Philosophy discussed and moments remembered while awaiting Saturday`s UNLV-Duke rematch. . . .
So, how does he do it? Only two coaches have guided their teams to more than three consecutive Final Fours. UCLA legend John Wooden was one of them, and he did it nine straight times between 1967 and 1975. Duke`s Mike Krzyzewski is the other.
Only five men have guided their teams to two or more Final Fours in a row since UCLA`s reign of terror. One is Louisville`s Denny Crum, who did it in 1982 and `83. The second is former Houston coach Guy Lewis, who did it in
`82, `83 and `84. The third is Georgetown`s John Thompson, who did it in
`84 and `85. The fourth is Nevada-Las Vegas` Jerry Tarkanian, who did it last year and this. Krzyzewski is the fifth.
Those Louisville teams featured Rodney McCray, now with the Mavericks. Those Houston teams featured the Rockets` Hakeem Olajuwon and the Trail Blazers` Clyde Drexler. Those Georgetown teams featured the Knicks` Patrick Ewing. The current UNLV team features future first-round draft choices Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt, who were there last April as well. The presence of all these players provides easy enough explanation for their schools` mini-streaks.
But Krzyzewski has appeared in four straight Final Fours with different casts of characters. That kind of consistency was deemed impossible in this age of parity, Proposition 48 and prospects popping up everywhere between Los Angeles and Heusenstamm, Germany (hometown of North Carolina`s Henrik Rodl). Yet the Duke coach has done it with Quin Snyder at the point, and now with Bobby Hurley choreographing his team. He has done it with Danny Ferry as his star, and now with Christian Laettner as his brightest light.
He has done it with senior Robert Brickey as his swing forward, and now with freshman Grant Hill roaming the court. He has done it with heavily experienced teams (last year`s, which featured senior starters Brickey, Alaa Abdelnaby and Phil Henderson) and with lightly experienced teams (this year`s, with the only senior contributor being late-blooming forward Greg Koubek).
”My goal each year is to be in the hunt,” Krzyzewski likes to say, and it is that singular goal he keeps in mind as he recruits. He signed the 6-foot-11-inch Laettner and 6-9 Crawford Palmer three years ago, the year he went in search of big men. He signed Hurley, starting off guard Thomas Hill and backup guard Billy McCaffrey two years ago, the year he went in search of a backcourt.
Grant Hill, Duke`s best pure athlete, and Antonio Lang, a still-raw athletic talent, were signed last year, the year Krzyzewski went in search of multidimensional players. And then, with Laettner on the far side of his college career, he again went in search of size and last fall signed California high school stars Cherokee Parks (6-11) and Erik Meek (6-10 1/2).
”It`s tough,” says Krzyzewski in explanation of his plan, ”to get kids to come in two years in advance of when they`ll play. One year, you can.”
”Another thing,” Hurley says, ”is that Coach doesn`t put 12 All-Americans on the team. It`s a blend of good athletes and role players who have winning attitudes. The most important thing to me is winning, and that`s what Coach looks for in recruiting. Guys who are willing to sacrifice their own game to win.”
– Always, planning ahead: This was last November, and the day between Duke`s opening two games in the pre-season NIT. Injuries and upsets and four unpredictable months still separated him from the NCAA tournament. Yet already, Krzyzewski was preparing his Blue Devils for all that awaited them there.
This day, a Thursday, his practice and routine mirrored the way he would operate on a day off in March. His players watched film in their lounge, and then moved on to their locker room to get a scouting report. They next gathered on the court, where their hard work was limited to no more than 30 minutes and finally ended their afternoon by walking through plays they soon would use.
”They`ll have been through (the routine) before,” explained Krzyzewski, ”so they`ll recall more (in March).
”I approach (the NCAA tourney) a game at a time, but also as a tournament at a time. I see it as three 48-hour tournaments. You play, feed, rest, prepare, play again. This (off) day, it`s a day a lot of teams don`t know how to use well.”
In fact, he went on, he viewed this whole NIT experience as a primer, as a way to train his young team for the realities they would face in the spring. With one more victory (which they got), they would be traveling to Madison Square Garden, he said, and ”to be in New York, to play big-time games early, to have distractions, to see how they react, to have that opportunity in November is really good.”
But to be thinking of the Final Four in November also might be called arrogant, he was told.
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”You`ve got to be a little bit arrogant. You`ve got to believe you`ll be there,” Krzyzewski replied. ”You understand you have to win during the season to get there, but you have to look at the big picture, too. That`s not arrogant. We should talk about being good. We believe we are. We should talk about being in the NCAAs. That`s what we want.”
– And now: A woebegone Hurley is the abiding image, and in this portrait, he stands helplessly as various Rebels rush by him on their way to a record 30-point triumph in last April`s title game. Later, in the locker room, he talked of vomiting during that game, and in November, he first discussed his shark dreams that are now widely publicized.
He also has been viewed as a whiner during much of his time at Duke, and the pained, hurt looks that often decorated his face were regarded with ridicule. But his elan and composure are central to any chance his team has against Vegas on Saturday, and Krzyzewski has spent recent weeks stroking his guard`s ego with effusive praise. He played 36 minutes against UConn and 38 against St. John`s in last weekend`s Midwest Regional, and after the latter his coach declared, ”I think his game has risen to another level in this tournament.”
”My attitude on the court has really improved,” Hurley says. ”My demeanor. I`m trying to show confidence. I didn`t realize how much the guys looked to me. And since I control the ball, I have to look like things are going well. But I`m so used to winning my whole life, and when things weren`t going well, it was hard for me and I showed a lot of bad emotion. We can`t have that. I can`t have that if we`re going to run well and be efficient.
”I looked at everything in an immature way at first. I thought everyone was pointing fingers at me and ganging up on me. But I know now how the team does depends on how I do. I`m better able to handle the criticism. I`ve grown up a lot, even though I still might not show it.”
– And finally, in memoriam: Here is how Hurley did when he last faced Vegas. In 32 minutes, he was 0-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the foul line with three assists, five turnovers and one steal. In 30 minutes, Anthony, his counterpart, was 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line (13 points) with six assists, three turnovers and five steals.