As the Duquesne men’s basketball team began celebrating a 71-67 win over No. 6 BYU at the CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, Neb., and students and alumni reveled in ending a 55-year stretch without an NCAA Tournament victory, the Dukes’ No. 1 fan took to X to congratulate his high school coach and the latest Cinderella team in March Madness.
AYYYYYYYEEEEE!!! First tournament win in 55 years! @CoachDambrot ???? @DuqMBB ????????????????????????????????????????. Keep it going
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, was coached by Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot when he was in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, where he also was teammates with associate head coach Dru Joyce III.
YEAAAAHHHH @DruOnDemand LFG!!!! Go Dukes @DuqMBB
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
James not only offered support to the Dukes, he gifted them all brand new shoes for their One Shining Moment in the NCAA Tournament.
Yessir!! ???????????????????????? Best of luck guys!! https://t.co/ngxGghmCd7
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
Dambrot coached at St. Vincent-St. Mary from 1998-2001. James, a 20-time All Star who entered the NBA directly out of high school, played for Dambrot for two seasons and led the team to consecutive state championships and a national ranking.
“When I am thinking about basketball, there’s not a time that goes by that Frank Walker, Coach Dru Joyce and Keith Dambrot don’t come to mind,” James said in 2021. “They basically gave me the whole DNA and the blueprint of how to play the game of basketball both as an individual, how to work hard, how to be selfless, how there’s no ‘I in team,’ and without the greater of all of us, then you will not get the reward that you are actually looking for at the end of the road.
“They’re like my big three, when it comes to basketball. Frank Walker, Coach Dru Joyce and Keith Dambrot … I wouldn’t be the player that I am, I wouldn’t be succeeding the way I have in the best league in the world, the NBA, without the influence of those few guys.”
