Coach K Diaries: Spotlight falls on Mike Krzyzewski early at Madison Square Garden
Frequently throughout this season, The News & Observer will chronicle the little moments that surround Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell year. This is the first in a series called the Coach K Diaries.
The scheduled start of the first game of Mike Krzyzewski’s final season as Duke’s coach was still 90 minutes away when he took center stage at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
A minute or so after Michigan State and Kansas vacated the court following the first half of their game at the Champions Classic, Krzyzewski walked onto the court with his wife, Mickie, just behind him.
There were cheers and boos, which is commonplace for any public appearance he makes outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It was the first on-court ceremony of Krzyzewski’s last season before retirement and, while plenty more are to come, the fact that this one came in New York at the Champions Classic gave it a boost.
It was 10 years ago this month at the Garden, in the first Champions Classic, that Duke beat Michigan State 74-69 for Krzyzewski’s 903 career win — giving him the all-time record with one win more than his college coach, Bob Knight.
As the P.A. announcer told the crowd, Duke has seen 24 of its players selected in the NBA Draft — 17 in the first round — since the Champions Classic began.
ESPN president of programming Burke Magnus joined Krzyzewski at midcourt to award him a framed plaque Duke’s his accomplishments in the event over the last 10 years.
Krzyzewski bowed to two of the sections of fans, extending his hands and bowing just as the Cameron Crazies do to him when he enters the court during home games.
Earlier Tuesday, ESPN announced a contract renewal with the four schools to spawn three more years of the Champions Classic through 2025. Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State and Kansas have rotated playing each other in a doubleheader every season since 2011 (last year’s pandemic-altered year excluded).
Next year’s games will be in Indianapolis with venues for the following three years yet to be determined. By the time the next Champions Classic rolls around on Nov. 15, 2022, Jon Scheyer will be Duke’s head men’s basketball coach and Krzyzewski will be seven months or so into his retirement.
At halftime of the Duke-Kentucky game, a video conversation with Kentucky coach John Calipari, Kansas coach Bill Self and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo discussing their battles with Duke and Krzyzewski was played on the Madison Square Garden video board.
In it, Calipari said the three were giving Krzyzewski a 23-year-old bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which is distilled in Frankfurt, Kentucky, as a retirement gift.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 9:12 PM.