrudgingly tried to reflect on his coaching tenure to date.

“I’m certainly not perfect, and I’m certainly not for everyone,” he stated. “I always try to put those guys first and treat them like my own family members, which sometimes requires tough love and sometimes massaging. Whenever I evaluate a situation, I always think if it was my daughter or my son, how would I handle it. When you do that, you’re not cheating them. I really haven’t thought much about the wins and probably won’t until I retire and then maybe I’ll say, ‘Damn, that was a good comeback.’ I started strong, had a tough middle and came back pretty strong. That’s probably what I am most proud of, that I was able to come back when most people couldn’t. Hopefully we can finish the comeback here because we had a pretty strong middle and then had a tough year. Hopefully we can come all the way back here and people will get what they want out of it.”

There is certainly some thought about achieving this at the program his father Sid played at from 1952-54.

Dambrot recalls his father telling him to do as he desired throughout his coaching career, doing what was best for the family. In this case, Dambrot left his family and friends to coach the Dukes.

As one milestone fast approaches, another happened last night with a player Dambrot is very familiar with. Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA all-time scoring record.

This pair, of course, has a history dating back 25 years, and James also competed with associate head coach Dru Joyce III as far back as the AAU Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars. James still credits Dambrot, often unprompted about being the coach who most assisted his development.

“The biggest thing with LeBron is nothing he does really surprises me,” said Dambrot. “When you combine freakish athletic ability with unbelievable instincts, a brain second to none, high character and is super committed to people who have been good to him, then you get something special like that. There’s not many that have all of those qualities. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ll think about is what a great human being he is.”

There is a sense of irony that both could achieve milestones less than 24 hours apart, but Dambrot refused to see it that way, believing these are not in the same sentence.

While he views James as a brother or a son and still gets nervous watching his games, there is a feeling that he is watching greatness that will never be replicated.

“There will be other great players, but none like him,” Dambrot opined. “No one will ever be able to replicate all of the different attributes he has. Just like they could replicate Jabbar or Jordan or Larry Bird.”

PATRIOT GAMES

Indeed, as previously mentioned George Mason is next on the docket for Duquesne and comes off a 69-61 loss at Loyola Chicago.

The road has been unkind to the Patriots who are 1-6 in true road games away from EagleBank Arena.

George Mason is paced by Josh Oduro’s 15 points and eight rebounds per game.

“They may have the best center in the league, I think he is the best center,” Dambrot said. “He’s the most diversified. If you double him, he can pass it and make the other guys better but if you don’t, he can score it. You also have an experienced backcourt with Ronald Polite and DeVon Cooper. Victor Bailey the transfer from Tennessee has played well. They play a lot of guys and they’re big as hell. They haven’t had the type of season they’ve expected so they’re probably a little disappointed, but each game has been close or a grind home and away. We just have to match their physicality.”