Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski usually isn't one to make player comparisons.
But following Saturday's 109-59 win against Fairfield, the winningest head coach in Division I men's college basketball history was asked the inevitable question about this year's top-ranked freshman class: How does it compare with the 1982 class?
That year's six-man group included some of the more well-known names in Duke basketball lore, including Johnny Dawkins, Jay Bilas, David Henderson and Mark Alarie. The next year, guard Tommy Amaker joined them in Durham, and the group proceeded to put Duke basketball on the map.
Krzyzewski noted that the landscape of college basketball has changed dramatically since 1982—appreciating the fact that he no longer has to play against the Ralph Sampsons and Michael Jordans of the world year-in, year-out—but then paid his freshman floor general a big-time compliment.
"Those guys were every bit as good as these guys. I think Dawkins and Alarie [were special]," Krzyzewski said. "And then you add that other guy, Amaker. Tyus is a little bit like Amaker—and that’s a huge compliment for Tyus."
Amaker won national Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior and set many school assists records until they were surpassed by Bobby Hurley. Krzyzewski said that it remained to be seen if Jones would be able to reach Amaker's level of success on the defensive end, leaving unsaid the fact that, unlike those 1982 recruits, Jones might not be around for four years.
Krzyzewski lauded Amaker's defensive tenacity and ability to stay in front of the ball-handler, calling him "the missing ingredient for that group." Amaker has since become a successful coach in his own right, turning Harvard into a trendy upset pick come March Madness.
As for Bilas, Krzyzewski poked fun at his former center, as he has previously. He joked that he'd probably take freshman Jahlil Okafor, the AP Preseason Player of the Year, ahead of Bilas if forced to choose. In February, following Duke's win against Georgia Tech—one that featured a lockdown defensive performance from Tyler Thornton and the rest of the Duke guards—Krzyzewski compared the effort to Amaker's years at Duke, cracking that those teams played such tight perimeter defense in order to mitigate the defensive liability of Bilas in the paint.
Duke's freshmen have dazzled thus far, averaging 58.5 points per contest as a unit in the Blue Devils' first two games of the year. They've made it look easy so far, but that could change once the caliber of competition rises, as it will Tuesday against Michigan State.
"[These guys] still might go through the same growing pains that [the Class of 1982] guys did," Krzyzewski said."
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