Ross Goes Back To Pittsburgh Roots With Duquesne Coverage

Omaha, Neb. — As Pittsburgh sports fans watch tomorrow’s NCAA Tournament Round of 32 contest between the Duquesne Men’s Basketball Team and Illinois, one of the four voices they will hear on the TNT broadcast has local ties.

Courtside reporter AJ Ross grew up in Highland Park and grew up playing basketball, first starting at Sacred Heart in middle school and playing at Oakland Catholic with Suzie McConnell-Serio, a former Duquesne women’s basketball coach.

Ross has also been to Duquesne for basketball and computer camps, staying in the city through high school, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend college.

“I remember having a great time, to me Duquesne has been a gem of a campus,” she recalled. “Maybe if you’re from the area you don’t know much about it, but the main campus didn’t have the facilities it has now. I haven’t had the opportunity to see their new gym. At the time as a kid everything is massive and shiny. The computer camp was a sleepaway camp and made some friends.”

Ross also covers football, during which she admittedly is a Steelers fan, and she will pay attention to the sport regardless of whether she is assigned her hometown team.

This year she not only got assigned Duquesne in the NCAA Tournament, but also spent the weekend in Brooklyn for the Atlantic 10 Championship.

“It was serendipitous in many ways,” revealed Ross. “It allowed me to get a good glimpse of them ahead of this. I was really impressed with the backcourt from the jump. I know outsiders may have doubted them coming into this tournament but from what I witnessed firsthand, it gave me a lot of confidence in this team. Of course, the storyline with Coach Dambrot he evokes so much out of these guys. They’re very passionate about how they play for each other, and this is a team you cannot sleep on.”

In regard to Dambrot, Ross admits she had not heard much outside of his time with Akron, from covering that program, and connection to LeBron James, but as she became more immersed in the tournament, she became familiar with Sid Dambrot and the legacy the Dukes coach is hoping to lead.

She echoed his belief of being a great teacher and developing young individuals into great people off the court.

“That’s the best thing about sports to me,” Ross offered. “Sports are a microcosm of life and examples of how you can overcome adversity and your perspective life. What Keith has been dealing with his wife and the warrior she is, cancer affects everybody and I’m sure is a story that affects people across the nation. If you put people in a room, everyone would know someone or has experienced cancer firsthand. This staff has rallied around Keith and his wife and the support they continue to give speaks volumes.”

As Dambrot revealed to her immediately following Thursday’s game, the team was not yet ready for him to retire.

Ross believes that his retiring is bittersweet because he has coached for decades investing his heart and soul, while making countless sacrifices over the years.

Dambrot has spoken to her about his son Robby continuing to play professional soccer and his daughter Alysse expecting, giving him his first grandchild.

Already Dambrot has made it clear to Ross that she is a good-luck charm and her hometown ties certainly do not harm that sentiment.

If Duquesne does win Friday night, Ross faces a bit of a roadblock.

“I’m not assigned to follow them, so CBS and Turner need to work that out,” explained Ross. “They don’t need to break up the band or break up a good thing.”

Each year, Ross takes something away from covering multiple teams.

In this case she referred back to the so called “Cinderella stories” and the symbolism of people being counted out for a variety of reasons providing a sense of motivation.

She utilized that point and applied it to the situation Duquesne has been able to create for itself.

“Being from Pittsburgh I just love any opportunities to talk about my city, to let people know they shouldn’t sleep on the city of Pittsburgh, it’s a beautiful place,” she concluded. “What Duquesne is doing right now is echoing that across the nation. This program and the city of Pittsburgh are amazing.”