This past weekend, on Saturday, March 5, legendary Duke head basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, famously known as Coach K, coached his final home game played at Cameron Indoor Stadium against rival North Carolina. Additionally, Krzyzewski announced his retirement last summer, going into this season, and laid out a plan for Jon Scheyer, current Duke associate head coach, to take over. The fans of Duke basketball weren’t ready to say goodbye to their beloved coach, and they made his final home game memorable.
Coach K’s Career
Mike Krzyzewski was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to play in the Army under legendary coach Bob Knight. He coached various service teams for five years, then coached as an assistant coach for a year at Indiana, before Army hired him to be their next head coach. Coach K went 73-59 during his time at Army before getting hired as the Duke head coach in 1980.
His first years at Duke were rough, having zero recruits in 1981, then having a combined record of 21-34 the next two seasons. His fourth year with the Blue Devils showed promise, however, going 24-10. Coach K led the school to five consecutive Final Fours from 1988-1992, resulting in two championships in 1991 and 1992. In the 94-95 season Duke went 13-18 when he missed 19 games due to back surgery.
via @dukembb on Instagram
Coach K won his third title in 2001, beating Arizona. In 2008 he achieved 800 wins, then in 2010, he won the school a fourth national title. Then in 2011, he won his 903rd career game, passing his former coach Bob Knight, to become the winningest coach in D1 history. In 2015, he earned his fifth title. This past June he announced his retirement after this season.
Ticket Insanity
North Carolina against Duke is always a highly anticipated matchup, as two of the blue bloods are almost always in contention for a national title. This year was even more special, however, due to this being Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game at Cameron Indoor.
Everyone wanted to be in one of Cameron Indoor’s 9,314 seats, and many were willing to pay a great deal of money to watch the game. USA Today says that the average price of a Stubhub ticket was $5,392. While a ticket for section 20, near the player’s entrance, within ten rows of the court, was going for $99,188 per ticket.
The prices were nothing, however, compared to what some students did to be in the student section. A tradition was started back in 1986 to camp in tents on the lawn of Cameron Indoor to get tickets to be in the student section.
Times have changed since then, and instead of starting a few days before, for Coach K’s final game, students started camping 32 days in advance. To even get on the lawn was quite a feat, however. 175 teams of 12 students took a one hour, 14-page exam on the history of Duke basketball, from Mike Krzyzewski’s life to the history of the rivalry to notable players The top 70 teams, 840 students in total, were given a spot on the lawn to pitch their tent and stay in.
Once the students pitched their tents on January 23, they were living out of there for longer than a month. Due to COVID concerns, instead of the usual ten people sleeping there at night, it was dropped to six. However during the day, they still had to have at least two people at all times. There are random checks throughout the day, and any team who gets two strikes must forfeit their spot up to a team on the waiting list. To get a better spot in line they could do things such as body paint or attending other Duke sporting events.
The Game
The game started with a special Coach K walkout, Coach K being greeted by many former and great players, honoring the legacy of Mike Krzyzewski.
The game was a tough matchup between the two rivals, going back and forth, with no team breaking out for a large lead. The no.6 Blue Devils, lead by top NBA prospect Paulo Banchero, were at half 41-39. Duke extended their lead to six midway through the second half. However, North Carolina tied it up minutes later. With just under seven minutes left, R.J. Davis made a jumper to give North Carolina a five-point lead. Duke cut the lead to one minute later, but could never come close again as North Carolina extended their lead to 94-81, handing the Blue Devils a loss.
After the loss, Coach K was greeted by lots of cheers and support from the home crowd, and before the planned ceremony began, Coach Krzyzewski went to the make and made an unprompted speech, addressing the crowd. He said, “This isn’t apart of our program…I’m sorry about this afternoon. It’s unacceptable. Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable. And I’ll tell you, the season isn’t over.”
After the game, there was a special ceremony honoring Coach Krzyzewski. The sixth-ranked Blue Devils will make an appearance in March Madness, the annual NCAA D1 tournament to decide the champion of college basketball.
A Legacy
Coach K leaves behind a basketball dynasty that he created and a legacy hat inspires many. Nevertheless, Coach K has earned many accolades and accomplishments that no other coach in history rivals. Coach Krzyzewski has developed many star NBA players in his time with them. Furthermore, Coach K is truly the most dominant coach in all of basketball.
Notable Players
- RJ Barrett
- Jay Bilas
- Seth Curry
- Andre Dawkins
- Grant Hill
- Brandon Ingram
- Kyrie Irving
- Christian Laettner
- JJ Reddick
- Jason Tatum
- Jason Williams
- Jay Williams
- Zion Williamson
- Elton Brand
College Success
- 5 national championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015)
- 12 National Coach of the Year honors
- 12 Final Four appearances(tied for most in NCAA history)
- 15 ACC tournament championships(most in league history)
- 35 NCAA tournament bids(most by one coach)
- 97 NCAA tournament wins(most in NCAA history)
- 126 weeks ranked No.1 in AP poll(most by a coach in poll history)
- 556Â weeks ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll (most by a coach in poll history)
- 649Â weeks ranked in the AP poll (most by a coach in poll history)
- 1,170Â career wins (most in NCAA history)
International
- Gold medals in 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics coaching USA basketball
- Gold medals in the 2010 and 2014 basketball World Cup coaching USA
Other
- 2001 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
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