Gold Medal Winning Coach Mike Krzyzewski Returns Home

Just minutes after placing his feet on Americam soil, Mike Krzyzewski addressed a throng of media members and adoring fans at RDU International Airport.  Coach K is still immersing himself in the Olympic experience and will continue to do so as the media requests are sure to come in from well, everywhere.

That’s the life of the legendary college coach who melded together NBA stars into a cohesive unit which of course made all things golden.  While the Chinese media gravitated towards players like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant making them darlings, Coach K is sure to get lots of love in the coming days.

Coach K was flanked by family, in both blood and Duke Blue brotherhood.  As he took to the podium, assistant coaches Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Collins and head of basketball operations Chris Spatola stood at attention behind their captain with the American flag as the backdrop.  His wife Mickie, daughters and their children were just to his right.

In typical Krzyzewski style, he first commented about the players.  “The players were amazing, both on the court and off.  They represented us so very well.”  He then gave props to Spain for a competitive game.  At that point chants of USA, USA, USA, USA could be heard ringing in the corridors of the airport.

He didn’t stop with his praise and commended China on being a good host before joking, “If they had elections there which they don’t, and Kobe  was a write in, Kobe might win.”  This brought laughter from the crowd and allowed his staff to crack a smile in the background.  He continued on Kobe, “Thank goodness he took over at the end of the game.”

He then showed graciousness towards his staff, including new Stanford coach Johhny Dawkins saying they worked tirelessly with no recognition.  You can bet that the work proved worthy for each and will look fabulous on their resumes.  “It’s definitely the best basketball experience I’ve been involved with,” said Duke assistant Chris Collins.

Knowing Coach K, he was probably already mapping out recruiting plans on the flight.  He was quick to quip with a smile, ” It’s so good now to just be the Duke Coach,” which brought about applause from Iron Duke Members and fans alike.  He then said, “It’s really good being the Duke coach having won the Olympics.”

“You don’t realize how proud you are to be an American until you are in those settings and you’re representing your country, said Kryzyzewski.  He then reflected on the awesome accomplishment of winning the Gold Medal, ” During the National Anthem before the Gold Medal game, we are all standing there just mouthing the words and all of a sudden you get emotional.  You start crying and say “Boy,” I wish my Mom and Dad were here … and how the heck are you this lucky to be representing the greatest country in the world in this fantastic sport.”

Well Coach!  Duke fans get a bit emotional too.   We wonder how the heck we are so lucky for you to represent the greatest program in the world and be our coach 24/7.  Congratulations Coach!  You’ve made us all proud.

Note – The Blue Devil Nation will have the Q & A session with Coach K up tomorrow, so please check back that and Coach Cutcliffe addressing the media for the home opener.

USA crusies past Argentina – Gold Medal awaits K and company

Team USA went to 7-0 today by defeating Argentina 101-81.  The Coach K led bunch has just one game to go and a win brings the Gold Medal back to the United States.  Spain awaits the “Redeem Team,” on Sunday.

Carmelo Anthony scored a team high 21 points and played with intensity throughout the contest.  LeBron James chipped in with 15 while star NBA guards, Paul and Wade had 12 apiece.  Needless to say Duke fans and Americans alike are proud of the effort.  Coach K has shown the world that he can take the best of the best and have them play together for the greater good.  And don’t think for one minute that endorsements galore don’t await each and every player.

Box Score Link

Team USA Rolls into Semi Finals

It was an honor to play Brian’s (Goorjian) team.  I thought they’ve been the most difficult team for us to defend.   Their offense is so well-conceived for their personnel.  The future is extremely bright (for Australia).  In college, we are able to develop a program and I think what’s Brian has done is develop a great program with the Australian team.  They’re a force to be reckoned with.  We had to play really well in order to win.  They caused us a lot of problems and I’m glad my Duke team doesn’t play St. Mary’s next year.  (Patrick Mills) is a great guard.  He’ll be an NBA guard and I’m very, very impressed and we’re ecstatic because we know we beat an outstanding team, who I think was playing their best basketball right now.  So, it was a heck of a game for us. – Coach K

Two more wins lie between Team USA and the Gold Medal.  More to come -

Box Score   Team USA rides Williams threes   A.P.

Team USA spanks Germany — on to the medal round!

Dwight Howard put on a show missing a single shot on his way to scoring a team high 22 points (9 of 10 FG’s) while grabbing 10 rebounds.   Twelve American players played double figure minutes as the Coach K led Team USA demolished Germany 105-59.  The romp was from start to finish, starting with a Anthony lay up and ending with Paul assisting Redd for slam dunk.  James chipped in with 18, Bryant 14 and Wade and Paul had 10 points apiece.  Team USA is now 5-0 and continues their quest to bring the Gold home.

USA Today  ESPN Recap  Box Score

 

Next up – Australia on Wednesday

USA Destroys Spain 119 – 82

The United States men’s basketball team made a statement Saturday night in Beijing by dismantling Spain 119 – 82 in the fourth game of pool play. Eight American players scored double digit points in the victory. For the first time since arriving in China, the 3-point shots started falling as the USA made 12 of 25 attempts from behind the arc to compliment their 32 – 0 advantage in fast break points. Team USA’s signature stifling defense created 28 turnovers in this game.

Coach Krzyzewski commented: “I thought they missed some open shots tonight. We made our open shots; that was a big factor in the game. We know it’s a pool game. We know the importance of winning pool games, but the most important games are next week.”

Team USA concludes pool play against Germany on Monday evening then moves on to the Quarterfinals of Medal Play.

ESPN
USA Basketball
FIBA
Box Score

Wade leads USA to 97-76 win over Angola

Team USA cruised to an easy victory to go 2-0 in pool play by defeating Angola 97-76.  Dwyane Wade led his team in scoring with 19 points.  Team USA struggled from the free throw stripe and hit just 23% of it’s threes.  In the end, there was simply too much talent for Angola to overcome.  Team USA will need to play a bit tighter against their next foe Greece, a team that defeated them in the semi finals of the World Championships a mere two years ago.

Coach K on the upcoming game with Greece – Our team knows a lot about them.  I’m very close friends the coach.  He’s actually come to Duke and spent time with me.  One of the assistant coaches, Nick, has spent the whole year with us.  We have great respect for them.  They play as hard as anybody we can play against, especially on the defensive end of the court.  Their offensive schemes are well conceived.  I think their team starts with their guards.  They really have three point guards and all three of them can be in at the same time.

They value possessions.  You have to play them possession by possession.  You have to play them with great intensity for 40 minutes.  Our guys already know that but we’ll reinforce that.  It’s a great game for us to play too to get ready for the medal round because we feel Greece has a good chance as anybody.  That’s how much we think of them

Box Score Link

Team USA routs China down the stretch, K and company advance

Team USA began it’s quest for the Gold Medal today by choking China with it’s defense on there way to a 101-70 win.  Of course, all Duke fans are paying more than a little attention to the games and we will continue to cover the games.

Coach K- It was an honor for us to be in this game.  I thought the Chinese team and our team both played extremely hard.  I was proud of our effort.  I thought that the attention we gave Yao early, he made some really good plays to get his teammates involved.  And they hit 3’s.  More than half their points in the first half were from 3’s.  We were like 1-for-12 … I think we ended up 1-for-15 before we starting hitting some 3’s.  I was proud of our guys.  I would hope that their coach would be proud of their kids.  I thought both teams really responded at a high level to the magnitude of this game.

Team USA coasts to win–Tight Defense stymies China’s Bigs–A.P. Recap–Box Score

So, what was the pre game like?–USA savors experience–Silk Road-Tobbaco Road?

Friday Morning Links

Starting off with AAU Basketball and Las Vegas, Kenny Boynton and Brandon Knight have scored 33/26, 21/24, and 26/19, respectively over the past three days.  The two have combined to make 17 three point shots.  Jody Demling has an extensive update from Las Vegas posted on his blog at the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The Las Vegas Review Journal has written a positive article on the ability of lesser known athletes to achieve exposure via the AAU circuit.  Adam Zagoria and Dick Weiss also have updates on their blogs.

Turning to Duke football and Desmond Scott on his decision to play for Duke University: “I wanted to play in my backyard.”  WRAL.com has more here.

Finally, here is Coach K with more thoughts on USA Basketball.

Team USA, Kenny Boynton and Duke Football

When Kobe Bryant mentions the “joy of the game,” you get an idea of what Coach K has done to make sure the players are enjoying themselves in preparation for the Olympics.  Most of the players remember little of the last time the USA won Gold.

In this blurb, the author says Team USA has that special something that is missing from most NBA teams.   There is some worry about the overall team health.  And here is CNNSI’s Chris Ballard on long range planning for the USA Basketball program.

Kenny Boynton has no shortage of confidence judging from his comments in this link.

With kickoff to football season just over a month away, Coach Cutcliffe caught the attention of coaches on Wednesday’s Operation Football.  Here is ESPN’s Heather Dinich on Duke’s “Catch 22.”  Richmond edged out James Madison in the pre season polls which is a departure from the pre season magazines which all have JMU on top.  TSN picks them #2 in the nation, Lindy’s #3 and Phil Steele has them number one.

USA U18 Team comes up short against Argentina

Team USA fell to host Argentina, 77-64, in the championship game at the FIBA Americas U18 tournament in Formoso, Argentina.  UConn incoming freshman Kemba Walker scored 21 points in the defeat and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.

Argentina used two big runs to secure the victory: 14-2 in the first quarter and 11-0 in the third.  USA Coach Bob McKillop described the environment as hostile and credited the Argentina team with being very talented and deserving champions.  He said the experience will assist the players in their upcoming college careers.

In July 2009, the U19 World Championship will be held in New Zealand and the USA will have the opportunity for redemption against Argentina and other top international teams.