Andre Dawkins’ father reiterated this morning to N&O correspondent Jack Daly that Dawkins is still a member of the Duke basketball team.

The elder Andre Dawkins said his son has the option of taking next season off to work through any lingering grief from the death of his sister. Lacey Dawkins was killed in a car accident on Dec. 5, 2009, while driving to a Duke-St. John’s basketball game.

Duke junior guard Andre Dawkins could be a redshirt candidate for next season.

Following media inquiries about Dawkins' future with the Blue Devils program, Duke emailed a two-sentence statement concerning the 6-foot-4 guard Thursday evening.

"Andre Dawkins remains a member of the Duke Basketball program," the statement said. "There is a possibility of him redshirting next season but no decision will be made on that until the fall."

As a junior, Dawkins started 14 games last season, averaging 8.4 points and 2.1 rebounds a game.

Just about every ACC game Duke has played at Cameron Indoor Stadium has gone down to the wire, and Saturday was no different as the Blue Devils needed overtime to tame Virginia Tech 70-65.

Here are three final thoughts on Duke’s win:

1. Duke finds a way – again

Trailing in the final minutes against a team that barely has a .500 record, the Blue Devils’ performance against Virginia Tech shows why just about anything seems possible for the team once the NCAA Tournament rolls around.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Its stride getting stronger and more confident by the game, Duke is moving ever closer to one of its goals.

The Blue Devils subdued Florida State 74-66 on Thursday night at the Donald L. Tucker Center, taking another step toward the ACC regular season championship by making 13 3-pointers against a Seminoles team that entered the game having only allowed opponents to shoot 29.1 percent for 3-point attempts on the season.

Andre Dawkins made six 3-pointers to lead the Blue Devils with 22 points while Austin Rivers made four and finished with 20 points.

With the win, No. 5 Duke (24-4, 11-2) moved into a tie with North Carolina (24-4, 11-2) at the top of the ACC standings, although the Blue Devils hold the tie-breaking edge by virtue of their win in Chapel Hill. The teams play each other on March 3 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

It’s game day for the No. 8 Blue Devils (14-2, 2-0), who travel to Clemson tonight to face the Tigers (9-7, 1-1) at 6 p.m. Duke has won 25 of its last 27 games against Clemson and 10 of its last 11 games at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind once the game tips:

DURHAM -- With Kyrie Irving watching from the bench in a sweater Wednesday night, Andre Dawkins became the young guard with a chance to step into the spotlight at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Dawkins handled his opportunity every bit as well as Irving did before suffering a toe injury on his right foot that has sidelined him indefinitely.

In the opening 12 minutes, 10 seconds of top-ranked Duke's 83-48 defeat of Bradley, Dawkins made four 3-pointers to establish himself as the most dangerous perimeter scoring threat in the game. Dawkins, a sophomore who was averaging 10.6 points per game off the bench, finished with eight 3-pointers for the game, one short of the school record, and scored a career-high 28 points in his first career start.

DURHAM -- It wasn't the zone part of the equation that eluded Radford, but the defense.

Duke shredded the Highlanders' ill-advised zone with 18 3-pointers in a 104-67 romp in Saturday's untelevised game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Shooting guard Andre Dawkins, a highly-ranked 2010 basketball recruit, signed his acceptance letter to Duke on Tuesday and will play for the Blue Devils this season, his father said this morning.

Dawkins, who attended Atlantic Shores Christian School (Virginia Beach, Va.), would have been a high school senior this fall. But he only needed one more course – English 12 – to graduate, and he passed his online final on Monday.

His family plans to hold a graduation party today, where he will
receive his diploma. He will move into the Duke dorms on Tuesday.

Andre Dawkins, a highly ranked 2010 basketball recruit who has verbally committed to Duke, is considering joining the Blue Devils sooner as a member of the class of 2009.

"It's not a done deal at all," said Andre Dawkins, the recruits father who goes by the same name. "It's a possibility we're looking into."

Dawkins' father said they will make a decision around Aug. 24.