Word: krzyzewski
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...settled into our seats in the student section, which is comprised of ten long wooden planks that run along the length of the court (recently renamed “Coach K Court,” again in honor of the one and only Mike Krzyzewski). It was ninety minutes before game time, but the student section was almost packed. I looked up at the championship banners and the retired numbers in the rafters and had to pinch myself...
...really understand the Duke-UNC rivalry, you have to understand tenting. Starting in January, groups of students camp out in tents in front of Cameron to get seats for the March game, creating a small community called Krzyzewski-ville (K-ville for short). For the next two months, there must always be at least one person from the group in tent or the group forfeits its place in line. As ridiculous as this sounds, it used to be worse. People used to starting camping out before winter break until the administration restricted tenting to spring semester only. During my admissions...
...night before the game Coach Krzyzewski gives a speech to K-ville and the team comes out to take pictures and sign autographs. People drink a lot of beer (which, by the way, is on the meal planseriously, it is). During the game, the crowd is even wilder than during the seasons normal games and certain cheers are reserved especially for Carolina, such as Hey UNC, who the fuck you come to see? Duke, Duke, motherfucker! Duke, Duke, motherfucker! When we win, everyone spills onto the Quad and builds a huge bonfire out of the large wooden benches that...
...requires a remarkable 18-year-old to possess both the talent to play elite college basketball and the maturity to handle Coach K's generous helpings of responsibility. While most programs recruit players exclusively on athletic talent, Krzyzewski says he evaluates talent, academic potential and character equally. In addition to asking for teacher evaluations and paying close attention to how a prospect interacts with authority ("If his mother asks a question and the kid makes a teenage face--hmmm, you start to wonder"), the Duke coaching staff makes a point of finding out who a kid's friends...
...self-imposed recruiting standards means that Duke works with a talent pool far shallower than the competition's. The reward is that Coach K's lovefest with his players is never put in jeopardy. "How good was it for me to spend 148 games with Shane Battier?" asks Krzyzewski, referring to the 2000-01 season's consensus college player of the year. "Literally, over a thousand locker-room settings. How much is that worth, to be with that kid for four years? Or to be with Wojciechowski or Laettner or Hill or Hurley or..." he trails...