Billy King grew up in Sterling, Virginia, a suburb in Loudoun County about 30 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. He attended Park View High School, where he was a four-year varsity starter who never missed a game and scored over 1,800 career points. He was the third high school All-American from the D.C. metro area that Krzyzewski recruited in three years, after Dawkins (class of 1982) and Amaker (class of 1983). Danny Ferry would follow a year later.
A 1986 Washington Post feature on Krzyzewski’s D.C. pipeline placed King at the heart of the story. Dawkins, who was close with King, helped recruit Ferry by telling him the D.C. guys would look out for him. Four of Duke’s top seven players that year came from the Washington area. It was the beginning of a philosophy that would define Krzyzewski’s career: find talent-rich metros with year-round organized basketball, establish good will through one great recruit, and let the pipeline build itself.
King’s decision was uncomplicated. Duke had gone a combined 21–34 over the previous two seasons. He wasn’t choosing a dynasty. He was choosing a coach. ‘It was all Coach K,’ King said. ‘His belief in me gave me belief in him.’