Coach K keeps the passion

ATLANTA — Outsiders gazed at Mike Krzyzewski climbing the ladder and cutting down the nets at the Georgia Dome on Sunday — Duke’s 11th ACC Tournament championship under his guidance — and wonder what keeps him coming back.
Krzyzewski has done it all. Been there, done that. From Beijing to Tobacco Road, Coach K’s accomplishments are staggering.
Dissecting Duke’s 79-69 title win over Florida State, which happened to move Krzyzewski into third place on the all-time coaching wins list with 832, provided some insight into what keeps Coach K ticking.
“It’s not the numbers,” Krzyzewski said, although he certainly has them.
The motivating factor
Rather it’s about sharing special moments this week in Atlanta that fuels his desire. Winning the championship was certainly another crowning moment, but it is the little things that drive Krzyzewski to keep going, keep winning.
Things like watching sophomore guard Nolan Smith come back strong from a late-season concussion, leaving Duke’s staff wondering how much he could contribute down the stretch.
Smith, though playing limited minutes in the tournament, provided a spark nearly every time he was inserted into close games.
Sunday, Smith provided what Krzyzewski saw as one of two key junctures for the Blue Devils en route to the title. After Duke’s spectacular 3-point barrage (five straight treys over a three-minute span) had opened up a 29-14 lead over the bewildered Seminoles, both teams stopped scoring as a lull settled over both squads.
Smith provided the fire for two critical Duke baskets, one a driving layup, followed by a driving dunk for a 33-16 lead, the Devils’ largest of the first half.
Watching Smith come back so strong was the thing that put a smile on his face.
Winning is everything
There’s lots of things like that going on with Krzyzewski. The challenge to his defense to not allow Maryland’s Grievis Vasquez to be great — only good — in Saturday’s semifinals, or challenging 7-foot-1 reserve Brian Zoubek to come off the bench in the finals and negate Florida State’s talented 7-1 freshman Solomon Alabi — both were big deals to Krzyzewski.
Shifting junior Jon Scheyer’s role to the lead ball-handler nine games ago, a Krzyzewski move, provided a boost to the team’s performance down the home stretch. Over that nine-game span, Scheyer has averaged nearly 20 points per game and committed a collective 10 turnovers.
Those are the kinds of things that still turn Krzyzewski on.
But nothing, absolutely nothing, is better than winning, especially when it’s been a while.
Duke’s last ACC tournament crown came three years ago when most of the current Blue Devils were still in high school.
Seeing this crop of juniors, which includes Scheyer, Zoubek, Gerald Henderson, and Lance Thomas, finally cut down championship nets was something Krzyzewski will never forget.
“I told these kids last night that they’re winners, that they’ve been winners,” Coach K said. “They were never losers. But now, they’re champions and that’s a cool thing.”
When the current juniors arrived at Duke, there was no senior class to look up to, to learn from. The only junior was DeMarcus Nelson.
So, as Krzyzewski put it, they had to rebuild a
championship mentality.
“They were kind of thrown to the wolves,” Coach K said. “They were the youngest team in Duke basketball. But they’re believers. They helped get our culture back.”
They were believers last March after a second-round NCAA Tournament ouster at the hands of West Virginia, which didn’t disguise feelings that the “Duke Mystique” had dissipated.
The believers lost, but their foundation wasn’t shaken as Blue Devils fans saw an indelible symbol of that faith when the defeated Duke players walked off the floor, arm-in-arm, after that NCAA loss.
“I remember telling Jon [Scheyer] we’ll be back here again,” Gerald Henderson said after scoring 27 points in Sunday’s win. “It’s a long time in coming. We’ve put a lot of work into building our team into what it is today. Winning this championship is an accomplishment because we’ve waited a long time for it.”
Scheyer, who scored 29 against FSU and had but two of Duke’s four turnovers on the day, was MVP of the tournament, nipping teammate Kyle Singler, by a single vote.
“We wanted to make sure to remember that moment against West Virginia in the NCAAs last year and not experience that again,” Scheyer said of the sign of unity as they walked off that court.
So, for this group to rise from where it began to Sunday’s championship, that’s what keeps Krzyzewski coming back for more.
“This class is a special class for me because they’ve built a championship,” Coach K said. “This is a class I’ll always remember in my coaching career.”
The Duke coach said that after all these years in the profession, one must develop different layers of satisfaction. Winning is one layer.
“I’m so happy right now, sharing this experience with them,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m 62 years old, about three times older than these kids, but by winning this title, we’re connected. It’s about sharing the same goals and accomplishing them.”
Whether or not Duke has recaptured the mystique that the Mountaineers claimed it lost last year will be revealed over the coming days, but right now the Blue Devils are back in familiar territory.
Maybe there’s a generation gap between the players and Krzyzewski, but the feelings are the same.
Looking around, Coach K kept saying it over and over.
“This is cool,” he said. “Really cool.”