Legendary college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, widely known as Coach K, has coached his final home game for Duke University.
The basketball game, at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, was an upset as Duke was knocked off by rival UNC, 94-81. The Duke Blue Devils were ranked high in the NCAA Division I tournament, at fourth place. Following the game, the Duke fans were distraught and Coach K used his platform to shame the team.
“I’m sorry about this afternoon,” Coach K addressed the fans. “Please, everyone be quiet. Let me just say, that’s unacceptable. Today was unacceptable.”
While the Blue Devils aren’t finished yet – they take on a currently-unknown opponent in the ACC Tournament on Thursday, March 10 – it was a disappointing performance for Duke on their home court. The highly-regarded Coach K spoke out about his team’s performance, not pulling punches or holding back on his thoughts.
Coach K relives an emotional final night at Cameron.
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“I’m still emotioned out,” Krzyzewski said on Sirius XM radio. “We did not play well against North Carolina. North Carolina played great. It was surreal, really. Not just that night, but the couple of days, the Friday, even starting Thursday. Just the immense attention. It wasn’t the build-up for the game, and that’s what’s so unusual. The build-up of just being in the building, and I was really knocked back with all the great things that people were saying, did and showing up. It was more like a thank you. I’m appreciative…[but] we weren’t able to translate that to a performance that was at the level of that, and we needed it because Carolina was that good.”
Krzyzewski has coached at Duke for 42 years, during which he racked up a stunning 1,123-306 win-loss record, a .785 winning percentage. Among these wins are five national championships, winning back-to-back in 1991 and 1992, as well as 2001, 2010, and 2015. Despite these successes, Duke has disappointed in recent years, having choked up leads in the ACC and falling to lower-seeded teams in the past few seasons.
Despite Duke’s recent woes, it is undeniable that Coach K has had a wildly successful career with the university and team, and we at Celeb Secrets wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
What did you think of Coach K and Duke’s performance? Let us know, by either leaving a reaction below or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
