Coach K tells Duke basketball team how they can win National Championship
Mike Krzyzewski knows how to win National Championships with the Duke basketball program and he is trying to share his wisdom to the current batch of Blue Devils.
While addressing the team, Krzyzewski explained how this group could be the ones who cut down the nets at the end of the year.
"If you want to win this whole thing, be the best defensive team in the country," the Hall of Famer said.
"You're tall, you're deep, and you're athletic."
Duke has all the makings of an elite defensive squad with no scholarship player shorter than 6-foot-3 and boasting a 7-foot-1 center, freshman Khaman Maluach, that specializes in rim protection.
Krzyzewski said that for all the positive qualities of a great defensive team, Duke has not learned to be wide in its defensive stances. That directly correlates to the communication the team must have on that side of the floor.
Coach K documented that he was surprised how much the Blue Devils were talking on the defensive end of the floor at such an early stage in the year. It is a positive, but there is still a long way to go.
"Whenever someone was talking, they were like this [in a wide defensive stance]. It's human nature," Krzyzewski explained.
"If you're wide, then your first step is going to be stronger and longer. You're reaction is going to be quicker, right, because you're not waiting for something to happen, by talking you're anticipating that it's going to happen."
Duke's defense will be tested very early in the season with matchups against Kentucky, Arizona, and Kansas during the first three weeks of the year.
"My wish for you is to be the best defensive team in the country," Krzyzewski concluded.
"The second wish, and we talked about this with every one of our teams,...is to be the best talking team in the country. Not trash talking, our actions will prove who we are."
Coach K also said he hopes that Duke will be the most prepared team in the country, which is controlled by the players.
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