Before Duquesne’s first NCAA Tournament game since 1977 on Thursday, LeBron James gave each player on the men’s basketball team a new pair of shoes.

To get into March Madness, Duquesne had to win the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament. They did this by beating four teams in five days, including Dayton, who won the regular season title in the conference.

James gave Duquesne a gift for more than one reason. Ken Dambrot, who was his high school teacher at St. Vincent–St. Mary, is now in charge of the Dukes.

After this season, Dambrot will no longer coach in order to take care of his wife, who has been stricken with breast cancer.

James gave each player a pair of his Nike LeBron XXI shoes for the Dukes’ biggest game in almost 50 years.

Basketball players at Duquesne are happy about their new shoes, which were given to them by LeBron James.

James bought each player on the Dukes’ squad a pair of his Nike shoes.

Thanks for it King James x @DuqMBB https://twitter.com/yTiQFMBno0

The tweet came from Duquesne Basketball on March 20, 2024.

It’s navy and red at Duquesne, but the shoes are blue and gray. The Dukes can’t wear the shoes they were given during March Madness, but every player who got them looked thrilled.

Duquesne got the 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play BYU on Thursday. This is the most important game of the season for the Dukes.

The Dukes haven’t made it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 1969. That year, they made it to the Sweet 16.

Dambrot has never coached a team to win in the NCAA Tournament, but the Dukes are the top seed of any team he has coached in March Madness.

The Zips made it to three NCAA Tournaments while he was at Akron.