Arguably more than any player in Duke University basketball history, coach Mike Krzyzewski is the face of Blue Devils basketball. His career coaching accomplishments are breathtaking, 4 National Championships, 11 Final Fours, 13 ACC Championships, and a record 79 NCAA Tournament wins. I’ll argue that you can put his resume on par or better with that of NCAA legends Adolph Rupp, John Wooden, Dean Smith or Bob Knight.
After his team bested Presbyterian in blowout fashion 96-55 Saturday evening, Coach K joined even more rarified air by tieing “The General” Bob Knight for the all-time Division I coaching wins list with 902 victories.
Coach K improved to 902-284 in his 37 seasons as a college coach at Army and Duke. He can pass Knight—his coach and mentor—on Tuesday night against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden.
As for the game, the Blue Devils took command early, in stark contrast to their 1 point victory over Belmont on Friday, getting out to a 23 point halftime lead behind 61% shooting. Ryan Kelly led all scorers with 17, while star freshman Austin Rivers had another great all around game consisting of 15 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Coach K also got a spirited effort from two of the Plumlee brothers as Mason had a solid 13 point, 8 board, and 3 block night and older brother Miles tallied a double-double(13pts, 11reb) in the winning cause.
In a post-game interview, Coach K chose to reveal an excerpt from a pre-game conversation with longtime friend Bob Knight instead of allowing the focus to be on himself:
“He(Knight) says to me, `Michael … Can you tell your kids to win those three games real quick?”’ Krzyzewski said. “I said, `Coach, yeah, those first three, every game’s important.’ He says, `No, no, not for that. I’m getting tired of saying nice things about you.’
“He says, `Tell your players I’m getting angry, and maybe that will motivate them,”’ Krzyzewski added. “I said, `Well, Coach, I’ve spent my entire life trying to make sure you haven’t been angry.”
There’s no denying that Bob Knight is awesome. But seriously, Knight would probably agree that his former PG and coaching protege is the ideal person to surpass his all-time wins mark as Krzyzewski has been one of the good guys in college basketball in his 30+ years on the sidelines. Fans of the Duke program are equally excited as he nears the record as they have started a website focused on Coach K’s record number of wins, aptly titled 903andCounting.com.
Check out a video of the Cameron Crazies chanting “902”:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
