Imagining the first Duke basketball season without Coach K
By Matt Giles
The pessimist’s post-Coach K Duke basketball premonition
Despite what rival fans would have you believe, Mike Krzyzewski is a standup guy who will do his best not to leave the cupboard dry. But no matter the level of talent the all-time Duke basketball legend leaves behind, and no matter when his retirement happens, the pessimist points to a season 25 years ago for what the first post-K campaign could look like.
Again, despite what some would have you believe, Krzyzewski didn’t abandon his 1994-95 squad due to a lack of weapons. No, by the time he handed the reins to longtime assistant Pete Gaudet for the remainder of the season, Duke had a respectable 9-3 record, across a relatively tough early schedule, with wins over two top 25 opponents in Michigan and Georgia Tech.
See, Coach K had just guided the Blue Devils to a remarkable seven Final Four appearances in a nine-year span, winning it all in ’91 and ’92. Naturally, the man’s popularity soared along the way. He admitted to mishandling his surging fame in terms of not limiting endorsements, speaking engagements, and whatnot, which took a toll on his body and mind.
Put simply, Coach K’s hospitalization from exhaustion, following an unmatched modern-day success story, was an obvious sign to his family that he required and deserved a break.
Unfortunately for those Blue Devils, his absence equated to the absence of a confident, gutsy, animated winner calling the shots from the bench during games. By season’s end, with a dismal 13-18 record in hand, it had become abundantly clear — via numerous blown leads and a few suffered blowouts — that without its K, DUKE was simply DUE to suffer.
Yes, it’s probable that Coach K’s replacement, whoever he may be, will inherit a decent wealth of leftovers for his first season at the helm, whenever that may be. Yet it’s quite possible, at least in the pessimist’s eye, that those K-less Blue Devils will habitually fall apart under pressure, thereby falling short of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994-95.
Fortunately, the pessimist typically isn’t correct about the future nearly as often as the realist…