I have always thought that perhaps coaching in the professional ranks can be overrated at times, but it cannot be overstated in college. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his 900 wins are synonymous with the college game, but he clearly committed a coaching blunder by bringing back freshman Kyrie Irving for the NCAA tournament to the extent that he did.
In college ball, chemistry is critical especially since these guys are so young. Duke cruised through the regular season to a 30 – 4 record and another ACC tournament title. They were fueled all year by their leader and ACC Player of the Year, Nolan Smith. Nolan had a sensational senior campaign for the Blue Devils and has earned the right the be a Naismith Player of the Year finalist. When the ball is in his hands the majority of the game as the Point Guard, it’s nearly impossible to beat Duke.
However, right before the tournament began, Coach K announced that he was bringing back Kyrie Irving for their tournament run. Irving missed 3 and a half months and 26 games because of an injured right big toe. In his absence, Nolan Smith ran the show with precision. Ironically, what Kyrie does best as well is handle the ball which is why I thought his return would disrupt chemistry. Don’t get me wrong, Kyrie is extremely talented but he had no business being out there as long as he was last night.
I was mainly against bringing back Kyrie because I’m always against rushing a young player back from injury and up until the announcement, we were never introduced to the notion that he may be back for the tournament which led me to believe that maybe he wasn’t fully healthy. I was also against bringing him back because I knew it would disrupt chemistry, which is why I politely asked Mr. Krzyzewski to pump his brakes on Podcast 45 before the tournament began.
Against Arizona, Kyrie had the ball in his hands on the perimeter more so than Nolan did. Kyrie is plenty capable, but why now? When Nolan had the ball, he didn’t seem like himself. Perhaps some of his confidence was rattled by Kyrie’s presence because Smith finished with just eight points on 3 – 14 shooting and a game-high six turnovers. Meanwhile, Kyrie poured in a team-high 28.
In last week’s game against Michigan, Kyrie played just 21 minutes to Nolan’s 38. Although Duke just narrowly beat the Wolverines, their offense seemed more in sync because Nolan was the primary ball handler and everyone is used to playing with him. Against Arizona, Duke more or less had to learn how to play with Kyrie on the fly since Coach K announced before the game that Kyrie would play “significant minutes.” Not only did Kyrie play 31 minutes but he took a team-high 15 shots.
Even though he only played a handful of games this year, I feel as if Kyrie is the best player on Duke’s roster and if he were healthy all year and the team had the chance to develop chemistry with him, Duke would’ve stood a much better chance at beating Arizona last night (although the Wildcats and Derrick Williams played as well as you will ever see a college team play). But to ask the team to learn how to play with Kyrie during a Sweet 16 game was a terrible gamble by Coach K. I’m not saying that he shouldn’t have reinserted Kyrie if he was healthy, but it was clearly the wrong decision to play him as much as he did. Coach K may have lost the game for Duke as much as Arizona’s nearly flawless game won it for them.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
