'It was mine for 42 years, but it's Duke's forever,' Mike Krzyzewski said as he's ready to let go, but not ready to see this end
Saturday will be the 1,562nd match of Mike Krzyzewski's illustrious career.
When the ball is tipped at around 6:20. ET, therefore, will begin the 647th and final time that Krzyzewski will coach his Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a sacred basketball fortress he has transformed into a living, breathing creature. Over the course of four decades, Coach Kay and Cameron Craze have, in part, redefined the competitive value of the home-court advantage—as well as making college basketball much better on television.
The Krzyzewski Duke is the most important unit in sports history, and the Cameroon Indoor Stadium is No. On Saturday, he will join forces for the last time. Not enough preparation is being done for this. Krzyzewski walked into that building thousands of times. It is one of the most familiar and comfortable places ever known. Something different will feel on Saturday. There is no solution for this, so his approach makes sense.
"Just let it happen and see what happens," he said.
sounds about right. It's weird to have a crescent moon in the regular season, but that's what he and Duke are headed for. What next week's ACC tournament plays in front of more than 9,300 lucky souls inside one of the country's premier sporting venues will serve as an opposing climax.
Keeping balance with the universe, it should all - it should - come up against rival North Carolina, the 97th episode in which Krzyzewski will try to defeat the Tar Heels; He has done this only 50 times before. A victory for Duke would top K in 573 victories inside the Gothic basketball cathedral, which has hosted dozens of huge games and frenzied environments in its 82-year lifetime.
The 490th consecutive selling out Cameron Indoor Stadium - a streak that dates back to 1990 - will be as star-studded as a college basketball event we've ever seen. As of Friday morning, the expected number of former Coach K players, coaches and staff who will return to the homeland is close to 80.
"In the first few years, I don't think I would have predicted any of them would return," Krzyzewski said with a smile on Thursday in his final press conference before a home game in his career.
Krzyzewski doesn't remember his first game at Duke (a 67–49 win over Stetson on November 29, 1980), but he did remember his first home win against North Carolina from the same season.
Considering the size of Cameroon, and with some tickets on the secondary market costing north of $10,000, it has objectively become the hardest ticket to land in basketball history. No matter the final score, the game will be contrary to what it has seen. Krzyzewski announced his retirement in early June 2021. This has been the peak of nine months so far. To see Krzyzewski on Thursday, it seemed that the gravity of Saturday's wait was finally sinking.
"I've tried never to look too much into the past or the future, but, you know, was thinking a little bit yesterday," Krzyzewski said. "It's your last game. In Cameroon. Like, this is crazy. How did it happen? How's it here?"
It's here, and on Thursday, Krzyzewski — in fact, for the first time this season — seemed ready to accept the imminent ending, the way he's come to understand the past four months. As he does so often and so smoothly, Krzyzewski bounces back and forth between a reflective but focused, serious but tongue-in-cheek sound. He didn't hit all the notes, but he hit a lot of them.
He also seemed like a man who knows that some sensations await him on Saturday that will be seemingly irreversible.
"I've tried not to think about it so much, but I know it will be emotional," Krzyzewski said.
All this creates a strange situation. We know Duke's season won't end Saturday night; No one knows when Duke's season, and thus Krzyzewski's career, will end. It could happen at the end of this month; It may not happen until April. But Saturday is a farewell to those who love him most.
Krzyzewski isn't eager to say goodbye, but he insists on reminding us that he's ready to leave.
"I'm ready," he said, then added the line, which brushes off any signs of late-season regret over a retirement decision he made in private at least a year ago: "Trust me. I don't have any thoughts in my head."
Krzyzewski is not only going out on his own terms, he is largely leaving the Duke program behind. There has been some occasional talk about how much of Krzyzewski's attendance will be around the program once associate head coach Jon Scherer becomes head coach. K's words were certain on Thursday.
"I would have nothing to do with our basketball program," he said. "It's not about me. Some people have told me that certain things have been written [that] I'm trying to maintain control. It couldn't be further from the truth. It was mine for 42 years, But it's a forever duke."
It is still Krzyzewski for another three, four or five weeks. And this is a man whose competition is so intense that he is drowned in passion. The regular movie sessions that ripped through at 3 or 4 p.m. to think he would soften as he prepares for his last home game against Carolina would miss the mark he met at Saturday's commemoration.
"It's not like I'm looking forward to the end of the season," Krzyzewski said. "When I say I'm looking forward to that new chapter, don't confuse it with 'I'm ready for it to end.' I don't."
His exodus will begin in earnest on Saturday. Sport is effectively a backdrop for a function – for everyone except the people who play and coach the sport. With so much focus on Krzyzewski, it's a curiosity to consider how players will prepare themselves on the main stage for two hours. North Carolina, established as a double-digit underdog, is being given basically no chance of winning it.
This is UNC-Duke as a reminder. This rivalry has a way of leaning into the theatrics. Duke could have won by 25, but only a close game would be appropriate. Given the spectacle and anxiety that surrounds this game, trying to predict how any team will react immediately is a fool's errand.
"I don't want them to feel that there is so much about me, you know, that that moment is about us," Krzyzewski said. "And so, I want them to understand that this is our moment. And it just happens in this situation, and for them not to play because it's the last game for the coach. Play because we must win."
Duke does not honor its transfer students on Senior Day, and four-year-old Blue Devil Joy Baker is asked to return next season, meaning this year's Seniors Day will be for one person: someone who is 42 years old. Came first, as a 33-year-old alphabet-soup with the last name.
"Who would have ever thought? It's my senior day," Krzyzewski said.
He asked: How is it here? Krzyzewski will look at the floor that bears his name and find those answers on the faces of the players who surround him. This will be one of the scenes of the year in the game.
He seems like a ready man. Ready for another Carolina game, ready for one last NCAA Tournament, ready for another push to try and win a national title. But above all, Krzyzewski seems ready to relinquish his power. There is nothing left to prove. That's what it really is.