After a year off to prioritize his life and find some balance, Andre Dawkins will be returning to the Duke men’s Basketball Program in the fall of 2013.
Duke guard Andre Dawkins will be returning to the court next season for the Blue Devils.
The announcement came rather unceremoniously as Dawkins tweeted out the news on Twitter late Thursday afternoon.
“Excited to say that I will be a part of the 2013-2014 Duke Men’s Basketball Team. Thanks to everyone for the support throughout the year,” he said via Twitter. “This year was tough to be away but I feel like I have grown immensely off the court and am ready to come back and help the team win.”
Dawkins, a senior, sat our all of the 2012-2013 season, a decision he made in June of 2012. During his freshman year Dawkin’s sister Lacy was killed in an automobile accent on route to see her younger brother play a game at Duke. Following the incident many have speculated that he never took an adequate amount of time to recover mentally and thus suffered inconsistent play over the next two and a half seasons.
During his previous three seasons Dawkins has shot over 40 percent from behind the three point line and made 167 three point shots making him deadly from behind the arch. Not just a shooter, he has shown the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish near the rim.
The news is certainly welcome for many Duke fans who were not entirely positive that Dawkins would ever return and if he did many weren’t believing he would play again for the Blue Devils despite no indicate ever being made that he was considering transferring anywhere for his final year of eligibility.
Dawkins will give the 2013-2014 team a boost in leadership and experience, but how quickly he returns to the lineup after an entire year off remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see his reintegration back into the program and how he might carve out a role for himself on next year’s team.
He could certainly earn time as a scoring option and as a shooter following the graduation of Seth Curry. Freshman Matt Jones and rising sophomore Rasheed Sulaimon will be his strongest competition but it is possible that Duke could run a three guard lineup with no real center currently on the roster.
Duke fans can expect at least one change out of Dawkins who will be changing numbers to No. 34, a move Dawkins said was to honor current senior Ryan Kelly who completed his Blue Devil career two weeks ago.
All in all the news is positive both for Duke and especially for Dawkins who has gone through such adversity over his career. He certainly could end up making a great feel-good story.
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