[TM]

Andre Dawkins: Ahead of Schedule

“We called the [Duke] coaches just to see if it was a possibility,” Dawkins recalled. “They looked at my transcripts and saw that I had the credits. I still needed one English course to fulfill the graduation requirements from Atlantic Shores. I took an on-line course over the summer and I was able to get my diploma.”

He arrived at Duke on August 18 and joined Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly as the third member of the Blue Devils’ freshman class.

“Everything fell into place,” the young guard said with a smile.

Dawkins is already making a significant contribution to the Duke program. Since committing to the Blue Devils late in the summer of 2008, he’s been the school’s ambassador on the recruiting circuit. The soft-spoken guard spent last summer talking up his future school to potential recruits. He stays in text and e-mail contact with a number of potential future teammates – even if their arrival might force him to fight for playing time.

“I just want to play with the best guys possible ... I want to play on the best team,” Dawkins said. “I talk to those guys, especially over the summer when we’re playing in AAU events. I see [a Duke recruiting target] and I throw them some love. I tell them how great they’d look in Duke Blue.”

[TM]

Coach K Asks Students to be “Spontaneous” in Cameron

Krzyzewski said that transfer Seth Curry looked “really good” during practice, and even joked that he was trying to “pull an Andre [Dawkins]” to get Curry eligible this season (transfers must sit out a year before playing for their new school according to NCAA rules unless a special waiver is obtained).

If the season were to start now, Krzyzewski said the starters would be Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, and both Mason and Miles Plumlee. Krzyzewski did say, though, that Lance Thomas would play essentially as a sixth starter, and mentioned that freshman Andre Dawkins would be the first guard off the bench.