Coach K reflects on his losing seasons at Duke — and how they’ve led to more winning
Mike Krzyzewski rattled off Duke teams of the past Tuesday, no doubt channeling the thoughts of Blue Devils fans everywhere hoping this season’s struggles will not go in vain.
His Blue Devils played hard and showed fight against Notre Dame only to suffer a 93-89 loss that dropped them somewhere the program has not been this century -- below .500.
At 7-8, Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils have a losing record for the first time since November 1999. That team started 0-2 before reeling off 18 consecutive wins and winning the ACC championship.
This team, mired in its second three-game losing streak since 2021 arrived, simply isn’t ready to do that, which is why Duke is saddled with a losing record in February for the first time since 1995.
The situation left Krzyzewski introspective during his post-game comments Tuesday. He talked of the few previous teams he’s coached at Duke that have been unable to reach the lofty goals established by others.
Not too many losing seasons for Coach K
He mentioned 1982-83, when Duke finished 11-17 the season before Krzyzewski took the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament for the first time. Two years later, Duke made the Final Four.
He brought up 1995-96, his first season back coaching Duke after he missed most of the 1994-95 season with mental and physical exhaustion following back surgery.
The 1995-96 team lost its first four ACC games and finished 18-13. But it set the foundation for another resurgence and the Blue Devils were in the Final Four by 1999.
Lastly, he listed the 2006-07 Blue Devils, who went 8-8 in ACC play and were bounced by VCU in the NCAA tournament.
Three freshmen on that team — Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas — were starters as seniors on the Duke team that won the 2010 national championship.
Krzyzewski mentioned those and praised this year’s team for putting in the work worthy of winning, but not always having the poise to make the plays needed to do so.
“Our kids came ready to play,” Krzyzewski said. “They’ve been working. This will pay off at some time if you stay with it.”
Duke does well offensively against Notre Dame
Duke played one of its better offensive games against Notre Dame to lead by 15 points in the first half. The Blue Devils shot 52.2% and committed only 12 turnovers. They collected 16 assists.
“I thought it was one of the best offensive games we’ve played,” Krzyzewski said. “We cared for the ball better -- a lot better -- and moved it.”
The defense had holes, though, to leave the Irish with too many open shots. Duke’s fouls allowed Notre Dame to shoot 20 free throws and the Irish made 18.
But for as well as the Blue Devils played to score all those points, they faltered when they needed to score the most.
The game’s final tie came at 83 with 4:49 to play.
Notre Dame scored points on five of its last eight possessions from there. Duke scored on only three of them.
The Blue Devils’ final chance to tie ended with 1:06 to play and Notre Dame up 87-85 when freshman guard Jeremy Roach was called for an offensive foul.
Roach turned in a solid game, scoring 16 points. That was his lone turnover but it was costly in its timing.
“We’re close,” Krzyzewski said, before repeating, “We’re close. And so, again, I feel bad for them. You know, why? Because there’s not an app for experience. You know, there’s an app for a lot of things, but not that. And so sometimes the experience you get is a losing one, even though it was a hard fought one.”
Duke’s other freshman starter in the backcourt, DJ Steward, scored 10 points but turned the ball over a team-worst four times.
Blue Devils play hard
Freshman Jalen Johnson, likely headed this summer to the NBA where he’s a projected lottery pick, scored only eight points while turning the ball over three times.
But, really, Johnson isn’t relevant to what Krzyzewski was discussing after the game.
Duke’s rare struggling teams played hard like this one but, also like this one, weren’t able to win. Yet they set the stage for teams that did win. And they won big.
Unlike Johnson, Steward and Roach look like multi-year players. They figure to join the next group of top-rated recruits next season to help the Blue Devils forget this year’s losing experience.
“Over the years in our program, when we have had that, you learn your lesson may be better for the long run,” Krzyzewski said. “But for the short run, it is really, it’s tough. It’s just tough, and I have to be their coach, and help them at this time.”