LeBron James Cheers On Former High School Coach in March Madness

Many fans’ NCAA Tournament brackets were obliterated by the 11th-seeded Duquesne Dukes’ 71-67 upset win over the sixth-seeded BYU Cougars on Thursday afternoon during this year’s opening round at CenturyLink Center Omaha. But one very prominent figure, at least, appreciated the surprise victory. 20-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James applauded the spoilers on his personal X/Twitter account.

As James noted, the men’s basketball club recorded its first victory in the tournament since 1969. Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot, who at 65 intends to retire whenever his club’s Big Dance run ends this spring, served as James’ high school head coach while he was at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. Dambrot and James overlapped from 1999-2001, before Dambront moved on to the college level. Dambrot was first an assistant coach at the University of Akron, before moving on to the head coaching gig in ’04. He subsequently took over at Duquesne in 2017.

In an additional tweet, James also went on to root for Duquesne associate head coach Dru Joyce III, who served as a James teammate at St. Vincent-St. Mary in their high school playing days under Dambrot. Joyce, a 6′ point guard, went undrafted after an All-MAC Second Team stint at Akron in 2007, but did play abroad professionally from 2007-19, including stops in Germany, Poland, France, and more. After his playing career wound down, Joyce served as an assistant coach at Cleveland State from 2019-2022, before accepting the Duquesne gig in ’22. James, meanwhile went on to become the No. 1 overall draft pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, straight out of high school.

Starting guards Jimmy Clark III (11 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line, four assists, four steals, two boards and a block) and Dae Dae Grant (19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the floor and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, two assists and a steal), along with reserve forward Jakub Necas (12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, along with six rebounds, three blocks and an assist), were the Dukes’ lone three double digit scorers. The club bested BYU significantly in terms of efficacy from the floor, converting 26-of-56 of its field goals (46.4%) and 7-of-18 of its triples (38.9%). The Cougars, meanwhile went 22-of-57 from the field (38.6%) and 8-of-24 from the foul line (33.3%).

Unfortunately for Duquesne, the program will face off against one of the 2023-24 season’s powerhouses in the next round this weekend. Behind a 12-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double from University of Illinois forward Marcus Domask, the No. 3-seeded Fighting Illini beat the No. 14-seeded Morehead State Eagles in an 85-69 victory Thursday. They’ll now serve as the heavy favorites in a Round of 32 matchup against Duquesne on Saturday.