With the NCAA tournament this month and the rise of Chris Collins’ Northwestern, not to mention the success of Mike Brey and Steve Wojciechowski, we haven’t really talked about what fellow former Duke star and assistant Johnny Dawkins has been up to.
Well he’s pulled off a nice turnaround at Central Florida. Last year UCF was 12-18 and now Johnny D. has them at 24-12 and in the NIT semifinals where he’ll play Jamie Dixon’s TCU team.
Dixon has also pulled off a nice turnaround with the Horned Frogs.
Dawkins has a major luxury in Tacko Fall, a 7-6 sophomore who is likely the world’s tallest nerd (he’s said he’d like to program for Microsoft). He’s the most fluid guy that size we’ve ever seen but his focus, up until very recently, has really been academic. He has potential though and Dawkins has been pushing that idea with him.
But he’s also got a nice point guard and his team has bought in.
If UCF gets past TCU, Dawkins & co. will face the winner of Georgia Tech and CSU-Bakersfield.
Tech has of course also pulled off a major turnaround.
Anyway, Central Florida and TCU tangle on Tuesday.
One last side note: the guy who hired Dawkins? Danny White, son of Kevin (Duke A.D.) and brother of Mike head coach at Florida).
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