Brothers from another mother? Or maybe another father?
It's hard to say. The genealogy gets confusing when Akron coach Keith Dambrot says he and Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart are related.
"We go way back," Dambrot said Wednesday. "I think first and foremost, we come from the same DNA, the same genetics, the same mother, really, as VCU.
"So the foundation in the two programs is exactly the same. We're kind of like the ugly big brother. You know, like I'm Danny DeVito and he's Arnold Schwarzenegger (from the 1988 movie "Twins"). And we're kind of like the Chevette and he's a Ferrari, but that's my guy.
"I love Shaka like a brother, and they've done a lot of great things, but we have the same attributes that make us a great team, too."
Tonight's meeting between No. 5 seed VCU (26-8) and No. 12 seed Akron (26-6) sounds like it's going to be more of a family affair than a basketball game. Maybe a reunion. Or a picnic. Wait. Who's bringing the potato salad?
Dambrot, 54, and Smart, 35, met when they were Akron assistants in 2003. On Smart's first day of work, Dambrot arranged for him to meet his former protégé, LeBron James.
The meeting surprised Smart. But it was Dambrot's random act of kindness that truly shocked him.
Over time, Dambrot and Smart became close. Smart began to understand Dambrot's generosity and empathy.
In 1993, Dambrot was a coach on the rise at Central Michigan. But late in the season, he used a racial slur to motivate his players and it cost him his job.
"Because he's been fired, because he's been through tough times, he really reaches out and tries to treat people so well that are going through tough times and that there's no way that they can benefit him or help him in any way," Smart said. "But he just -- that's something that I always admired about Keith and that I try to emulate."
Dambrot took Smart under his wing, and when Smart finally left the nest for his first head coaching job at VCU in 2009, he soared. He took VCU from play-in team to the Final Four in 2011.
VCU will be the favorite. It has more experience and uses a stifling four-guard suffocating "havoc" defense.
"I think the teams that have been able to guard them have kept the score down, which allows them to have a chance to win," Dambrot said. "If the game gets up into the 70s, the mid to high 70s, we have no chance."
It doesn't help that Akron lost its star point guard, Alex Abreu, when he was charged with marijuana trafficking this month and suspended from the team. Akron still cruised to the Mid-American Conference tournament title without him.
It was a credit to Dambrot's ingenuity that he rallied the Zips without their star. But Smart wasn't surprised. Or shocked. He learned his lesson about Dambrot long ago.
"You know," Smart said. "Keith told me after they lost Alex, he said we have to reinvent ourselves. And I don't think there's a better coach in the country to work with this team in such a short span of time like that to take that on.
"And they did a terrific job of putting themselves in position to win the NCAA tournament and allowing themselves to be here today."
