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YouTube Gold: Johnny Dawkins Sinks Navy Defenders In 1986

Mike Krzyzewski was at Duke long enough that a lot of younger fans don’t really know about his early players.

Take Johnny Dawkins.

A surprise to many when he committed to Duke in (we think) 1981 out of Washington D.C.’s Mackin Catholic when Duke was struggling, Dawkins said “I thought they could use a little help.”

And did he ever give it.

In his freshman year, Duke struggled mightily as Coach K was still getting his pieces in place and building methodically but Dawkins narrowly lost ACC Rookie of the Year to Georgia Tech’s Mark Price.