The Duquesne Dukes men’s basketball team is going to dance and LeBron James is excited.
By winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, Duquesne punched its ticket to the 2024 NCAA Tournament to return to the big dance for the first time since 1977. Immediately afterward, James took to X to express how he felt about the accomplishment.
“YESRRRR!! Win that (ticket) to the Big Dance @DuqMBB!!!” James wrote. “CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I love you, Coach Dambrot (and Coach Dru Joyce III)”
YESRRRR!! Hit that ?️ for the big dance @DuqMBB!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! I love you coach Dambrot & @CoachDruJoyce ???????
– LeBron James (@KingJames) March 17, 2024
Although James left college to enter the NBA in 2003, he has a strong loyalty to the Duquesne men’s basketball program.
Here’s why James is so excited about the Dukes’ tournament.
Why LeBron James celebrated Duquesne making March Madness
James has a strong connection with Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot and associate head coach Dru Joyce III.
The word strong might even be understating their connection.
James, 39, has a more than 25-year relationship with Dambrot, an Akron, Ohio native and titan of the city’s basketball scene. At the age of 13, James began attending $1 basketball clinics hosted by Dambrot, who at the time was a coach at the Akron Jewish Community Center.
In 1998, Dambrot became the head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. A year into Dambrot’s tenure as the school’s head coach, James enrolled as a freshman, quickly leading the Irish to become a state and national power.
STREAM: Watch 2024 NCAA Tournament games live with Sling
Dambrot coached James for two seasons before moving on to the University of Akron in 2001. Dambrot was an assistant coach for the Zips from 2001 to 2004 before becoming their head coach, a position he held for 13 years.
Dambrot was hired as Duquesne’s head coach in 2017 and will lead the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament in his seventh season.
Once Dambrot left St. Vincent-St. Mary, he was succeeded by Dru Joyce II, who trained James and his son, the diminutive point guard Dru Joyce III. Joyce II remains the head coach of St. Vincent-St. Maria.
In Akron, Dambrot recruited Joyce III, whose friendship with James dates back to their formative years. Joyce played four seasons with Dambrot in Akron before beginning a 12-year professional career overseas and retiring in 2019.
After three years as an assistant coach at Cleveland State University, Joyce was hired to become associate head coach at Duquesne, playing a major role in the Dukes’ 2024 Atlantic 10 tournament title.
With Dambrot and Joyce at the helm, Duquesne has Offered a scholarship for James’ youngest son, Bryce James, a 6-4 guard in the high school class of 2025.
Duquesne, a Nike school, also receives exclusive color combinations of James’ signature sneaker because of the connection.
As the Dukes look to continue making history, James will certainly be on their side.
