Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski deflected questions about the end of his coaching career following the Blue Devils’ 81-77 loss to North Carolina in the Final Four, opting instead to largely focus on the disappointment his young team was experiencing in the wake of one of the memorable games in men’s NCAA Tournament history.
“It’s not about me. Especially not right now,” Krzyzewski said.
“I’m not thinking about my career right now. That’s where I’m at. I’m sure at some time I’ll deal with this in my own way. But for right now, we need to deal with our family. We’ve developed a family.
“I’ve said my entire career that I wanted my seasons to end where my teams were either crying tears of joy or tears of sorrow. Because then you know they gave everything.”
Late in his postgame media availability, however, Krzyzewski did briefly touch on his own emotions coming with his final game, saying he was “blessed to be in the arena.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “When you’re in the arena, you’re either going to come out feeling great or you’re going to feel agony. But you’ll always feel great about being in the arena. I’m sure when I look back that I’ll miss it. I won’t be in the arena anymore. But damn, I was in the arena for a long time and these kids made my last time in the arena an amazing one.”
The Blue Devils made an unexpected tournament run after a wobbly regular season, making this last coaching job one of the best of Krzyzewski’s 42 seasons at Duke.
“For these guys, it’s been a joy. They’ve been just a joy for me to coach,” he said. “They’ve been an amazing group for me. The youngest group I’ve coached.”
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One of the most hyped games in Final Four history more than met expectations. Duke’s largest lead was seven points. North Carolina’s largest was six points. There were 12 ties and 18 lead changes. UNC led for 16:22 and Duke for 17:09 of game time.
“I think it reached the level that you would expect, you know,” Krzyzewski said. “Those kids from both teams played their heart out. The crowd was standing most of the game, I think. It was a heck of a game. So I think it met up to that level.”
Shying away from discussing his legacy, Krzyzewski instead touched on the impact of his final team. Thrown out of the national championship conversation as late as early March, the Blue Devils rallied to put together one last crowning achievement in his storied coaching career.
“You don’t define a season with one game or one minute of a game,” he said. “You define a season by what’s happened through the whole season. It’s been a heck of a year for us. How these guys turned it around after we didn’t play well in our last four regular season (games) was really one of the best things that’s happened to me as a coach in the past five or six years.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coach K: What he said after Duke lost to North Carolina in his finale