NCAA Basketball: 10 sleeper teams to watch heading into 2023-24 season

Duquesne Dukes

Keith Dambrot quietly assembled an impressive turnaround season in the Steel City, guiding the Dukes to a 20-win season after a six-win season the year before.

The key behind the Duke’s success last year was the dynamic guard duo of Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III. Clark III, who led the A10 in steals last year, and Grant, a prolific scorer, both return, giving Dambrot talented guard play to work with both offensively and defensively.

Duquesne will also have one of the older teams in the country next season after adding NC State transfer Dusan Mahorcic and Georgia Southern transfer Andrei Savrasov. Specifically, both Savrasov and Mahorcic should help the Dukes fix one of their biggest flaws last year, which was defensive rebounding.

According to Bart Torvik, the Dukes had a 33.1 defensive rebounding percentage, placing them at 344th in the national amongst 363 total teams last year.

That number will surely change, as Andrei Savrasov averaged an impressive 7.3 rebounds per game while Mahorcic averaged 6.6 rebounds per game last season.

The ceiling is high and the A10 should be a bit better than it was last season. Can Keith Dambrot send the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977? It’s certainly feasible. The Dukes are a team to keep an eye out for.