NEW YORK– Duke’s Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski attempted to downplay his historic 1,000th career victory before and after the Blue Devils defeated St. John’s 78-67, Sunday afternoon at before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at the sold out Garden.
But it was hard, with his assistants and players embracing him on the sidelines as the clock wound down and photographers, TV cameras and the media swarming him after the final buzzer as he tried to make his way to his locker room to share his milestone victory with family and friends.
Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be part of the moment. As the game ended, Duke and St. John’s fans rose as one to clap and acknowledge the accomplishment. The Duke players were given T-shirts that read “1,000 Wins and Kounting.” When the Garden PA announcer offered congratulations to Krzyzewski, Duke fans began chanting his name and held up “K” signs in praise of a man whose leadership, humility and grace under fire have made him a legend.
Krzyzewski is really Coach K now, the first men’s Division I college men’s coach to reach that magic number. He is the most dominant college basketball coach in the last 40 years, winning four national championships, taking his teams to 11 Final Fours and winning 12 ACC championships and 13 ACC tournament championships..
“I’m glad it’s over,” Krzyzewski said in the post game interview room where he was surrounded by most of his family– including two of his three daughters and seven of his nine grandchildren.
“There will be others that win more, but it is kind of neat to be the first one to 1,000. I am proud of that, too: It’s not just the number of wins, but the quality of
opponents we’ve had.”
Duke gets everyone’s best shot. The Blue Devils are the Yankees and the Cowboys of this sport, a popular, polarizing America’s team that merits fans’ respect but also their dislike because of their perennial success.
There will never be another Mike Krzyzewski. Not in our life time. Not in two life times. He is the gold standard.
Of the current coaches, Rick Pitino of Louisville, Billy Donovan of Florida and Roy Williams of Carolina has each won two national championships. Bill Self of Kansas, Tom Izzo of Michigan State, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Steve Fisher of San Diego State and John Calipari of Kentucky have one and Calipari could add another this March.
Former Tennnessee coach Pat Summit, another Hall of Famer, is the all-time leader in men’s and women’s Division I career victories with 1,098, although some of her wins came in the old AIAW. Hall of Fame coach Boeheim is second among men’s Division I coaches with 962 career victories.
But it is hard to conceive of anyone in the men’s game coaching at this high level for this long, averaging 25 wins per season. It is hard to conceive of anyone else spending 10 years helping reinvent USA Basketball and restore this country’s supremacy in global basketball. It is hard to envision just how big his voice has become whenever various basketball and college athletics topics are brought up for discussion.
Mike Krzyzewski “is the coach of our generation,” UConn Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun told USA Today. He is following i the footsteps of the late John Wooden, Dean Smith and Bob Knight and has become the most distinguished face on a Mt. Rushmore of coaches..
Looie Carnesecca, the colorful 90-year old St. John’s Hall of Fame icon who has his own banner hanging from the rafters of this fabled arena above Penn Station, made a special trip in from Queens to watch his former team. He was part of a celebrity laced crowd that included 15-to-20 former Duke players as well as Carmelo Anthony of Phil Jackson of the Knicks and former St. Johnh’s greats like Chris Mullin and Felipe Lopez and Nike CEO Phil Knight.
Carnesecca ran into Krzyzewski back stage during pre-game. “I love coach Carnesecca and what he’s done for the game,” Krzyzewski said. “He said, ‘Don’t take the chandeliers’ and I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me, man. I just hope we can take a ball home. We’ll leave the chandeliers.”’
Duke turned the lights out on the Johnnies, rallying from a 10-point second half deficit with a 23-5 run at the end of the game.
Krzyzewski, who was dressed in a blue suit and white sneakers in support of Coaches vs. Cancer, is now part of the legacy of this building, winning 26 games here in what is technically the Johnnies home court but has also become Duke’s home away from home. The Devils make a pilgrimage here once a year and fans refer to the place as Cameron Square Garden. “I love Cameron,” Krzyzewski said. “But this is a magical place.” Krzyzewski specializes in making history here. He did it once before in Nov. 15, 2011 when his Blue Devils defeated Michigan State 74-69, for his 903rd victory, surpassing Bob Knight, his former coach at Army, as the winningest Division I men’s coach.
Ever since Duke beat Pitt, 79-65, on the road the previous Monday night, the hype for this game seemed to take on a bigger than life aura. Krzyzewski cautioned his team the next day about the media blitz they would face. He never mentioned it again the rest of the week. “The way we saw it it was one game out of 1,000,” Duke junior forward Amile Jefferson said. “But you could feel a difference. This was bigger than any one of these players in the locker room. It’s not just an amazing thing for our sport, but for all sports.”
For a while, it looked like it might not happen. Duke looked lost at half time, falling behind, 43-39.
“At halftime, I sent out a text to destroy all those books I’d written about leadership because they weren’t working,” Krzyzewski admitted.
But Krzyewski has evolved with the game in an effort to maintain his profile. He has gone from coaching four year program players to maxing out one and dones. Freshman point guard Tyus Jones, who finished with 22 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds and was 10 for 10 from the line, lead an gritty comeback, nailing a dagger three to give Duke a 72-65 lead that sealed the deal. Another freshman, 6-11 center Jahlil Okafor, finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, solidifying his position as the leading candidate for National Player of the Year. St. John’s played an inspired game, but the Red Storm just didn’t have enough depth to hang in after 6-9 center Chris Obekpa picked up a fourth personal with 4:07 to play.
“We were so gritty in the last 10 minutes,” Krzyzewski said. “It was tough to get involved with 1,000. I was just trying to survive this game, which is how you get to 1,000.”
Duke knows how to win this games. St. John’s, which has made just one NCAA appearance in the last 10 years, is still trying to figure it out.
“Again, I’m honored,” Krzyzewski said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m the lucky guy. I’m the lucky guy who’s been at two great institutions never had a day in 40 years where i was worried about my back with my ADs, superintendents and presidents. Not many people can say that. To win and do this now– we had six days between games so there has been so many articles written and things i didn’t ever remember about me– most of them not that good and maybe that’s why i didn’t remember them.”
Krzyzewski has accomplished so much. But what makes him so good is the fact he is never satisfied and is always looking for new challenges to conquer. He has coached Team USA to a pair of gold medals in 2008 and 2012 and two World championships in 20101 and 2014 and has the summer games at Rio on his radar in 2016. He would like to hang at least one more banner in Cameron before he retires, too,, whenever that might be.
“We’ve always tried to win with class and honor the game,” he said. “Nobody is bigger than the game.”
Krzyzewski knows there is an end in sight. “I’m going to be 68 next month and the end is coming sooner rather than later,” Krzyzewski admitted. “Hopefully not real soon.”
At the same time, Krzyzewski is enjoying life too much these days. to walk away into the sunset and as long as his health is good, he has earned the right to choose his retrement date.
College basketball will miss him when he finally turns into a stone monument to the game.
