If you watch college hoops at all you are probably aware of the legendary coach of Duke University who is mostly known as "Coach K". He is called this because no one can ever remember how to spell his last name and most people can't remember how to pronounce it. Despite being spelled "Krzyzewski" it is pronounced "Sheh-shev-ski" which is guess makes sense in Polish.
I have never really been a fan of Duke University basketball, but I do have a lot of respect for a man with a decades long career that managed to make a relatively small school's basketball program one of the most respected and feared in the nation for a very long time.
He has produced many NBA stars during his tenure at Duke and for the most part, when he wanted a high-school recruit, he would be able to get them. One of the few major names that turned him down was famously, Michael Jordan who opted at the last minute to attend UNC (University of North Carolina) instead.
Coach K's farewell game took place at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium this week and while it should have been a great day for celebration and an almost guaranteed victory, Duke actually lost to unranked UNC, who are their long-standing rivals, of all teams.
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It was an emotional goodbye to one of the greatest coaches that the US has ever seen. He has been the head coach at Duke University since 1980 and in that time he has lead the Blue Devils to 5 national titles as well as 12 Final Four appearances, which is not something that many other teams can claim. He has also been the head coach for the USA Olympic team for 3 consecutive Olympics and they won gold in all of them. To be fair this might be largely because the United States is simply a lot better at basketball than most of the rest of the world but still, it is part of his resume regardless.
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Coach K is no spring chicken, as they say and at 75 years of age it is probably time to let the guy go enjoy his life free of basketball. He will forever be remembered as one of the greatest and even though I actually prefer UNC over Duke University as far as basketball or really anything else is concerned - I would have preferred if they had won his last home game ever.
The party isn't over yet though: This is just their last home game and tournament time is coming up soon. Duke was ranked number 4 in the nation going into this upset loss and they aren't really favorites on anyone's list to win the tournament, but you never know.... They've done it 5 times before.
I suspect a very dark winter for Duke after Coach K leaves because his shoes are simply too big to fill. I recall when Steve Logan was the coach of the university I attended and in his 10 years there the Pirates were real competitors and he propelled that program to greatness. Ever since he left they have been pretty terrible ever since.
A coach isn't just someone who calls plays and has an overall mindset for the game but is also a major influence on recruiting and in the absence of Coach K, a lot of the incentive for aspiring high school basketball players to attend Duke University is going to be greatly diminished.
It could be a very long time before they see greatness again, if they ever do.