Duquesne's Keith Dambrot praises Pitt's Jeff Capel, rebukes Panthers' NCAA snub

Duquesne basketball coach Keith Dambrot is sticking up for the intra-city rival Pitt Panthers in the wake of their NCAA Tournament snub. Amid the lingering celebration of Duquesne’s first conference championship in 47 years and less than an hour removed from his own retirement announcement, Dambrot made an appearance on 93.7 The Fan Monday afternoon.

The outgoing Dukes coach minced no words when offering an opinion about whether or not the Panthers should’ve been in the Field of 68 when the brackets were unveiled on Sunday.

“They should be in the NCAA Tournament. Their body of work, what they’ve done in that ACC, winning road games. I don’t even think it’s close,” Dambrot said. “So I’m extremely disappointed for them and extremely disappointed for (coach Jeff Capel) because he has done a wonderful job there.”

To Dambrot’s point, the Panthers won seven ACC road games, including two at Duke and Virginia. Both of those clubs made the NCAA Tournament.

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One of the arguments made against Pitt is that the school’s non-conference strength of schedule (No. 340 in the country according to Kenpom.com) wasn’t good enough to get them into the Big Dance. Had Pitt been willing to reboot the City Game against the Dukes — who ended the year with a NET ranking of 80 — on a neutral court at PPG Paints Arena instead of hosting, say, N.C. AT&T (NET 343), that would have helped Pitt’s cause.

Yet, when asked by The Fan’s Bob Pompeani about the prospect of renewing that rivalry, Dambrot refused to foist that responsibility on Capel’s back.

“I don’t think it was in his best interest at the time to play, and that’s fine,” Dambrot responded. “I get it. It’s a little bit of an issue because of how coaches get fired nowadays. So I don’t blame him whatsoever. I’d like to see the game, just for the kids and the city. But, again, it’s easier to be on the outside looking in than the inside looking out. So, I get it.”

Dambrot’s praise for Capel didn’t stop there.

“Jeff should be up for National Coach of the Year. I think that’s how great a job he’s done. We’ve gotten to be good friends over the last year or so. I have a lot of respect for him,” Dambrot said.

After a 24-win season (the most at Duquesne since 1954) and an NCAA Tournament qualification (the first since 1977), some of those votes should be coming Dambrot’s way as well.