Best of the Offseason
I love football season, always have. The concentration of games all day Saturday and Sunday is so much fun. There’s a lot to love about football season: tailgates and fall weather; the pageantry of college and the parity of the NFL. But, as I’ve always said, the best thing about football season is that basketball season is next.
Thankfully, the offseason seems to go quickly each year. So with Countdown to Craziness just 10 days away (and in case you missed anything), here are my favorite offseason observations from Duke Basketball.
Coach Scheyer continues to mold his staff. While I hated to see Amile Jefferson move on, I’m super happy for him in the next step of his career. Amile has the most wins (67) of any player in Cameron Indoor Stadium history, he’s terrific at player development, and will be a huge asset to the Boston Celtics. Jai Lucas was promoted, joining Chris Carrawell as Associate Head Coach. I loved it when Jai joined the staff last year. He did a great job coordinating the defense, while serving as the first assistant coach since 1997 that did not play for Coach K. Emanuel Dildy is now the second, coming to Duke from Porter Moser’s staff at Oklahoma - his coaching journey is awesome. When asked this summer about hiring again from outside the Brotherhood, Coach Scheyer remarked “Well, it wasn't intentional. It was just about finding the right fit, whoever that person was.” I love this answer and have heard him mention some version of it regarding the Duke program going forward in the midst of constant change in college athletics. Whether players, coaches, or support staff, Coach continues to emphasize the importance of getting the right people involved. Will Avery certainly fits that description as well, joining the staff as an assistant coach. After two sensational years at Duke as a player, including a 36-2 record in ACC games, Avery returned to Duke as graduate assistant four years ago and completed his degree in the spring.
Days after being named to the All-NBA First Team, and two weeks after Steph Curry set the mark at 50, Jayson Tatum put up 51 points at home against the 76ers, setting the new NBA record for the most points ever in a Game 7. Tatum’s last bucket was a three to put the Celtics up 102-76, with just over seven minutes remaining. JT was on pace for an easy 60 and it’s pretty cool to see him atop the list of players to go for 40 in Game 7, alongside guys like Baylor, West, Robertson, MJ, Duncan, and Lebron to name a few. And, of course, congratulations to Paolo Banchero on winning Rookie of the Year, after putting up 20/7/4 for the Orlando Magic. Paolo is the fourth Duke player to win the award, joining Grant Hill (shared with Jason Kidd), Elton Brand, and Kyrie Irving.
Johnny Dawkins was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony on August 30th in Chicago. Coach Dawkins said "Everything I do as a coach, I measure it from my experiences at Duke as a player and a coach. And so, I measure it against that, which is a high standard.” It was a high standard indeed, as Dawkins joined Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, and David Henderson on campus in the fall of 1982, before leading Duke to its first NCAA Tournament under Coach K in 1984. Dawkins then earned Second Team All-American honors as junior. In his senior campaign, Duke won both the ACC regular season and tournament titles, and finished #1 in the final AP poll en route to a 37-3 record, dropping a heart breaker to Louisville 72-69 in the 1986 National Championship game. Dawkins was named Naismith National Player of the Year and graduated as Duke’s all-time leading scorer with 2,556 career points, before spending nine seasons in the NBA. I loved his time on Coach K’s staff from 1998-2008 and was fortunate to meet him briefly at a coaching clinic in 2003 - he was very generous with his time and thanked me for attending. Huge congrats to Coach Dawkins!
Though he was already a member of the founding class in 2006, Coach K chose this year to be officially enshrined as well. I think it’s awesome he and Coach Dawkins were inducted together. While in his hometown, Coach K made an appearance on the Field of 68 podcast, saying “It’ll be a special moment because we wouldn’t have had a program without Johnny Dawkins.” He was also very candid about the lack of leadership in college basketball, his thoughts on NIL, and rule changes he’d like to see for the college game.
Speaking of podcasts, the Brotherhood Podcast launched over the summer, primarily hosted by Ryan Young. Most of the guests have been members of the current team, but have also included Wojo, DLive, Grant Hill, and Coach Scheyer among others. I especially enjoyed the Quinn Cook episode. He’s one of my favorite Duke players in recent memory and I love it when guys like Quinn make the ultimate jump as seniors in terms of leadership and communication. That fifth banner isn’t hanging in Cameron without him.
Lastly, the schedule is out and while I actively try not to study it too hard (you know, one game at a time), it’s great to see it officially down on paper. The non-conference slate looks awesome and there are no nights off in the ACC. In the meantime, here’s some footage of the guys getting a run in Cameron for a few minutes. Can't wait...
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
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