Coaches Krzyzewski and Izzo
Coaches Krzyzewski and Izzo
Update, 7:40 p.m. Sunday: Michigan State lost to Duke Sunday night by 85-76, failing to end the legendary Coach Mike Krzyzewski's career. Coach K is retiring following the NCAA tournament after 42 seasons with Duke.
Duke was favored to win, though the Spartans put up a tough battle.
Original post, Sunday morning
March Madness is the final tour for Duke's legendary Mike Krzyzewski, aka "Coach K," who's calling it quits after 42 seasons.
Sunday night, Tom Izzo and his Michigan State team could abruptly put an end to Coach K's career when the two teams square off at 5:15 p.m. on CBS in the NCAA tournament's round two at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. The teams have played each other many times before, with Duke winning most times.
Duke is the No. 2 seed, MSU No. 7.
The match up is getting national attention in publications like The Washington Post, where sportswriter Chuck Culpeppe notes:
This is the final Izzo’s players certainly know they could cause Krzyzewski’s career to end right here, and they learned Friday night before their barnburner with Davidson that they’ll get booed, even if the Friday night booing might have been a Davidson-Duke boo chorus, an inspiring turn of cooperative booing. The Michigan State ethos can make booing it unwise, as when senior forward Gabe Brown said: “I love it. I love being underdogs. I love when the crowd is booing us and they don’t believe in us because that’s when we’re at our best.”
The Duke players certainly know they also could cause Krzyzewski’s career to end right here, at 1,199 career wins, even as junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. reminded: “For us, it’s been like that all year. Every game we play has been Coach’s last something, so we’ve kind of been able to adapt to it. We view it as kind of motivation for us because we say we always want to go out and do it for Coach, send him out on a high note. But at the same time, this is our season as well, too.
When Izzo talks about the difference between him and Krzyzewsk, he says:
“While we’re different, I don’t think that much. I think he coaches in warm weather. I coach in the snow.”
