DURHAM, N.C. — At 66 years old, Mike Krzyzewski, the four-time NCAA champion, is rubbing elbows with Jay Z and Beyonce, getting bear hugs from LeBron James and having Kevin Durant fly to Las Vegas to say in person that he wants to play for him in the Olympics again. Life is pretty good for the grandpa nine times over who is leading the Blue Devils for the 34th consecutive year.
So the question at the ACC’s basketball media day wasn’t completely out of left field: Do you feel cool?
“Your level of expectation for cool is not high,” he responded in a deadpan.
“I just want to be current enough with my guys to bridge the age barrier gap, whether it be with the U.S. or college because I will always coach the same age group, 18-to-22, as I get older,” he said. “I’m 48 years older than my freshmen. And you have to do different things to try to get into their world as you ask them to get into the new world that I’m responsible for.”
It’s Krzyzewski’s ability to adapt that has kept his Duke teams consistently among the NCAA’s elite. The Blue Devils have been ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll for 114 consecutive weeks, dating to Nov. 26, 2007 (UCLA holds the record at 155). This year’s preseason No. 4 ranking is the highest Duke has debuted since opening at No. 1 before the 2010-11 season.
However, Duke is sure to drop in the rankings after losing, 94-83, to freshman star Andrew Wiggins and fifth-ranked Kansas in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night in Chicago.
Nevertheless, this year’s Duke team will be different from any the Blue Devils have rolled onto the floor in the past decade. The athleticism will remind spectators of two of Krzyzewski’s best Duke teams: the 1998-99 squad that went 37-2 and the 2000-01 national champions.
“This year’s team, this reminds me of our team,” said ESPN’s Jay Williams, a member of the ’01 squad. “You have a guy like Jabari Parker who is multi-talented and multi-skilled and can play multiple positions. Rodney Hood, who is a great slasher who can rebound and post people up. You have guards who are able to, I mean, I can’t remember the last time a Duke team has been able to pick a team up full court and actually try to turn them over. You haven’t seen that for a while.
“That allows him to get back to what teams were in the late ’90s. That’s how we played. We would try to turn you over 18, 19, 20 times per game. You hear Quinn Cook talk about the way they train and the style of pace they want to play at. That’s more typical Duke pace, in my mind, than what they’ve been doing in the last couple of years.”
Still, there’s a noteworthy difference between the ’01 and the 2013-14 Blue Devils (besides the fact that one has a banner in Cameron and the other has yet to play a game). That team had an unquestioned senior leader, Shane Battier, who went on be the consensus national player of the year. This year’s team will be led on the court by two young players: freshman Parker and redshirt sophomore Hood, a tri-captain who sat out last season after transferring from Mississippi State.
It’s all part of adapting to college basketball’s one-and-done era.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about winning,” said Rasheed Sulaimon, whose offensive role will be smaller as a sophomore. “Coach is a Hall of Famer. He obviously knows what he’s talking about.”
The model for coaching this year’s Duke team will be taken from Krzyzewski’s experiences leading the United States Men’s Basketball team to Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012.
“A lot of the really special players don’t have a position,” Krzyzewski said. “In other words, in the pros, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo, Kevin Durant, Kobe, those guys don’t have a position. They’re great players. And they need the ball. So, if you would make them a 2 or a 3 or whatever, you limit them.”
Parker and Hood are the primary position-less players for Duke. Both have been instructed to bring the ball up the floor if they grab a defensive rebound, acting as a guard to start the fast break. Both are capable of making 3-point shots and posting up defenders. Defensively, Krzyzewski expects Parker to guard everyone expect the point guard and Hood everyone except a traditional center, of which there are few.