Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot says team needs to evaluate while winning
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Duquesne’s hot start to 2019-20 has started to bring some national attention. At 14-2 (4-0 Atlantic 10), the Dukes received nine AP Top 25 votes this week.
Also, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi isn’t ruling out a potential at-large NCAA tournament bid, if Duquesne wins its fair share of road games in the conference.
That’s great publicity for the program.
But now can head coach Keith Dambrot keep his team focused on the day-to-day tasks at hand despite the increased attention? Or will his players read too many of their own headlines and get full of themselves?
“The problem with most businesses is that when they are winning, they don’t evaluate,” Dambrot said Tuesday. “They think everything is great. But it isn’t. You get bad habits. Things change. New products evolve. It’s all the same as coaching basketball. You have to be extra prepared, extra careful, work even harder when you are winning.”
We dive into that mentality for the team in Wednesday’s podcast. Dambrot’s club plays Wednesday against Fordham at PPG Paints Arena. The Rams come in at 6-9 (0-3 A-10). And their team is badly injured.
Leading scorer Chuba Ohams is out for the year with a knee injury. Two other key contributors — Antwon Portley (leg) and Erten Gazi (concussion protocol) — are day to day with injuries as well.
Rams head coach Jeff Neubauer knows those issues will be exacerbated against a Duquesne team that he sees on the ascent.
“It starts with the financial commitment that has put Duquesne basketball in a terrific spot,” Neubauer said. “Part of that commitment allowed them to hire Keith Dambrot.
“Every part of their program has improved drastically over the last three years. Keith Dambrot has been a great head coach for decades. He has coached toughness and grit for decades.”
Dambrot talks about where Fordham can still hurt the Dukes despite their injuries, the rise in Marcus Weathers’ game, and where he can still improve.
Plus, we investigate how attainable that at-large bid for the program really may be.