Aubrey Dawkins

Aubrey Dawkins

Dawkins in 2015
No. 24 – Michigan Wolverines
Position Shooting guard
League Big Ten Conference
Personal information
Born May 8, 1995
Durham, North Carolina
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
College Michigan (2014–present)

Aubrey Lafell Dawkins (born May 8, 1995) is an American college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines who has completed his freshman season for the 2014–15 team. He is the son of Johnny Dawkins. He was raised in North Carolina until spending his high school years in Northern California and a post graduate year in New England. As a freshman, he began the season on the bench, but became a starter when injuries plagued the team in January.

Early life

Dawkins was born in Durham, North Carolina as the youngest of the four children of Tracy and Johnny Dawkins.[1][2] Dawkins spent much of his life in North Carolina while his father spent 11 years on Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff at Duke. The family moved to California in 2008 when his father became the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball head coach. Dawkins began as a freshman at St. Francis High School of Mountain View, California in 2009. By the time he began his sophomore season he stood at 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m). As a junior, Dawkins transferred to Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California.[1] That year he earned 2012 All-San Jose Mercury News boys basketball third team recognition.[3] As a senior, he stood at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m),[1] but by January of his senior season he reported no scholarship offers.[4] That year he was on the 2013 All-San Jose Mercury News boys basketball first team along with Aaron Gordon.[5] He then did a post graduate year at the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire before receiving a late scholarship offer from Michigan.[1] His grades were not sufficient to pursue a scholarship at Stanford and despite his relationship with Chris Collins, Northwestern was not interested in Dawkins given their commitments from wings Vic Law and Scottie Lindsey.[6] While at New Hampton, he was being recruited by Steve Donahue of Boston College, but Donahue left Boston College in 2014 and recommended Dawkins to Beilein. If Michigan had not stepped in, it appeared that he would have committed to Dayton,[7] although he was also considering Utah State, Pepperdine and Montana.[8] In fact, during the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Dawkins attended the Sweet 16 round to watch his father's Stanford Cardinal play Dayton in the South Regional on March 27.[9] Dawkins accepted a recruiting visit to Michigan in early April 2014 when he received his scholarship offer. He made his verbal commitment on April 28 and signed his National Letter of Intent on May 9.[1]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Aubrey Dawkins
SG/SF		 Palo Alto, CA New Hampton School (NH) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Apr 28, 2014 
Scout:2/5 stars   Rivals:3/5 stars   247Sports:3/5 stars    ESPN:3/5 stars   ESPN grade: 76
Overall recruiting rankings:
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

College

Dawkins for the 2014–15 Wolverines

The 2013–14 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team had been outright champions of 2013–14 Big Ten Conference[10] and reached the elite eight round of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament,[11] but lost three players to the 2014 NBA draft: Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III.[12]

Dawkins matriculated to the University of Michigan on June 20, 2014.[1] He became roommates with Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.[7] He made his NCAA debut for Michigan against Hillsdale on November 15 along with 6 other true freshmen and a redshirt freshman. He posted 3 points and 3 rebounds in 6 minutes of action.[13][14]

Michigan won its Big Ten Conference home opener against Illinois in overtime on December 30, 2014 on the day it announced Jim Harbaugh would become the new Michigan Wolverines football head coach. Aubrey Dawkins, who had a career total of 15 points entering the game, scored a game-high 20-points, including a 5-for-5 three-point field goal effort.[15] On January 17 Michigan defeated Northwestern,[16] but lost Caris LeVert for the season.[17][18][19] The team defeated Rutgers on January 20, with Dawkins in the starting lineup for the first time in LeVert's place,[20][21] as was expected upon news of the LeVert injury.[22]

Dawkins for the 2014–15 Wolverines

Dawkins finished the regular season of his freshman year with an excellent week. On March 3 against Northwestern, Dawkins posted a career-high 21 points in a 49-minute double overtime appearance.[23][24] On March 7, Michigan won its Big Ten Conference finale against Rutgers with a career-high scoring effort by Dawkins (31). The 31 points was the most by a Michigan freshman since Trey Burke posted 32 against Minnesota on March 9, 2012 in the 2012 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and included eight three-point field goals (on 11 attempts), the second most ever by a Wolverine, the most by a Wolverine since Glen Rice posted 8 on March 23, 1989, vs. North Carolina in the 1989 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the most by a Big Ten player during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, earning Dawkins the final Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for the 2014–15 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season.[25][26][27][28] At the time of the honor, Michigan head coach John Beilein noted that over the course of the season, he and his staff had worked with Dawkins to reconstruct the delivery of his jump shot: "He came in with an extremely high arch and a slow release...He's really done a great job of speeding up his delivery, lowering his arch..."[29] On March 12, Dawkins continued his hot streak with a team-high 18 points against Illinois in the second round of the 2015 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament to help Michigan extend its streak of opening round wins in the tournament to 9.[30][31][32] His performance included 8 consecutive points during Michigan's 23–4 run to end the first half and two memorable dunks.[33] For conference play of the 2014–15 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, Dawkins led the league in both Effective field goal percentage and True shooting percentage.[34]

Personal

He is the son of former Duke Naismith College Player of the Year, National Basketball Association point guard and Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins.[35][36]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Quinn, Brendan F. (2014-06-30). "Johnny Dawkins finds pride in his son, Aubrey Dawkins, paving his own road to Michigan". MLive.com. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  2. ↑ "Aubrey Dawkins 24". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  3. ↑ "The 2012 All-Daily News Boys Basketball Teams". San Jose Mercury News. 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  4. ↑ Stephens, Mitch (2013-01-18). "High school stars in MLK Classic". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  5. ↑ "All-Mercury News boys basketball team". San Jose Mercury News. 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  6. ↑ Greenstein, Teddy and Shannon Ryan (2015-03-12). "Freshman Aubrey Dawkins rewarding Michigan for giving him a chance". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kornacki, Steve (2015-02-27). "Kornacki: Dawkins, Rahk Provide Story of Hoops Serendipity". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  8. ↑ Killion, Ann (2014-03-25). "Stanford's success shows benefit of sticking together". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  9. ↑ Dubow, Josh (2014-03-24). "Stanford prepares for Sweet 16 vs. Dayton". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  10. ↑ "Michigan Men's Basketball Wins Outright Big Ten Championship: Wolverines claim first outright title since 1986". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-03-04. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  11. ↑ "Big Ten Men's Basketball Postseason Release: Wisconsin advances to third Final Four". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  12. ↑ "Seven Big Ten Student-Athletes Selected in Annual NBA Draft: Five conference players chosen in first round for first time since 1990". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-06-27. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  13. ↑ "Hillsdale 68 (24) Michigan 92; (1-0, 1-0 home)". ESPN. 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  14. ↑ "Postgame Notes: #24 Michigan 92, Hillsdale College 68". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  15. ↑ "New football coach Jim Harbaugh watches as Michigan beats Illinois in OT". ESPN. Associated Press. 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  16. ↑ "Michigan escapes wild finish 56-54 over Northwestern". ESPN. Associated Press. 2015-01-17. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  17. ↑ Goodman, Jeff (2015-01-18). "Caris LeVert to have foot surgery". ESPN. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  18. ↑ Norlander, Matt (2015-01-18). "Surgery for Caris LeVert to sideline Michigan star for rest of the season". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  19. ↑ Biggers, Adam (2015-01-18). "Caris LeVert's Injury the Final Blow on Michigan's Hugely Disappointing Season". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  20. ↑ "Short-handed Michigan edges Rutgers 54-50". ESPN. Associated Press. 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  21. ↑ "Postgame Notes: Michigan 54, Rutgers 50". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  22. ↑ Quinn, Brendan F. (2015-01-20). "Time has arrived for Zak Irvin to emerge in Caris LeVert's absence". MLive.com. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
  23. ↑ "Postgame Notes: Northwestern 82, Michigan 78 (2OT)". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  24. ↑ "Demps, Olah lead Northwestern over Michigan 82-78 in 2OT". ESPN. Associated Press. 2015-03-03. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  25. ↑ "Postgame Notes: Michigan 79, Rutgers 69". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  26. ↑ "Dawkins scores 31, Michigan beats Rutgers 79-69". ESPN. Associated Press. 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  27. ↑ "Dawkins Garners Big Ten's Freshman of the Week Honor". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  28. ↑ "Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Honors: Terrapins' Wells and Badgers' Kaminsky share Player of the Week honors; Wolverines' Dawkins tabbed Freshman of the Week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  29. ↑ Snyder, Mark (2015-03-09). "Dawkins is U-M's first Big Ten award winner of season". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  30. ↑ "NCAA tourney hopes fade for Illinois as Michigan cruises to win". ESPN. Associated Press. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  31. ↑ "Michigan-Illinois Postgame Notes". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  32. ↑ "Postgame Notes: Michigan 73, Illinois 55". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  33. ↑ "Michigan beats Illinois, 73-55: Wolverines advance to face top seed Wisconsin on Friday". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  34. ↑ Zúñiga, Alejandro (2015-03-08). "Aubrey Dawkins steals the show on Senior Day, caps red-hot end to regular season". UMHoops.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  35. ↑ Phillips, Scott (2014-04-28). "Report: Michigan gets 2014 commitment from Aubrey Dawkins, son of Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins (VIDEO)". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  36. ↑ "Johnny Dawkins' son to Michigan". ESPN. 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-11.

External links