Mike Krzyzewski is bad for college basketball???

maxdemo · Feb 8, 2006

Back off, Coach K, for the good of the game
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</TD><TD noWrap>Feb. 8, 2006
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Gregg your opinion!
</TD><TD width=10> </TD><TD align=right><SCRIPT language=JavaScript></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/sponsorships.spln.com/fs/stories/collegebasketball;arena=collegebasketball;feat=stories;type=psa;!category=beer;user=Named;ct=USA;st=TX;ac=832;age=C;seg=nonaol;ctype=lan;lang=en-us;lang=en-us;vpmp=yes;adv=a;cust=yes;fteam=NFL-none;fteam=NBA-none;fteam=MLB-none;fteam=NHL-none;fteam=NCAAF-none;fteam=NCAAB-none;pteam=NFL-none;pteam=NBA-none;pteam=NCAAF-none;fplay=TEN-none;fplay=AUTO-none;pplay=TEN-none;pplay=AUTO-none;vip=no;u=maxdemo2002;sz=234x42;tile=5;ord=6519987665279783?"></SCRIPT>

</NOSCRIPT> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=10> </TD><TD>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
<TABLE style="MARGIN: 5px 0px 5px 5px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 8px; BORDER-LEFT: #cccccc 1px solid"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is a great coach, a great leader and a great endorser for American Express. But it's time for Coach K to be something greater.
A great man.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=200 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD width=200> </TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR><TR><TD width=200></TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Krzyzewski has a passion and a love for college basketball, and for six days and 20 hours each week, he's a wonderful ambassador. But for those other four hours, his four most visible hours -- two for this game, two for that one -- he's awful. He's noxious. He is, in fact, an eroding influence on the sport he helped build.
Yes, I'm saying it: For four hours each week, Mike Krzyzewski is bad for college basketball.
The background is the ACC's one-game suspension of the officials who helped screw Florida State out of a win Saturday at Duke. Those officials gave a double technical to FSU center Alexander Johnson and Duke's Shelden Williams when only Williams deserved it. The technicals counted as personal fouls -- Johnson's fifth -- and he was disqualified with more than nine minutes left. Duke won 97-96 in overtime.
Did officials intentionally help Duke by intentionally hurting Florida State? No way. That call, that game -- Duke shot 41 free throws to Florida State's 11, even though FSU was attacking the basket -- wasn't evidence of a pro-Duke conspiracy. Anyone who believes otherwise should leave. We've got a bigger issue to address than your favorite fable.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The blown technical wasn't the problem, but a symptom. Other symptoms were late pro-Duke calls involving Williams' physical post defense -- first against Boston College's Tyrese Rice, then FSU's Todd Galloway -- that helped Duke win games last week.
Again, those are symptoms -- but not the sickness. However, in a strange and potentially fortunate twist, the cold and the cure are one and the same: Mike Krzyzewski.
Krzyzewski is the problem, but he's also the fix.
This has to be a collaborative effort, solving the officiating issues that taint Duke games. And Duke games have definitely become tainted. Along with J.J. Redick's jumper, the impact of officiating is a major storyline whenever Duke plays. And that, people, is terrible for the game.
And that, people, is Krzyzewski's fault. Watch him from start to finish. Watch him work the officials. Watch him spew and curse and sneer. It's ugly.
Not that ugly is the problem. Most coaches work officials. Gary Williams looks deranged. Jim Boeheim looks ill. Karl Hobbs looks persecuted. But Krzyzewski is different: He's Krzyzewski.
Name the five most powerful people in basketball. Coach K has to be on that list. He's the head coach of the NCAA's top program over the past 25 years; he's the head coach of the next U.S. Olympic team; he could be the head coach of any NBA team he wanted, most recently the Los Angeles Lakers. He's enormous. Game officials? They're human. They spend two hours getting worked over by Krzyzewski, and like a boxer absorbing gut punches for 14 rounds, the impact is crushing. It has to be. Krzyzewski is an immortal. Officials aren't.

For two hours twice a week, Krzyzewski preys on that stuff. That's how the FSU-Duke officials buckled and gave Johnson a bad technical. That's how two straight 50-50 calls in the final seconds went Duke's way against Boston College and then FSU. Coach K spends two hours winning those two seconds.
Krzyzewski says things, abominable things, that other coaches can't. Listen to him. Read his lips. Coach K gets away with it because he's Coach K. Need a reminder? Read the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Krzyzewski, who wouldn't be made available for comment, has become what he once despised -- a latter-day Dean Smith. On Jan. 21, 1984, after uneven officiating cost Duke a win against Smith's North Carolina dynasty, Krzyzewski unloaded in his postgame news conference.
"I want to tell you something," he said. "... You cannot allow people to go around pointing at officials and yelling at them without technicals being called. That is just not allowed. So let's get some things straight around here and quit the double standard that exists in this league, all right?"
Good idea then, and good idea now. But it can't start with officials. They've been pushed around too long, too mercilessly, by the biggest bully on the block. They're not going to stand up to Krzyzewski now.
It's up to Krzyzewski to make the first move. To pipe down. To back off. He has become the biggest star in his universe, and it takes a great man to build that base of power.
But it takes a small man to wield it the wrong way.

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lander · Feb 8, 2006

Coach K isn't bad for college basketball. Look at some of the graduation rates of the other programs. Last I knew, Coah K's was one of the highest.

I can't stand Duke, but the more coaches that enforce scholastics, the better IMO.

maxdemo · Feb 8, 2006

He is bad when it comes to working the officials over in a game....

Matt24 · Feb 8, 2006

haha, doyel hates Duke. Check out his site.

www.truthaboutduke.com

hawkeye171 · Feb 8, 2006

Name another coach, that skips the pre-halftime interview on T.V.? Coach K has his assistant do it. I'm not saying he's bad for college basketball, far from it, but Duke does get it's share of breaks. But didn't Indiana when Knight was there? I'm an Iowa fan and I don't recall the Hawks getting too many breaks when Bobby Knight was on the opposing bench. And I can't remember very well, but I wonder if U.C.L.A. got breaks when the Wizard of Westwood glared out from behind his rolled up program? In a sense, getting breaks for your team, is part of being a good game-day coach.

Journeyman · Feb 8, 2006

K works the refs like no other coach in the game, his status has unfortunately put his team above the game at times, yes here we go again with bias refs.

I think by now we all have seen him enough times on the sideline barking in an officals ear.....you CANNOT take anything away from his incredible record getting Duke to the final four, and as Lander mentioned the graduation rate at Duke...but when he gets that rat face look going in a game ,you cannot help but root for his team to lose.

He is the epitomy of a great great coach...Duke is dominating more now than ever in a much more competetive era of college basketball.

lander · Feb 8, 2006

maxdemo said:
He is bad when it comes to working the officials over in a game....

Duke certainly gets the "benefit of the doubt" (to put it mildly), but the NCAA and the refs are the real problem.

Is Coach K supposed to stop lobbying for calls? Every coach does it -- if the league, Dickie V, whoever .. would just stop sweating Duke this wouldn't be an issue.

I see your point, but "don't hate the player -- hate the game."

Journeyman · Feb 8, 2006

hawkeye171 said:
And I can't remember very well, but I wonder if U.C.L.A. got breaks when the Wizard of Westwood glared out from behind his rolled up program? In a sense, getting breaks for your team, is part of being a good game-day coach.

When K first arrived at Duke they use to say he would get disgusted with the home cooking Dean Smith's clubs got....being a lifelong ACC fan and having my heart ripped out by Carolina and Duke many times, I can attest to both coaches having the refs on their side, to a degree that is part of the success the have acheived, as bad as that sounds it is part of the game.

Duke players (same as Carolina use to be) always get away with stripping the ball without being whistled for fouls.

The thing I notice most that seperates Duke is the fact they play hard for 40 minutes...that is coach K

hawkeye171 · Feb 8, 2006

Duke does play hard for 40 minutes. In watching the Duke-UNC game last night, it looked like helter-skelter much of the time, but that was because of the intensity.

Matt24 · Feb 8, 2006

Regarding Coach K/Coach Knight getting calls, when they met in the final four back in 92, the officiating was a complete travesty, the entire IU starting 5 fouled out, Coach Knight got a technical, and still IU only lost by a couple.

REDEYE · Feb 8, 2006

I have alot more respect For Tarkanian then Coach K for one main reason. Tark would help the kid when he was in trouble, " and maybe get into the gray area doing it " but Coach K would turn his back and never take a chance on a kid that had a little baggage. Who would you really want to help you if you were in a jam, Tark ,who's not afraid to tarnish his image, or coach K , who probably wouldn't want anything to do with you to begin with. No Brainer for me

hawkeye171 · Feb 8, 2006

Matt24 said:
Regarding Coach K/Coach Knight getting calls, when they met in the final four back in 92, the officiating was a complete travesty, the entire IU starting 5 fouled out, Coach Knight got a technical, and still IU only lost by a couple.

Can't say I remember that game like you do, but I remember when Iowa would play Indiana and Dr. Tom Davis would be on the sidelines clapping and patting guys on the back and Knight would scowling and his red sweater would be climbing up his stomach, and it always seemed, the Hoosiers would get the majority of the calls. I will say Knight has changed his tune at Texas Tech.

TTinCO · Feb 8, 2006

Why can't we just get rid of Duke entirely?

:finger: Duke

D2bets · Feb 8, 2006

I disagree. It's not Coach K's job. He doesn't a mob hit out on these refs. They ought to be able to ref a game fairly no matter who's coaching. Get some better freaking refs. And if K goes over the line, then T him up.

How about getting refs with cajones.

AlwaysKeen · Feb 9, 2006

coach K likes to keep the press on when I have NC St. +12 and then they lose by 13...

Dawoofdaddy · Feb 9, 2006

The real problem is that assignors are up coaches asses in order to keep their jobs.

Thus, referees are mostly a bunch of suck-asses and will do anything to appease certain coaches which keeps their assignor happy.

If an officials starts passing out technical fouls to coaches, he wont be getting a schedule.

If referees were more independent of leagues, then they would be able to honestly call games without fear of coaches having influence with league assignors in scheduling.

You can bet that whoever the top 2 or 3 coaches are in each league have similar influence over how officials call games.

K is not only the man in ACC, he is the top coach in NCAA hoops.

5teamparlay · Apr 6, 2015

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfranci...-coachings-mount-rushmore/Content?oid=2925670

| Can everyone stop using N-word? »[h=1]Coach K deserves his spot on coaching’s Mount Rushmore[/h]<cite class="byline"> By Art Spander</cite>

 click to enlarge

David J. Phillip/AP file photo
Mike Krzyzewski will seek his fifth title today when Dukes takes on Wisconsin.

Saving…

<style> div.jp-audio, div.jp-video ** /* Edit the font-size to counteract inherited font sizing. * Eg. 1.25em = 1 / 0.8em */ font-size:1.25em; } div#storyBody div.inlineAudio, div#AudioPlayer div.inlineAudio ** width: 400px; margin: auto; } </style>INDIANAPOLIS — We’re big on comparisons. Could Muhammad Ali have beaten Joe Louis — or Rocky Marciano? Could Tiger Woods have defeated Jack Nicklaus? And, as if subjectivity doesn’t enter into the equations, who is the greatest college men’s basketball coach of all time? Up front, I’ll tell you: I’m a UCLA grad, and I knew John Wooden. So, yes, I’m biased. But if you insist, take Mike Krzyzewski, who tonight has Duke in another NCAA final. Or Adolph Rupp. Or Bobby Knight. Or Dean Smith. Or the man who veritably invented the game and mentored Smith, Phog Allen. Then you have an argument. Wooden once told me winning was more difficult than losing because once you win, the fans, alumni and critics expect you to win again and again — and by larger and larger margins. Krzyzewski understands. He was down a year ago. His brother, Bill, had died. Then Duke lost to 14th-seeded Mercer (Mercer!) in the first round of the tournament. His energy level was low. Yet, now, at age 68, one game from a fifth championship with a résumé that’s unmatchable, Krzyzewski is remarkably upbeat. Giddy, those close to him say. And the Duke people are equally excited that Coach K — a perfect nickname for the only man who has 1,000 victories — goes on and on. He has coached the Blue Devils to the Final Four 12 times. He coached the U.S. men’s national team to two Olympic gold medals, teaming with a fellow native Chicagoan, Jerry Colangelo, in resurrecting a national program in crisis. In college, it’s primarily about recruiting. And the freshmen he brought in last fall — Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow and Tyus Jones — have been spectacular enough to get Duke to the ultimate game and probably to leave early become first-round NBA picks. In the international game, it’s about persuading superstars — Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LeBron James, many others — to subjugate their individual brilliance for the good of the team, Before Krzyzewski agreed to become part of the program, the Americans were losing to Puerto Rico, to Spain, settling for Olympic bronze medals. Not any more. His 1991 Duke team stunned unbeaten UNLV in the NCAA semifinal, and now 24 years later in the final game, Duke faces Wisconsin, which Saturday night upset unbeaten Kentucky in the NCAA semis. The years go on, and so does the Krzyzewski success. “We don’t have unrealistic expectations,” said a man unafraid of telling the truth. “In other words, we know we’re a good team. But we’re one of many good teams.” Now, they’re only one of only two good teams remaining, a tribute to Krzyzewski. If any of the favorites went down along the way, it figured to be Duke. Instead, it was Kentucky. And there was Coach K trying to diffuse praise and counter Wooden by saying there haven’t been expectations, only satisfaction. “I certainly have not felt any pressure,” he said. “We’ve really been in our moment.” Krzyzewski’s moments keep coming. Not many coaches reach the title game over a span of a quarter-century. In 1992. Duke ousted the Fab Five Michigan squad. He figures a way to overcome people such as Larry Johnson of UNLV or Chris Webber of Michigan. “You keep learning about the game,” he said. “It’s not just the title game. It’s what you learn about coaching. You’re constantly learning. “I’m a better coach now than I was in ’86 or ’91 or ’92. Just to be in the moment. It’s more what you learn about this game. The Final Four is a different animal when you come in. There’s so much time between that Saturday or Sunday [regional final] and the Saturday [of the Final Four]. So handling is what you learn the most, not so much about it title game.”The little details, the big men such as Okafor, the tough losses, the enthralling wins. Krzyzewski is candid about his involvement, particularly when asked what a win tonight would mean. “We have our spot,” he said. Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said the pronoun is reserved for monarchs, editors and people with worms? “I know I’m one of the really good coaches,” he went on. “I know we’re one of the really good programs. Monday night is about [the players]. They shouldn’t think of anything else. It has nothing to do with Duke historically or me.” On the contrary, when a man coaches more than 1,000 wins, when he repeatedly brings in top athletes and gets to the final game, when he repairs America’s broken Olympic program, it has everything to do with him. Mike Krzyzewski is no less than the second-best coach of all time. We’ll let it do at that. Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com. Email him at typoes@aol.com.

Vlad the Impaler · Apr 6, 2015

Sorry but Coach K is overated. I would prob. love playing for the guy but really, Brad Stevens came within a shot of beating him with players Coach K would never look at. Duke doesn't recruit. They just pick and choose who they want. I will give him credit; he adapted to the changes. He knows you need 1 and dones now. Bob Knight refused to accept that. Coach K blends the one and dones with the 4 year guys

Enfuego · Apr 6, 2015

Vlad the Impaler said:
Sorry but Coach K is overated. I would prob. love playing for the guy but really, Brad Stevens came within a shot of beating him with players Coach K would never look at. Duke doesn't recruit. They just pick and choose who they want. I will give him credit; he adapted to the changes. He knows you need 1 and dones now. Bob Knight refused to accept that. Coach K blends the one and dones with the 4 year guys

There was a time when CBB didn't have this one-and-done thing and in those times, Coach K was as good as anyone as well. Had to recruit Hurley, Laettner, Hill, and all the rest.

gmrcharity · Apr 6, 2015

Where do you come up with your stuff man? Coack K and overated should never be in the same sentence.

Vlad the Impaler said:
Sorry but Coach K is overated. I would prob. love playing for the guy but really, Brad Stevens came within a shot of beating him with players Coach K would never look at. Duke doesn't recruit. They just pick and choose who they want. I will give him credit; he adapted to the changes. He knows you need 1 and dones now. Bob Knight refused to accept that. Coach K blends the one and dones with the 4 year guys