KEITH DAMBROT | PHOTO COURTESY DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

His coaching career had finally officially ended, but Keith Dambrot still had one more life lesson.

“It wasn’t quite the way I wish it would end,” Dambrot acknowledged after Duquesne’s magical run to the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 had ended with an 89-63 loss to Illinois last Saturday in Omaha, Neb.

“But one thing I know in life after being here almost 66 years is that you have to take the good with the bad and you have to rally yourself back when things don’t go well.”

That’s worth remembering, along with all the made shots, defensive stops and basketball euphoria.

Alas, it’s often easier said than done.

But not this time.

Related: Collier’s Weekly: Keep the Duquesne Love Flowing — in the Name of Chuck Cooper

Checking out of March Madness in advance of this week’s Sweet 16 no doubt stung for Duquesne’s players when the buzzer sounded.

But in not only making the NCAA Tournament but also upsetting BYU prior to running into the Illinois freight train, the Dukes left their mark.

They confirmed they didn’t come as far as they had just for the free T-shirts.

The question now is where does Duquesne’s program go from here?

Onward and upward is a distinct possibility.

PHOTO COURTESY DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

Dambrot has retired, his mission having been emphatically accomplished, but his successor is seemingly already in place in associate head coach Dru Joyce III.

Joyce played for Dambrot in high school, along with a guy by the name of LeBron James. And James has already been a visible Duquesne supporter during Dambrot’s tenure. A continued association with the program could potentially result in much more than free shoes for the team, which James had delivered before BYU was beaten, and an occasional tweet.

James remaining Duquesne’s highest-profile fan could result in a multitude of advantages.

And while that in itself shouldn’t be enough to get Joyce the job, the continuity promoting Joyce would provide just might.

Dambrot was clearly onto something with the tough-defending-tough-minded culture that carried the Dukes through an 0-5 start to the Atlantic 10 conference season, through the Atlantic 10 Tournament and on to the Round of 32.

As we were reminded by the Dukes, that can win games.

Even at Duquesne.

“We’ve set the foundation for great things to come in the future,” Dambrot insisted.

That, too, is worth remembering.

And that’s the most remarkable and most significant thing Duquesne accomplished this season.

Duquesne has more than a banner for the rafters to rally around as it endeavors to continue rallying itself back, as it attempts to make this season’s success a new standard.

The nation probably has a better understanding now of how the name of the school is pronounced, for one thing.

And a lot of those students who gleefully gathered for NCAA Tournament watch parties might now start showing up for the games.

Potential recruits and transfers, meanwhile, now know the NCAA Tournament and winning once you get there is actually attainable at Duquesne, not just a sales pitch for a program whose aspirations had for almost five decades exceeded its grasp.

And last but not least, fans have been exposed to a brand of basketball that’s identifiable with the city Duquesne represents and appealing to those who appreciate grit and determination, to those who value defense and rebounding as much as shot-making and fastbreaks along the way to winning games.

The Dukes already had the facility in the beautifully remolded and renamed UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

And a conference that offers quality opposition and competition, an adequate launching pad.

And, of course, the history (not that many remembered or appreciated what Duquesne basketball once stood for; it had, after all, been a while).

Now, they have an identity the likes of which they haven’t had since 1977.

Another 46 years don’t necessarily have to pass before Duquesne makes it back.

And actually winning an NCAA Tournament game is no longer perceived as akin to the Dukes walking on the moon (something Neil Armstrong actually did in 1969, a few months after Duquesne had last won in the NCAA Tournament prior to last Thursday).

As it turns out, Dambrot and Duquesne were among the best-kept secrets in Pittsburgh sports.

Not anymore.

Dambrot may be riding off into the sunset on his way back home to Akron, but the program he leaves behind might just be getting started.

This doesn’t have to be a merely long-awaited feel-good story, a beautiful fluke.

This might have just been the beginning for the Dukes.