It has been 47 years for the reason that Duquesne Dukes made an look within the NCAA match. They’re now only one win away from ending that drought.
The Dukes continued their unimaginable run by way of the Atlantic 10 match on Saturday with a 70-60 win over St. Bonaventure. That win put them in Sunday’s A-10 championship recreation in opposition to VCU. The winner of that recreation will get the automated bid from the A-10 convention.
Whether or not the Dukes win on Sunday or not, it’s a enormous step ahead and a giant assertion from a program that has been oftentimes ignored and neglected over the previous 5 many years. Even in its personal metropolis (Pittsburgh), the place it performs within the shadows of Pitt and even a Robert Morris program that has made a number of NCAA match appearances out of the NEC lately.
This has already been probably the most profitable seasons at school historical past.
Saturday’s win was the Dukes’ twenty third win of the season, tying it for the second most in program historical past.
A win on Sunday would match the earlier program file which was set all the best way again throughout the 1953-54 season. Following final 12 months’s 20-win marketing campaign, it is the primary time Duquesne has gained 20 video games in back-to-back seasons for the reason that 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons.
Duquesne’s A-10 run began with a win over St. Louis, continued with an enormous – and considerably beautiful – win over convention favourite Dayton then continued in opposition to St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
A weird twist to all of that is that Duquesne’s success within the match has additionally harm its greatest rival – Pitt.
By defeating Dayton earlier this week, that most likely made the A-10 a two-bid convention because the Flyers have been all the time prone to get in whether or not they gained the convention match or not. With Pitt attempting to snag one of many at-large bids and sitting firmly on the bubble, an A-10 bid stealer like Duquesne is the very last thing they wished to see.
Duquesne has put itself in an important place that few anticipated when the convention tournaments started. Now it is only one win away from finishing its inconceivable run.
