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Duke Basketball Alum Draws Praise for Debut Season in Big 12
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There's no guarantee Duke basketball great Johnny Dawkins gets another year at UCF. However, following the Knights' 77-62 win over Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday, Burner Ball's "Trilly Donovan" and CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein suggested he's done enough in their eyes to remain at the helm in Orlando.
After all, as Rothstein noted on social media, it's been a "really impressive Year 1 in this league under Johnny Dawkins" considering the program is only one win shy of its overall total last season when UCF was a member of the considerably weaker AAC. In other words, significant improvement is evident despite the similar record.
And although "Trilly Donovan" has applied the "hot seat" label to Dawkins throughout the season, the following post indicates agreement with Rothstein that the 60-year-old is doing an admirable job, especially in light of "allegedly cut funding" by UCF director of athletics Terry Mohajir:
The Knights, now 17-14 overall, finished 7-11 in Big 12 regular-season play, highlighted by a 65-60 home victory over then-No. 3 Kansas in early January.
No. 12 seed UCF, needing to cut down the nets at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City on Saturday to make the NCAA Tournament field for the first time since 2019, next faces No. 5 seed BYU at 12:30 p.m. ET for a chance to advance to play No. 4 seed Texas Tech in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Dawkins, a four-year Blue Devil star in the 1980s and longtime assistant under Mike Krzyzewski whose Duke basketball jersey number (24) forever hangs from Cameron Indoor Stadium's rafter, is in his eighth year at UCF (148-101) after leading Stanford for eight years (156-115).
His career record as a head coach is 304-216, a 58.5 winning percentage.
Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more updates on Blue Devil alums and other Duke basketball news.
