Say through some miraculous sequence of events, you landed the head coaching gig at your favorite Division-I men's basketball program today. Say you then promptly went on a 20-0 tear to start your career, winning both your conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament championship.
Coach K’s Duke legacy established well before win 1,000
Mike Krzyzewski winning 1,000 games is a remarkable achievement that will only grow more praiseworthy over time. But Coach K’s prevailing legacy had already been established long before Sunday.
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Even with this unbelievable start, you would still need to maintain your job, not take any leave of absences or NBA gigs, and win an average of 22 games per season if you wanted to reach the 1,000-win milestone that Mike Krzyzewski just hit. It would be the year 2060, and you would be 45 years older than you are right now.
Given the current state of the college hoops landscape, where both moderate and high levels of success typically breed some type of change, it almost feels more likely than not that after Jim Boeheim wins number 1,000 in a couple of seasons (assuming that happens), we’re never going to see another Division-I head coach hit four figures again. Despite that statement, the achievement certainly isn’t going to change the way Coach K is perceived. The numbers and the comparisons and the crazy facts are all good for making readers and viewers say “wow” to no one in particular, but Krzyzewski’s primary legacy was established well before Sunday, and would have remained in tact whenever win 1,000 was achieved.
It’s pretty easy to make the case that there is no active coach in American sports more synonymous with their team or program than Mike Krzyzewski is with Duke basketball. In an era where longevity and top-tier success tend not to go hand-in-hand with one another, Coack K and the Blue Devils are one of the most glaring exceptions.
Duke was successful before the arrival of Coach K (four Final Fours and two national title game appearances), but it was nowhere near what it is now, which is the hardwood equivalent of Notre Dame football. The Cameron Crazies, slapping the floor, four national titles and 11 Final Fours -- that’s all Krzyzewski.
Our own Duke Basketball Report probably puts it the best.
I would argue that over and above the 1,000 wins and all the championships is another accomplishment - he’s a transformative coach.
When you look at the college basketball world today, there are a lot of great programs - but there are a half dozen that rank as true “Blue Bloods” -- Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina, Indiana ... and Duke.
Before Krzyzewski, nobody would have ranked Duke at that level.
Oh, the Blue Devils had a nice program B.K. (Before Krzyzewski). Duke had been to four Final Fours and actually held the record for best NCAA Tournament winning percentage of any school. Duke was the sixth school in basketball history to reach 1,000 wins and from Eddie Cameron to Bill Foster had accumulated 11 conference championships (six in the Southern Conference and five in the ACC).
It was a proud legacy, but no one was ranking Duke with basketball royalty such as Kentucky, UCLA or even North Carolina.
Krzyzewski changed that.
It’s the truth, and in that regard, Sunday’s win over St. John’s doesn’t change anything. Everybody likes big round numbers, but the reality is the win really isn’t any more significant than victory 971 was or any more significant than victory 1,003 will be. Being first is being first, and at this point I’m sure Krzyzewski is more concerned about adding championships to his resume than mile-markers.
With all due respect to St. John’s, a good team with a solid shot at making the NCAA Tournament, here are five of Krzyzewski’s 1,000 wins that were and will remain more significant than his triumph over the Red Storm:
Win #335 - Duke 79, UNLV 77: March 30, 1991
It feels wrong to describe a Final Four win by a No. 2 seed over a No. 1 seed as one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history, but this one definitely fits the bill. The Rebels had been 34-0 and were shooting to become the first undefeated national champion since 1976 and just the eighth team to pull off the feat ever. Instead, Christian Laettner scored 28 points and hit two free-throws with 12.7 seconds left to keep Jerry Tarkanian from winning his 600th game and forever relegate Vegas to the “best team that didn’t win it all” conversation.
Win #336 - Duke 72, Kansas 65: April 1, 1991
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when Krzyzewski and Duke were assigned with the reputation of a coach and a program that couldn’t win the big game. Looking for evidence? Check out the lede from this story on the Blue Devils’ 1991 national championship game victory.
No longer will Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski be asked about not winning the big one. No longer will the Blue Devils top the list of all-time losers at the Final Four.
As they say, the ninth time is a charm.
Laettner again played hero for the Blue Devils, scoring 18 points and hitting all 12 of his free-throw attempts. Bobby Hurley added nine dimes in the victory, which will forever be remembered in the same light as USA hockey beating Finland for the gold medal after the Miracle on Ice and the Red Sox beating the Cardinals in the World Series after stunning the Yankees.
Win #370 - Duke 71, Michigan 51: April 6, 1992
Had it not been for Krzyzewski and Duke, the early ‘90s would still be a period remembered for being dominated by a pair of UNLV teams littered with future NBA stars, and Michigan’s Fab Five. Instead, the Blue Devils schooled the young Wolverines a year after stunning the Rebels, and became the first team to win back-to-back titles since UCLA had won seven straight in the 1970s. The beatdown also allowed Duke to become the first team since North Carolina in 1982 to begin a season ranked No. 1 and maintain that ranking for the entire year.
Win #869 - Duke 61, Butler 59: April 5, 2010
Almost 10 years after Krzyzewski won his third national title, talk that the legend’s championship days might have been behind him was starting to swirl. A powerhouse Blue Devil team had been beaten in the de facto national championship game ‘04 national semifinals, and Duke had failed to make it past the Sweet 16 since then. Most expected a similar fate for the 2010 squad, even after they were awarded a much-debated No. 1 seed. Instead, the Blue Devils rolled out of South Region, stomped West Virginia in the Final Four, and then survived Butler and Gordon Hayward’s halfcourt shot in one of the most memorable national championship games ever.
Win #903 - Duke 74, Michigan State 69: Nov. 15, 2011
Coach K became the all-time winningest coach in Division-I history with victory 903, passing his former coach and mentor Bob Knight. Knight was actually there at the ESPN broadcast table, and watched along with nearly 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden as Duke pummeled Michigan State in the Champions Classic. Every win for Krzyzewski since has been record-setting, including his most recent inside the world’s most famous arena.
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