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Blue Devil Weekly Interview with Sean Dockery
Jan. 10, 2003
Sean Dockery, one of the six freshmen and four McDonald's All-Americas to join the Duke program this season, has come off the bench in every game so far and has been used primarily as the Blue Devils' No. 2 point guard. It's been obvious that he has the talent and demeanor to run a team on both ends of the floor. He can also play some defense, on and off the ball. Even though he's played less than 15 minutes a game, he's second on the squad only to starting point guard Chris Duhon in both assists and steals.
Dockery, who celebrated his 20th birthday at Clemson last weekend, came to Durham from Chicago's Julian High. There has always been a lot of hoop talk in Dockery's home. His father Steve is the head coach at Corliss High and his younger brother Sherrod plays for his father there. But Sean says the sport is not the top priority for his mother, Sherry.
"My mom doesn't care about basketball at all. She doesn't even know what a foul is sometimes. She comes in the room sometimes and tries to talk to me and my dad when basketball is on but she doesn't know much about it. She just wants me to graduate from college. My dad loves basketball. That's all he thinks about. He eats and sleeps basketball. He's really glad I'm at Duke. He coaches in high school right now and his school is doing well, but he calls me every day and tells me how proud he is of me."
Your dad doesn't coach at your old high school, but didn't he coach you when you were younger?
"Yeah, he coached me in small fry. I was like 10 years old and you couldn't be over 5-1 and we played on lower rims. I wasn't that good so he used to put me on the bench and play the other kids. That taught me a lesson and made me want to play harder. He told me one day I would be good if I kept trying. After he put me on the bench a couple of times I got better, and I'm thankful for that."
You played against him a couple of times in high school, right?
"We played him my junior and senior years and beat him pretty bad both times, so I got a little bragging rights at home. The first time we played was a very emotional thing. After the game we hugged and he started crying. He told me he wasn't crying because he lost, but I really believe he was. He just said he was real emotional. That was one of the best feelings I've had playing basketball. My senior year it was pretty much the same. He didn't cry that time but we beat them bad and I had bragging rights again. So I'm 2-0 against my father."
Why didn't you play for your father in high school?
"Everyone asks me that. He got the job at his school my sophomore year and he asked me if I was coming with him, but I was in love with my team too much so I couldn't go there."
What was your preparation like in high school to get you ready to become a player in the ACC?
"I had a great high school coach, Loren Jackson. He taught me well and told me I had to work hard to get to this level, and I did. I practiced hard, but not as much as I'm practicing right now. He showed me the way, and to everyone who had doubts if I could be here, he proved I could do it."
Tell us about your high school, Julian in Chicago. We've heard it's a pretty tough place.
"It's a great school but a tough school. Outside in the neighborhoods with the gangs and everything, it was a tough place to go. I'd catch the bus to go to school from my neighborhood to their neighborhood and I'd have to watch my back. My freshman year was probably the worst for the gangs. After a while they started ignoring me. But it was real tough."
Most Duke fans probably can't relate to what it was like for you in the inner city. Can you tell us a little about that?
"I can tell you of an incident with one of my friends. We were coming back from a party, riding around and about to go home, and some guys just being up to no good shot into the car. One of my friends got shot. That's the stuff we go through everyday. I'm just so happy I'm at Duke right now talking to you."
An article about you mentioned that almost half the students at Julian eventually drop out. What was the transition like for you coming from that environment to an institution like Duke?
"It's been a great experience. Duke is a wonderful school. At Julian freshman year, kids were dropping out, females were getting pregnant, stuff like that. But at Duke, everybody focuses on education. At Julian, it wasn't always about education, it was about what kind of shoes you had or how good you looked. But Julian had some great teachers that taught me a lot. Duke is just totally different.
"I believe this fall is the most I've ever worked, on the court and off the court. Some days I'd be in study hall at 12 at night. Other guys would be asleep and I'd still be with Kenny King (team academic coordinator) working. I'd tell Kenny it was time to go, but I know it's going to benefit me in the long run. People back home say I'm not going to be here for long, so I've got a lot to prove. Coach K and his staff are with me everyday on this, like a family."
Your transition to Duke was probably a lot different than the other freshmen on the team.
"I think I had to make the biggest transition. My high school was 99 percent black, rough area, all that. Duke is probably about 10 percent black and a tough education. But I'm learning, and it's paying off."
Everybody's heard about the south side of Chicago and the reputation of all that, but your family made sure you were ready to come to college, didn't they?
"I've got to say, my mom was on me from day one. If I didn't get my homework done, she wouldn't let me go to practice. If we had practice at 6 o'clock, she made me finish the homework before I could leave. I give all that credit to my mother."
There was a lot of publicity around you in high school as you tried to make a qualifying test score for college. How did you handle that?
"I didn't feel any pressure. It just motivated me. I was looking for the best. I come from a great family, a strong family. They motivated me. And Coach K believed in me. When we first met, he told me I could do it. So I didn't have anything negative to think about as far as not passing the test. I knew from the start I'd be here no matter what."
Speaking of tests, how were fall semester exams for you?
"This was the first time I've ever been through exams. We didn't really have that at Julian. It was based more on projects at the end of the year. I probably had only 15 hours of sleep that week. I was exhausted. It was an experience, I'm finished with it now and I feel like I'm proving to people."
What went into your decision to come to Duke?
"Other schools that were recruiting me were Illinois, North Carolina, DePaul. It was good getting recruited by those guys, but when you say Duke, you can't think of anything else."
How about your arrival last summer with the rest of the freshmen and some of your early chances to play with the other guys on the team?
"It was a great experience. When I first got here, some people were saying I was playing good, but I was playing terrible for me. Everybody was moving faster than me and (Chris) Duhon was pushing me around and scoring on me. After playing with them a couple of times as the summer went on, I got better. Dahntay (Jones) was pushing me around, but by the end I was pushing Dahntay around a couple of times. It was a learning experience for me and I think I got better from the summer."
How do you feel about your first time around in the ACC? Nervous? Excited?
"I'm nervous all the time. My father told me if you stop being nervous, you stop loving the game. So I'm nervous, but that's a good feeling. Watching the ACC last year, it's a great conference and a hard conference. I'm really excited. We've got a great team with a lot to prove."
Do you know your fellow freshman Michael Thompson pretty well since both of you are from the Chicago area?
"I've known him since sixth grade. We were just talking about one of the games we played against each other in sixth grade AAU. That's when he and I first got cool or whatever. I was like the biggest guy on our team and Mike played center for his team. I told him, 'I'll bet you get the jump.' After that we started kidding around and became close friends. "This summer brought all of us together. We ate, slept, did everything together. We learned from each other. Sometimes I'd talk like Lee (Melchionni), sometimes I'd talk like J.J. (Redick). We're like brothers. I love those guys. They are great guys."
The coaches here have talked quite a bit about your off-the-ball defense. How did that develop, and do you look to make a big mark defensively this first year?
"My defense has been like this since I was younger. I always wanted the ball. I think that came from playing with older guys. They didn't pass the ball to me, so I had to get the ball some way. I learned by just sometimes pushing them out of the way to get the ball. I think defense is the most important thing about being on the court. Some guys just think offense, but I think defense. When you play great defense, offense will come."
You always seem to be smiling and upbeat. On the trip to London you were singing and whistling all the time. Are you always like that?
"Yeah, pretty much. I think it's mainly because I'm happy to be here. When I put on my uniform, I'm putting on a Duke uniform. Why should I be down? I should always be happy right now. I'm somewhere I want to be and I've got to make the best of it."
