2013-14 Duke Men’s Basketball Awards
Duke held its annual end of the year awards banquet Wednesday night. Although most of the awards were based on season statistics set in stone nearly a month ago, the night was not without its surprises, as well as a few teary moments from graduating seniors, head coach Mike Krzyzewski and former associate head coach and current Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski, who took the stage to say his official goodbyes following a video tribute to his court-slapping days as both a player and coach.
But before the tears start to flow too much, here are the awards won by the individual players Wednesday:
Jabari Parker
- Swett-Baylin—Most Valuable Player
- Best Rebounding Average Award
Parker became the second freshman in Krzyzewski’s tenure to win MVP honors, with Johnny Dawkins being the only other rookie to take the award back in 1983. In a season that resulted in Parker being named a consensus first team All-American, to the first team All-ACC, the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year, this one couldn’t have been too big of a surprise for the freshman phenom. The real surprise from Parker came Thursday when he declared for the 2014 NBA draft via a statement made public by Sports Illustrated.
Rodney Hood
- Pagliuca Family Coach’s Award—Player Exemplifying Commitment and Values
- Iron Dukes Award—Most Minutes
- Best Defensive Player Award
If Hood had been on nearly any other team in the nation, he would have been the one walking away with the MVP hardware. But since he was not, he will have to take comfort in the fact that he received more awards than Parker.
- Best Free Throw Percentage Award
- Most Assists Award
Although Semi Ojeleye technically had the best free throw percentage on the team at 90.9 percent, he and Tyler Thornton—the two Blue Devils who actually recorded better averages than Cook from the line—combined to shoot fewer than half the amount of free throws Cook did, so the award went home with the rising senior. On a less surprising note, Cook, the team’s main ball-handler, took home the Most Assists Award as well.
Amile Jefferson
- Best Field Goal Percentage Award
- Dr. Deryl Hart—Top Scholar-Athlete
Jefferson hit the books and the weight room this year, resulting in him taking smarter shots and finishing at the rim at a higher clip—64.4 percent to be exact. Although his GPA was not disclosed, it is almost certainly greater than the following player's season averages: Marshall Plumlee's rebounds (2.2), Thornton’s points per game (3.1) and the combined minutes per game (3.0) of Nick Pagliuca and Todd Zafirovski.
Tyler Thornton
- Glenn E. “Ted” Mann—Player Contributing Most to Team Morale
- True Blue Award—Most Charges
In the upset of the night, Thornton took home the True Blue Award given out to the player with the most charges taken throughout the course of the season. Fellow senior Josh Hairston was no doubt a front-runner for this one at the beginning of the season, but the Glenn E. “Ted” Mann award winner edged out Hairston and added a bit to his own morale when he took home the night’s most painfully-earned trophy.
Thornton, Hood and Hairston- Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Award
The Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Award, named for Coach K’s late brother, was presented to the team’s emotional leaders in Thornton, Hairston and Hood.
Following the awards, Coach K took the podium to make a speech bidding farewell to two people—his brother Bill, who passed away in late December, and his “son” Wojciechowski.
Wojciechowski followed suit with a moving speech that detailed his time at Duke and what Coach K and the entire Blue Devil family have meant to him. While it began with a few laughs, there was no question this one was going to be emotional considering how much Wojo has contributed to the program in his nearly 20 years at Duke.
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