In the 2001-2002 college basketball season, superstars Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy were supposed to lead Duke to a national championship; but in April it was a scrawny guard, who was only lightly recruited out of high school, cutting down the nets after carrying his team to the national championship.
Friday night Dunleavy and Shane Battier returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time since leaving early and graduating, respectively. But again, it was the scrawny, scrappy Juan Dixon walking away with the laurels.
Dixon dropped 40 points on 16-of-30 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds as his white team cruised to a 165-157 victory. He led his team with class, skill and hustle rarely seen in a charity exhibition game. Perhaps Dixon was motivated by a desire to impress Doug Collins, his White team's coach, who will also be coaching him in the NBA with the Washington Wizards. At this point, Dixon doesn't have much more to prove to Collins.
"Juan is a tremendous player," said the father of Duke assistant coach Chris Collins. "We are so lucky in Washington to have him. He is a tiger. He has a heart as big as any athlete I've ever seen. I'm so happy he's with us."
Dixon's heart is big, but his body certainly is not. With 164 pounds spread over his 6-foot-3 frame, Dixon is considered too small to be a shooting guard in the NBA. He's heard doubters say he was too small since he came out of Calvert Hall High School and he's been beating the odds since a childhood of privation in inner-city Baltimore.
He lost his parents to AIDS during high school, but went on to graduate high school and the University of Maryland. His senior year in college he was an All-American and ACC Player of the Year. During Maryland's national championship run, he became the leading scorer in school history. But all the while, he was too small.
This offseason, Dixon has been asked to switch to point guard. Some pundits have speculated that Dixon isn't sufficiently quick, a good enough passer or strong enough to make it in the League. Those pundits don't know Juan Dixon.
Veteran NBA point guard Darrel Armstrong knew Juan Dixon as he was falling backward after being faked and watching Dixon race on to an uncontested layup.
Corey Maggette knew Juan Dixon as he watched the rookie dart in front of his inbounds pass, race down the court and bring down the house with a dunk.
The whole Blue team knew Juan Dixon after it cut the White team's lead to six with 1:10 remaining and 164 pound frame elevated and launched a game clinching three-pointer.
With 10 seconds left, Dixon went to the foul line to shoot two free throws. A small cluster of Cameron Crazies standing behind the basket began using their usual techniques to distract Dixon. Their actions elicited a smile and two made free throws.
"I've been shooting free throws here for four years now," Dixon said. "I think I have about 90 percent here, so I wasn't going to let their screaming get to me. That's why I smiled a little bit."
The Crazies saw the smile and they knew, but they've known for a while. They knew when Dixon laid 31 on Duke in Cameron his sophomore season and they knew for sure when he came back and dropped 28 the next year.
"He always plays well in Cameron," Battier said. "I'm glad I don't have to play him anymore in this place."
Of all the people in Cameron Friday night, none knew better than Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who invited Dixon to play in the first place.
"I love Juan Dixon," said Krzyzewski, who last season described Dixon as his favorite player not wearing a Duke uniform. "I've always loved him. I think it shows the type of guy he is, not just type of player he is, that when we asked him to come, he said, 'yeah, I want to come right away.'"
Dixon returned to Cameron to the sound of a loud ovation from the Blue Devil faithful.
His wasn't as loud as Battier's or Christian Laettner's, but it was a genuine tribute to a man and a basketball player who is no longer a rival.
"Our crowd has always respected respectable people and great players," Krzyzewski said. "When the two of them are combined, then they really go for him."
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