The 2010-2011 version of the Duke Blue Devils are almost unanimously the odds on favorites to repeat as National Champions. After all, Coach K has national Player of the Year candidate Kyle Singler back for his senior season, in addition to the ever improving junior Nolan Smith, and incoming freshman phenom Kyrie Irving running the point, forming another tremendous core of players poised to once again challenge for the NCAA crown.
And while many college basketball gurus mention other talented Duke players on the roster like sophomore transfer Seth Curry, freshmen Joshua Hairston and Tyler Thornton, along with the Plumlee brothers as players that will be crucial in their plans to winning consecutive titles, most people tend to forget about one of last season’s prized recruits, namely rising sophomore Andre Dawkins.
If you remember, Dawkins was a highly rated, sharp-shooting guard originally in the 2010 recruiting class, but finished up his school work early to re-classify into the 2009 class, and enroll early at Duke. Although he played only 12.6 mins per game as an inexperienced 18 year old, he proved to be a valuable long range shooter, nailing more than 39% of his attempts from behind the arc, helping him to average 4.4 ppg in his freshman season.
Fast forward to this season, and while most prognosticators are focusing on other big names on the roster, “Dre Dawk” is quietly making a name for himself amongst teammates and fans alike with an outstanding showing in early practices and scrimmages this season.
Check out Dawkins’ sky-walking dunk over freshman Josh Hairston to win the dunk contest at Midnight Madness over Miles Plumlee:
Be sure to check out where Duke ranks in our Early 2010-2011 NCAA Preseason Rankings.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
