Duquesne one win away from ending 47-year NCAA Tournament drought

It has been 47 years since the Duquesne Dukes made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. They are now just one win away from ending that drought.

The Dukes continued their incredible run through the Atlantic 10 tournament on Saturday with a 70-60 win over St. Bonaventure. That win put them in Sunday's A-10 championship game against VCU. The winner of that game gets the automatic bid from the A-10 conference.

Whether the Dukes win on Sunday or not, it is a huge step forward and a big statement from a program that has been oftentimes ignored and overlooked over the past five decades. Even in its own city (Pittsburgh), where it plays in the shadows of Pitt and even a Robert Morris program that has made several NCAA tournament appearances out of the NEC in recent years.

This has already been one of the most successful seasons in school history.

Saturday's win was the Dukes' 23rd win of the season, tying it for the second most in program history.

A win on Sunday would match the previous program record which was set all the way back during the 1953-54 season. Following last year's 20-win campaign, it's the first time Duquesne has won 20 games in back-to-back seasons since the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons.

Duquesne's A-10 run started with a win over St. Louis, continued with a huge – and somewhat stunning – win over conference favorite Dayton then continued against St. Bonaventure on Saturday. 

A bizarre twist to all of this is that Duquesne's success in the tournament has also hurt its biggest rival – Pitt.

By defeating Dayton earlier this week, that probably made the A-10 a two-bid conference as the Flyers were always likely to get in whether they won the conference tournament or not. With Pitt trying to snag one of the at-large bids and sitting firmly on the bubble, an A-10 bid stealer like Duquesne is the last thing they wanted to see. 

Duquesne has put itself in a great position that few expected when the conference tournaments began. Now it is just one win away from completing its improbable run.