Duke basketball: Coach K may never face Tom Izzo again

It’s time to fully embrace each meeting between Duke basketball’s Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo by treating it like it’s their last.

True, next season’s Champions Classic includes the Duke basketball program taking on Michigan State. Also, coaching legends Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo may face one another at the next Big Dance — as they’ve done on six occasions, an average of roughly once every four years ever since the first in 1994.

Therefore, there’s a fairly high probability the 14th overall head-to-head battle — Krzyzewski leads the series, 11-2 — come Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. (ESPN) in East Lansing (part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge) won’t be the finale.

That said, Krzyzewski is 72, older than probably 99 percent of past and present coaches. And even if Duke’s 40th-year head coach called it quits today, a safe bet would be that for the rest of his time on earth no coach — other than the late John Wooden, whose 10 national titles may stand the test of time — will own a more impressive résumé: five April nets (No. 2 behind Wooden), 12 final fours (tied at No. 1 with Wooden), and 1,139 wins (No. 1, 88 more than No. 2, Syracuse’s 75-year-old Jim Boeheim).

Plus, while Coach K hasn’t set an end date, he regularly utters the r-word. After a win at home over Winthrop on Friday to bounce back from the Stephen F. Austin upset — the program’s first non-conference loss in Durham in nearly 20 years — Mr. Duke Basketball reported a “little health issue” and ended his report with an unprompted “I’m not retiring tonight.”

ALSO READ: Critics roast Coach K for so-called ‘excuse’

As for Izzo — 611 wins, eight final fours, one national title — the 25th-year head coach opened his Coachspeak 101 textbook and used “reinvigorated” to describe his outlook days after his 2018-19 campaign fell two wins short of confetti.

Months later, though, former Michigan State star Paul Davis stirred speculation by offering Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket his prediction regarding the Izzo timeline: “three years, give or take one.”

The next day, Spartans Wire insider Wil Hunter chimed in:

"“The timing certainly makes sense for Izzo. He’s 64 and has been at this a long time. College basketball coaching is a 365 day a year job and brings with it huge pressure and stress. With his kids reaching adulthood it makes sense that Izzo would be plotting his path for retirement.”"

Hunter continued:

"“Perhaps the key here is the second national championship Izzo has been chasing since 2000. We all know that pursuit drives him. If MSU were able to cash it all in this year and win another title, Izzo could be heading towards retirement sooner rather than later.”"

So what is the chance this is the final rendition of Izzo vs. Krzyzewski? Some formula accounting for all the factors and possibilities — including a meeting come late March or early April — might output 20 percent.

OK, so what does Duke vs. Michigan State even feel like without one or both of the fabled coaching snarls on the sidelines? We’d have to ask someone who was at the only such game, an 82-57 Spartans blowout on Dec. 29, 1958.

Now, what happens in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge when a No. 10 Duke basketball squad under Coach K battles a No. 11 Michigan State squad under Izzo? Oddly enough, we have a past answer: an 81-74 Blue Devils victory at home on Nov. 30, 2004 (Duke guards J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing each scored 29).

Finally, then, what happens when No. 10 Duke plays No. 11 Michigan State inside the Breslin Center? We must wait to find out.

ALSO READ: Just a few weeks into the season, Duke is at a crossroads

But we should appreciate it for what it could be, even if it’s not: the end to a respect-fueled rivalry full of great memories (more for Coach K, including his becoming the all-time wins leader by beating Izzo at the 2011 Champions Classic, but the most recent win went to Izzo, whose 2018-19 Spartans advanced to April by knocking off the top overall seed Blue Devils, 68-67).

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions regarding all things Duke basketball.