INDIANAPOLIS—It’s been a busy March for Kelly Gambrell.
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University of Mary Washington (32-3) vs. Emory University (27-3), Sunday, 4:30 p.m., at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, ESPN+ (subscription required); UMW live stream (audio only). Stay with the Free Press for a live game blog from award-winning sports reporter Joey LoMonaco
The mother of University of Mary Washington star guard Kye Robinson spent the early part of the month with her rooting interests split between two sons playing for two different schools in the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament.
“I do divide it up evenly,” Gambrell said. “That’s with all of them who play basketball.”
There’s Kye, the Coast 2 Coast Conference player of the year who will lead UMW against Emory University in Sunday’s D-III final. His older brother, Kullen, was the second-leading scorer for a Hood College team that reached the Sweet 16.
And big sis? Konnor Gambrell might be the most accomplished hooper in the family, taking her skills abroad to the Netherlands, where she plays in the top women’s professional division.
“I don’t know, we’re just a basketball family,” offered Kye Robinson.
Some of Robinson’s earliest basketball memories revolve around Konnor’s AAU games, when he and Kullen would bring their own ball and shoot around on a side court or during halftime.
“She was just a big inspiration,” said Robinson of Konnor Gambrell, who’s five years his senior and played collegiately at Division I Winthrop. “Just seeing that at an early age and going to her games when I was little was kind of a really cool feeling. And I was just like, yeah, ‘I kind of want to do this.’”
In turn, Konnor Gambrell remembers hauling water bottles out to the courts at Potomac Yard — PY as the kids called it — where her younger siblings spent the majority of their waking hours during the summer.
“I know this is kinda a slippery slope, but it became their identity and what they found peace and stability in,” she said.
Added Kelly Gambrell: “My kids weren’t sitting in front of the TV or playing video games. They were outside, with a basketball in their hand.”
The University of Mary Washington men’s basketball team defeat the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 73-68 in the 3rd round of the NCAA Division III Tournament held at Ron Rosner Arena Saturday March 14, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Kearney).
Beyond his exploits on the hardwood, Kye Robinson showed off his athletic range at Alexandria City High School (formerly T.C. Williams). He’d never picked up a lacrosse stick prior to his senior year, but at season’s end, he was named the team’s rookie of the year.
A couple of years ago, UMW head coach Marcus Kahn was looking for a scorer after graduating a few from his roster.
“So we knew we needed somebody to come in and make an immediate impact for us,” Kahn recalled. “And we felt that he was the best one out there. We thought that at the time. We think that obviously now he’s proving us right.”
Robinson followed up a phenomenal freshman campaign during which he earned C2C rookie of the year honors by leading the Eagles with 24.3 points per game in 2025-26. He’s started all 32 games this season, earning consensus second team All-America honors.
That output has come despite Robinson being a known quantity to opponents, who have often elected to play tight man-to-man defense in hopes of slowing him down.
“He believes in himself, we believe in him and he just proves it time and time again in different ways,” Kahn said.
When the tournament field was announced back in March, Kelly Gambrell largely relied on her son’s scouting reports when deciding which game to attend.
“Sometimes Kullen was like, ‘This is going to be a really good game, this team’s ranked,’” she explained. “Kye’s pretty confident; he’d say, ‘This isn’t going to be a hard win: go see Kullen.’”
Fleetingly, it appeared as though the siblings were on a collision course in the Final Four. But when Hood fell to defending national champion Trinity in the Sweet 16 (a team that UMW later beat en route to reaching the final), Kullen Robinson flipped his allegiances to UMW.
“I really wanted them to win,” Kye Robinson said. ”Because us two meeting in the Final Four would have just been, it would have been really cool.”
At least mom’s travel itinerary got a lot simpler.
This weekend, Kelly Gambrell is in Indianapolis, where she’ll be cheering on Kye and the Eagles live from Gainbridge Arena. Kullen Robinson and Konnor Gambrell, meanwhile, will be glued to the broadcast back home.
“He’s already won, that’s how I view it,” Kelly Gambrell said.
