Coach K doesn't rise to the bait

Dan Patrick took his best shot on his radio show Thursday morning to get Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to gloat over UNC's recent losing streak, but the former ESPN anchor couldn't get Krzyzewski to bite too hard.

When Patrick asked him what UNC's current record is, Krzyzewski said he didn't know.

"You know they're struggling," Patrick said.

"I know that they're below us right now in the standings, but we haven't played them yet," Krzyzewski said.

Broadcast locally on WDNC 620, an AM sports talk radio station, Patrick also tried to goad Krzyzewski into guaranteeing a "cakewalk" win over Georgetown on Saturday, but the Duke coach didn't play along. Here are other highlights from their good-natured sparring:

A conversation about "one-and-done" college players who leave school for the NBA led to the topic of Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, a former Duke recruiting target. Although Krzyzewski said Wall is "even better than I thought he would be," he added that you should never say that it's 100 percent certain that any player is a guaranteed one-and-done.

When Patrick mentioned Duke junior Kyle Singler and raised a question whether there's a stigma attached to staying in school four years.

Krzyzewski said Singler's not a lottery pick "right now." He then brought up the example of Shane Battier, a four-year Duke player and 2001 consensus national player of the year who Krzyzewski believed went from a likely second-round pick after his junior season to the sixth overall pick in the 2001 draft.

Patrick jokingly asked Krzyzewski if he would ever consider adding Bob Knight to the Blue Devils staff should Steve Wojciechowski leave.

"No. No. Are you kidding?" Krzyzewski laughed, after saying that Knight is already benefiting the game by educating people as an ESPN basketball analyst. Imagine telling Knight, "Hey, Coach, we wear sports coats," Krzyzewski said of his sweater-loving mentor.

Patrick also brought up the $25,000 fine levied by the SEC against South Carolina for allowing fans to rush the court after Tuesday's win over No. 1 Kentucky. Krzyzewski said he would be in favor of a similar rule in the ACC.

"You can get hurt out there," Krzyzewski said, adding that he thinks he's had opposing fans storm the court more times than any other coach in NCAA basketball, "by far."

Patrick said what's sad is that every time that happens, Wojciechowski is still out there as an assistant coach trying to take charges from the students.

"Tell him to stop taking charges," Patrick said.

"I'll never tell a Duke player to stop taking charges," Krzyzewski said.