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Twoback said:
What was the overall that season? I don't recall Duke winning 12 games that year.
Here's a Lute Olson question
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What was the overall that season? I don't recall Duke winning 12 games that year.
Elliotte Friedman
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Whoops. NCAA.
Sorry to disappoint you, twoback. No personal biases here.
Here are the facts: Krzyzewski initially underwent back surgery in October, before the season started. The team did start very well, going 9-2 in pre-conference play.
Game one of ACC play was at home to Clemson. The Tigers hadn't won at Cameron in 10 years. Duke lost. Krzyzewski announced Gaudet would (temporarily) take over before the next game, at Georgia Tech. Duke lost.
Then came: a loss at Wake Forest, where the Devils shot their worst FG% since Coach K's arrival; a double OT home loss to Virginia where Duke blew a 21-point halftime lead; a 17-point home loss to NC State, which was 0-for-its-last-19 in ACC road games; and a loss at Florida State. During that time, the Devils dropped from the AP poll for the first time since December 1986.
It was after the Seminoles loss that Coach K announced he would not return that year. Could some of those losses have been avoided with him on the bench? Sure. He's a terrific coach. But the timing of his announcement seemed to indicate he knew that team (leading scorers: Cherokee Parks and Jeff Capel) was going nowhere.
Sorry to disappoint you, twoback. No personal biases here.
Here are the facts: Krzyzewski initially underwent back surgery in October, before the season started. The team did start very well, going 9-2 in pre-conference play.
Game one of ACC play was at home to Clemson. The Tigers hadn't won at Cameron in 10 years. Duke lost. Krzyzewski announced Gaudet would (temporarily) take over before the next game, at Georgia Tech. Duke lost.
Then came: a loss at Wake Forest, where the Devils shot their worst FG% since Coach K's arrival; a double OT home loss to Virginia where Duke blew a 21-point halftime lead; a 17-point home loss to NC State, which was 0-for-its-last-19 in ACC road games; and a loss at Florida State. During that time, the Devils dropped from the AP poll for the first time since December 1986.
It was after the Seminoles loss that Coach K announced he would not return that year. Could some of those losses have been avoided with him on the bench? Sure. He's a terrific coach. But the timing of his announcement seemed to indicate he knew that team (leading scorers: Cherokee Parks and Jeff Capel) was going nowhere.
But that's a supposition it's not reasonable to make.
Krzyzewski has coached another 15 years or so -- including last year's miserable team, which he did not take a powder on. We've got no evidence whatsoever that he was well enough to continue coaching that year.
Krzyzewski has coached another 15 years or so -- including last year's miserable team, which he did not take a powder on. We've got no evidence whatsoever that he was well enough to continue coaching that year.
Elliotte Friedman
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I don't know if it's not reasonable, but it is impossible to prove -- as you point out.
So if a coach has a heart attack and takes time off, do we need to see the EKG before we're willing to print that he had a heart attack and needs to take time off? I'm just not getting that. The guy said he was sick. He took a leave. He's coached average teams since then, in 95-96 and 06-07, and didn't run out on either of those, so this notion that he'll go running for the hills anytime he's got a team that'll taint his record seems silly at best, and vicious at worst.
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