In 2010, the Duquesne Dukes men’s basketball team won the College Basketball Invitational championship, their first national postseason tournament championship in school history.

The Dukes entered the tournament as a six seed and started their campaign by defeating Montana in the first round, and then Oregon in the quarterfinals. They advanced to the semifinals with a 72-68 win over the ACC’s Virginia Tech Hokies, with sophomore guard Sean Johnson scoring a career-high 25 points.

In the CBI championship game, the Dukes faced the University of Oregon again and won in convincing fashion, defeating the Ducks 84-75. Sophomore guard Bill Clark led the Dukes with 22 points, while senior guard Jason Duty scored 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Sophomore guard Sean Johnson was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, finishing with a combined 72 points over the four games.

The 2010 championship was a landmark achievement for the Duquesne basketball program, which had only made one NCAA tournament appearance in the previous 33 years. The team finished the season with a 19-12 record, and the championship win provided a great boost to the program’s reputation and recruiting efforts.