Duke Is Hosting UCF For Exhibition Game Tuesday Night In Durham, Former Duke Assistant Coaches, Players Johnny Dawkins, Jon Scheyer Are Opposing Each Other As Head Coaches

Johhny Dawkins was an Assistant Coach under former Duke Head Coach now retired Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski!

The Washington, D.C., native coached for 10 years under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. During Dawkins' decade as a coach at Duke, the Blue Devils won a national championship (2001), tallied six ACC regular-season championships, recorded seven ACC Tournament titles and posted a 330-60 (.846) record. In four consecutive seasons from 1999-2002, Duke finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in both national polls, a first in college basketball history. Duke reached a No. 1 national ranking in seven of 10 seasons with Dawkins on the coaching staff.

While at Duke, he also served as the player personnel director for the USA Basketball Senior National Team from 2006-08.

Johnny Dawkins wasn’t only a coach at Duke for former Duke Head Coach now retired Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski as he was also a player. Johnny Dawkins played for Mike Krzyzewski from 1982-83 through 1985-86, earning consensus All-America honors twice (1985, 1986). Dawkins was also voted the 1986 Naismith National Player of the Year and named a Freshman All-American in 1983. During his collegiate career, he helped lead Duke to three NCAA Championship berths, including an NCAA title-game appearance in 1986. He was an All-ACC honoree all four seasons as a Blue Devil. Dawkins helped Duke win the 1986 ACC Tournament title in his senior season, claiming the MVP award in the process.
 
Johnny Dawkins finished his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer and held that honor until 2006 when J.J. Redick surpassed his mark of 2,556 points. He recorded double-figure point totals in 129 of 133 collegiate games. Dawkins led the Blue Devils in scoring all four years, recording the fourth-highest season point total in school history with 809 in 1986. Dawkins remains Duke’s career record-holder in field goals (1,026) and field goals attempted (2,019) while also setting the school’s single-season mark for field goals (331) during the 1986 campaign.
 
Johhny Dawkins was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in September 1996. His jersey number 24 was retired by the school.

Johnny Dawkins became the Head Coach of UCF in 2016!

Since being the Head Coach of UCF Johnny Dawkins has has led the program to unprecedented heights, in the only eight-year stretch with four or more postseason appearances during the Division I era. He led the Knights to their first NCAA Championship victory in 2019. He’s also responsible for producing UCF’s first lottery pick after Taylor Hendricks was selected by the Utah Jazz with the ninth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. In the deepest, most challenging league in college basketball, Dawkins led the Knights to seven victories in their inaugural season as members of the Big 12 Conference in 2023-24, earning a program record three ranked wins during the campaign.

Johhny Dawkins boasts nine wins over ranked opponents in his time at the helm of the Knights, accounting for over 80% of the team’s wins over Associated Press top-25 teams in the program’s history. The Knights led off the 2024-25 season with win over #13 Texas A&M, marking the first of three tries in a season opener. UCF made a statement in its inaugural home Big 12 game on Jan. 10, 2024, beating No. 3 Kansas by five after trailing by 16 at one point during the contest. The Knights went on to earn additional ranked wins over No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas Tech during the inaugural Big 12 slate, joining the 2018-19 season as the only other campaign with multiple wins over ranked opponents in a single season.

The Knights also earned a host of other impressive wins against top-25 foes, beating 15th-ranked Florida State in Tallahassee in 2020, the program’s first victory over the Seminoles. The Knights recorded consecutive victories over No. 6 Houston and No. 19 Cincinnati during the 2018-19 regular-season run to the NCAA Championship, solidifying themselves in the field of 68. UCF defeated No. 24 Alabama in December 2017, after earning the first ranked win under Dawkins on Feb. 26, 2017, beating No. 15 Cincinnati 53-49. UCF cracked the AP poll on Mar. 4, 2019, for the first time since 2011, earning a ranking of 25th late in the regular season. It was the latest into a season that the Knights had been ranked. The home finale against Cincinnati in 2019 marked the first matchup of ranked teams at Addition Financial Arena.

Dawkins was named UCF’s seventh head men’s basketball coach on Mar. 23, 2016.

The 2019 NCAA Championship Run
The 2018-19 season was one to remember for Dawkins and the Knights, as he guided UCF to a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Championship, its highest seed in five all-time NCAA Championship appearances, and defeated eighth-seeded VCU 73-58 in first-round action.

UCF then came inches away from upsetting top overall seed Duke in the second round, ultimately falling 77-76 to fellow Hall of Famer and his former college coach Mike Krzyzewski, Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett as BJ Taylor’s floater rimmed out and Aubrey Dawkins’ tip-in barely missed at the buzzer.

The Knights were stellar down the stretch to secure their at-large NCAA Championship berth, winning on the road at No. 6/8 Houston to snap the Cougars’ 33-game home win streak and topping No. 19/20 Cincinnati in Orlando. It marked the first time UCF had earned multiple victories over ranked opponents in the same season, and the Knights did it in back-to-back games.

Dawkins led UCF back to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2005, and the first time as an at-large selection (with the previous four NCAA Championships as champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005). He helped three individuals earn all-conference accolades from the American Athletic Conference in 2018-19, as UCF led the league with three honorees. BJ Taylor became the first Knight to earn first-team AAC honors, while Aubrey Dawkins was named second team and Tacko Fall added third-team honors. It marked just the second time that the Knights put multiple student-athletes on the AAC all-conference teams and the ninth time in the program's Division I history that multiple Knights earned all-conference honors in the same season (dating back to the 1993-94 season). With two players on the three all-conference teams, only Houston had more players earn all-conference honors.

Following the end of the 2018-19 regular season, Dawkins was named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award and the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award.

UCF finished the year 24-9, tied for the fourth most wins in a season in program history. The Knights’ 23 regular-season wins marked a record in UCF’s Division I era. The team went 13-5 in AAC play, the team’s most league wins since joining that conference, and earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament for the second time in three seasons.

 According to Johhny Dawkins article https://ucfknights.com/staff/johnny-dawkins

Ahead of Duke hosting UCF for exhibition game Johnny Dawkins former Duke Assistant Coach former Duke player current UCF Head Coach was interviewed by current former Duke player current Duke Associate Head Coach Chris Carrawell on The Brotherhood Podcast where he talked about coming back to Duke by saying well, one I mean anytime you have to comeback here is special . Two for my team, this is an experience of a lifetime for our guys . To come here to be able to say you’ve played Cameron you’ve played Duke in Cameron , it doesn’t get much better then that.

According to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-65-johnny-dawkins/id1695679247?i=1000732800554

Jon Scheyer was a Special Assistant , Assistant Coach as well as Associate Head Coach for Mike Krzyzewski before succeeding Mike Krzyzewski as Head Coach on June 4, 2021.

Since succeeding Mike Krzyzewski as Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer has led Duke to a 27-9 mark in his first season, Duke captured the ACC Tournament title and went undefeated at home as Scheyer became the first coach in the conference’s storied history to post an undefeated home record in a debut season and the first to lead a team to an ACC title as both a player (2009, 2010) and as a head coach (2023).

He is just the fourth major conference coach all-time to win 27 or more games at age 50 or younger in a debut season and the first to do so at 35 or younger. In Division I history, only seven other coaches younger than 35 years old have won more games in a debut season.

Playing its best basketball as the season progressed, Scheyer’s first squad carried a nine-game winning streak into the program’s 45th NCAA Tournament, the fourth longest winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament in program history. The Blue Devils stretched the winning streak to 10 with a dominant first-round win.

Overcoming a season plagued by injuries and with one of the nation’s youngest teams that returned just one starter from the 2022 Final Four run, Scheyer’s squad was 19-1 with its full roster available. With an emphasis on defense and rebounding, the Blue Devils ranked top-20 in nearly every rebounding statistic and were top 30 defensively.

Scheyer was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year Award, presented annually to the best first-year coach in college basketball.

Continuing to Make History in Second Season
In his second campaign as Duke men's basketball head coach, Scheyer continued to build upon his historic debut, guiding the 2023-24 Blue Devils to a 27-9 record for the second consecutive year, finishing second in the ACC standings with a 15-5 league mark and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. Duke was ranked inside the top-25 for the entirety of the 2023-24 season, concluding at No. 9 in the final Associated Press poll. 

Scheyer led the team to three victories over opponents ranked in the top-25, with wins over No. 18 Michigan State, No. 10 Baylor and No. 2 Houston, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a top-five seed for the second straight season. Competing as a No. 5 seed during the 2023 postseason, the Blue Devils secured a No. 4 seed for this year's March Madness. On March 29, Duke defeated Houston, 54-51, in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the Blue Devils' 10th all-time win over a No. 1 seed and their first since beating Wisconsin, 68-63, in the 2015 national championship game, during Scheyer's nine-year tenure as an assistant coach.

The win over Houston, ranked No. 2 in the AP poll at the time, propelled the Blue Devils to their 24th trip to the Elite Eight and marked Duke's first win over a top-5 team since defeating No. 1 Gonzaga, 84-81, on Nov. 26, 2021, in Las Vegas.

Among Duke head coaches in their first two seasons, Scheyer posted the most overall wins (54), most conference wins (29) and the most NCAA Tournament wins (4). Scheyer's overall win percentage (.750) through his first two seasons is the best since Eddie Cameron in 1928-30 (.750/30-10), and his conference win percentage (.725) is the best since Harold Bradley in 1950-52 (.743).

In addition, Scheyer became just the third men's basketball head coach in ACC history to lead his program to a conference tournament title and an NCAA Elite Eight appearance in his first two seasons, joining Bill Guthridge (North Carolina, 1998) and fellow Blue Devils coach, Vic Bubas (1960).

Advances to Final Four in Season Three
In 2024-25, just his third season as head coach, Scheyer engineered one of the most dominant seasons in program history, leading the Blue Devils to their 18th Final Four appearance and achieving a 35-4 overall record to join a rare group as only the sixth team in school history to notch at least 35 wins and the first in a decade to do so. The Blue Devils also captured both the ACC regular-season title (19-1) and the ACC Tournament championship, marking Scheyer's second ACC Tournament crown in three years, a first in conference history for a head coach in their opening three seasons.

Ranked inside the AP Top 25 throughout the campaign, Duke spent two weeks at No. 1 and finished the season No. 3 in the final poll. The 2024-25 squad was a statistical powerhouse, registering a KenPom net rating of 39.29, the second-highest in the site's history (since 1996-97), and the best offensive efficiency rating (130.1) in that same timeframe, as well as becoming the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both scoring offense (83.2) and scoring defense (62.8). Nationally, Duke ranked in the top 25 in 13 categories, including No. 1 in scoring margin (+20.5) – third-best in Duke history, third in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.82) – best in program history, fourth in field goal percentage defense (.384) – best by any Duke team since 1960, seventh in scoring defense (62.8) – third-best in program history, and 10th in free throw percentage (.790) – second-best in Duke history. Duke also tallied 394 made three-pointers, the second-most in program history, while becoming the only Division I team to both average over 80 points per game (83.2) and allow fewer than 63 (62.8).
 
Jon Scheyer's individual accolades continue to pile up. With 89 career wins, he tied the record for most wins by a Division I head coach in their first three seasons, joining Brad Stevens (Butler) and Brad Underwood (Stephen F. Austin). He also became the youngest head coach to reach the Final Four since 2011, and was honored with the prestigious 2024-25 John McLendon National Coach of the Year Award.

In his 16 seasons as player and coach at Duke, Scheyer has been part of two National Championships (2010, 2015), four Final Fours (2010, 2015, 2022, 2025) and six ACC Tournament crowns (2009, 2010, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025), while averaging 28.1 wins per season with a winning percentage of .786 (449-122).

Recruiting and Developing the Nation’s Best
The Northbrook, Illinois, native has been integral in the recruiting and development of several young Duke stars since joining the staff. In accepting Duke’s head-coaching position a year before taking the helm, Scheyer was able to fully recruit the nation’s No. 1-ranked freshman class for the 2022-23 campaign -- highlighted by the top two-ranked players -- Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead. He followed that by landing the No. 2 overall class in 2023-24 class with four top-25 signees, then moved back to the top of the rankings in 2024 with six recruits inside the top 30, including the No. 1 overall prospect, Cooper Flagg. Scheyer retained the top spot in the 2025 recruiting rankings with four top-25 prospects, including the third-ranked recruit, Cameron Boozer.

Duke has finished top three in ESPN.com’s class recruiting rankings every season with Scheyer on the staff, including the No. 1 class seven times (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025).

A total of 35 Duke players have been drafted, including 26 first-rounders, with Scheyer on the staff, highlighted by overall No. 1 selections Zion Williamson in 2019, Paolo Banchero in 2022 and Cooper Flagg in 2025. Williamson was the consensus National Player of the Year in 2019, Banchero was an All-American and ACC Rookie of the Year in 2022, and Flagg was the National Player of the Year and ACC Player and Rookie of the Year in 2025 . His first draftees as a head coach -- Lively and Whitehead -- were each first-round picks in 2023, followed by first-round selection Jared McCain in 2024. In 2025, Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach were all selected in the top 10 of the NBA Draft.

Williamson and Banchero join six other Scheyer-coached Blue Devils to be named ACC Rookie of the Year, including Flagg in 2024-25 and Kyle Filipowski in 2022-23 – Scheyer’s first commitment in the 2022-23 class, who chose to wear the No. 30 in honor of his first-year head coach.

Scheyer helped mentor Tyus Jones to Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors and an NBA first-round pick in 2015. Five years later, Tyus’ brother Tre was named both the ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year after a remarkable 2020 campaign.

Tre is one of 13 Blue Devils to earn All-America recognition with Scheyer on staff – a list that also includes Quinn Cook, Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard, RJ Barrett, Williamson, Banchero, Filipowski and Flagg.

Allen finished his remarkable four-year career in 2018 as the 12th-leading scorer in Duke history with 1,996 points and joined Scheyer as two of just five Blue Devils in history with 1,900 or more points, 400 or more rebounds and 400 or more assists (Grant Hill, Danny Ferry, Johnny Dawkins). Though, Jon Scheyer hasn’t only been a Duke Coach as he also was a Duke player like Johnny Dawkins who is UCF Head Coach.

As a player for Duke,

Jon Scheyer was one of the most versatile and reliable Blue Devils all-time, concluding his career as the only player in school history to record at least 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 three-point field goals and 200 steals. He averaged 14.4 points per game while scoring in double figures 114 times (sixth-most in Duke history) and leading the Blue Devils to a 115-29 (.799) record.

A two-time team captain, Scheyer scored 2,077-career points and still ranks 10th on Duke’s all-time scoring list. He ranks third in Duke history in free throws made (608), fourth in free throw percentage (.861; 10th in ACC history) and three-point field goals made (297; 13th in ACC history) and sixth in free throw attempts (706). He played in 144 consecutive games, tied for the second-longest streak in Duke history, while his 4,459 minutes played rank fourth in ACC history.

Jon Scheyer averaged 18.2 points, 4.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game from the point guard position to spark Duke to a 35-5 record and its fourth national championship. He was a consensus second-team All-American and a first-team All-ACC pick in his final season after starting all 40 contests and scoring in double figures in all but two games on the year. His 1,470 minutes played as a senior remains the ACC single-season record.

Jon Scheyer was named MVP of the ACC Tournament as a junior in 2009, averaging 21.7 points and 4.0 rebounds as Duke took home the title.

According to https://ucfknights.com/staff/johnny-dawkins

https://goduke.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/jon-scheyer/5010

Duke is hosting UCF for exhibition game Tuesday night in Durham, former Duke Assistant Coaches players Johnny Dawkins, Jon Scheyer are opposing each other as Head Coaches.

Tip off is set for 7:00pm from Cameron Indoor Stadium!

The game is going to be televised on ACC Network Extra with Chris Edwards, Debbie Taylor commentating!

Chris Edwards typically, usually does play by play for Duke Women’s Basketball who’s Head Coach is Kara Lawson!

Can’t watch the Duke, UCF game?

Listen to it on Blue Devil Network from Learfield with Chris Edwards counterpart David Shumate who does play by play for Duke Men’s Basketball!