![]() North Carolina's top prospects are Caleb Love and Armando Bacot, though both are currently considered second-round prospects for the NBA draft if they choose to enter. The other four have all come with the Blue Devils seeded first.ĭuke's Paolo Banchero, AJ Griffin and Mark Williams will almost certainly be in the NBA next year. In 1991, Krzyzewski won his first national title as a 2 seed. 2 seed in the tournament for the 13th time. ![]() Only one has won it all: Rollie Massimino's 1985 Villanova squad.ĭuke is a No. (50-47 not counting the two games Krzyzewski missed when he missed 1995 for back surgery.) Since Coach K arrived at Duke in 1980, the Blue Devils are 50-49. "If you're Carolina and you won Coach K's last game at Cameron, and then you won the game to end his career," Durham said, "I could see how that might linger a bit." But given the stakes, the setting and the people and history involved, there won't be anything quite like this again. 257 - was the most consequential game the teams had played in a rivalry that dates to 1920. There are those who had argued that that meeting - meeting No. Instead, a lasting memory of the day was Krzyzewski taking the mic after the 94-81 loss, apologizing and calling the entire performance "unacceptable." It was supposed to be a celebration of a lifetime of coaching. The teams meet exactly four weeks after North Carolina walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium and put a beatdown on Duke in Coach K's final home game. Redick walked back the joke the next day, saying it was all in good fun.īottom line is, these are two great schools with two great basketball programs, each of which has the power to make the other's life much less pleasant at any given moment. Any opponent in such a high-stakes meeting is, by definition, an opponent demanding a team's full attention. Watch highlights, game recaps and much more from the. A national semifinal being played on the floor of the Superdome is a massive enough moment in and of itself. Andy Katz talks with Coach K following his final game as head coach of Duke a loss to bitter rival North Carolina in the Final Four. The coaches and players are doing their best to play this straight. "There are others who just say, 'This is the biggest stage this rivalry has seen, but it doesn't automatically mean whoever wins has leverage over the loser forever.' Only time will tell." "There are some portions of both fan bases that are scared to death to see this game for fear of losing it," said Wes Durham, the longtime play-by-play announcer who also hosts an ACC-themed sports talk show. ![]() That it's happening in the 47th and final year of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's record-setting career, and that North Carolina could put an official end to that career, only adds to the tension. Tar Heels in the Final Four, the first time that's ever happened. On Saturday comes the 258th and most titanic meeting of them all - Blue Devils vs. Coach Ks gift to his players after Dukes Final Four loss: Easing their pain. The most important industry in the 11-mile stretch of real estate between North Carolina's two cathedrals of hoops, the Smith Center in Chapel Hill and Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, is basketball.įor decades, a win, or loss, in any given matchup between Duke and North Carolina has had the power to shape the next week, or month, or year, for the thousands of fans who wear different shades of blue, and bring two different worldviews to one of the most intense rivalries in sports. All we can say is: mission accomplished and expectations exceeded.NEW ORLEANS - The name "Tobacco Road" misses the point. He does mention that he thinks Duke has been about excellence and that he hopes to continue that. Obviously it stuck but not with reporter Johnny Phelps: despite attending the presser, he misprounced Krzyzewski three separate times. We can’t remember if it was here or later that he said just call me Coach K. Tom Butters introduces his new coach, saying that “there is no doubt in my mind that Mike is the brightest young coaching talent in America.”īutters found Krzyzewski when he approached Bob Knight about the job and Knight, in a rare moment of self-awareness, said no but suggested Coach K, telling Butters that Kryzyzewski had “all of my good qualities and none of my bad ones.” Butters went on to say that he believed Coach K to be the best choice to lead Duke now and in the future.įor his part, Coach K (this is not on this video) started off by spelling his name. For today’s YouTube Gold, we present to you the day Mike Krzyzewski was introduced as Duke’s new coach in 1980.
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