While at Jesuit, Hank Dudek played on two TCIL State Championship basketball teams (1985, 1986) and one state runner-up (1987). As a junior, Dudek led the balanced Ranger attack with 12.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, and was named to the TCIL All-State and All-Tournament teams. During his senior campaign, he averaged 19.7 points per game while adding 11.1 rebounds and five assists. The Dallas Morning News ranked him the No. 3 player in the area and the No. 12 player in Texas.
During summer basketball following his senior year, Dudek was the third-leading scorer on a BCI team that included future NBA players Larry Johnson and Stephen Howard, and fell one win short of a national championship. Dudek, who was named Jesuit’s MVP, was also nominated to the McDonald’s All-American team.
As a freshman at the University of Richmond, Dudek played a pivotal role in leading the Spiders to a Colonial Athletic Conference Championship. The team made history by upsetting No. 3 Indiana and Georgia Tech to become the first 13 seed to reach the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Richmond eventually lost to the nationally-ranked No. 1 Temple Owls, but finished the year ranked No. 12 in the country.
Dudek was a starting forward for Richmond as a sophomore, but despite averaging over eight points and four rebounds per contest, he transferred in mid-season to the University of Texas. There, he helped the Longhorns reach the NCAA Elite 8 in 1990, as Texas knocked off Georgia (SEC champs), Purdue (Big 10 champs) and Xavier (MAC champs), before dropping a hard-fought, three-point decision to Arkansas. Dudek provided valuable interior defense on a guard-oriented team that produced two NBA players.
