MY ACCOUNT
Mike Krzyzewski is still struggling to come to terms with the end of his coaching career at Duke after overseeing his final home game on Saturday.
After 42 years, Coach K is leaving the Blue Devils at the end of this season.
A host of celebrities and 96 former players were in attendance for his farewell against rivals North Carolina, although a 94-81 defeat put a dampener on the occasion – at least in Krzyzewski’s eyes.
“I’m sorry about this afternoon,” he told the crowd in a post-game ceremony, although that apology was drowned out by cheers.
“Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable. And the season isn’t over, all right?”
Indeed, Krzyzewski has already this year delivered Duke their 13th ACC regular season title of his tenure, the first since 2010 and first outright since 2006.
And attention now turns towards the ACC tournament before a tilt at Krzyzewski’s sixth national title with the school.
“We’re 0-0,” the coach said. “We’ll be that twice: now and next Sunday, we’ll be that again.
“Hopefully, the lessons we learned from 31 games, including especially this last one, will help us in both situations.”
However, this game – one of the biggest in basketball – was instead all about a celebration of Krzyzewski.
Reflecting on his long and successful stay at Duke, he said: “We have loved being a part of the Duke family.
“It’s hard for me to believe this is over. I’m just going to say the regular season is over.”
