Duke Basketball: Coach K Has Advice for Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils
Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski attended only one Duke basketball game last season, the first since his retirement.
Although still in Durham serving as an ambassador to the university, the 76-year-old stayed out of the picture, outside of sitting front row along the baseline of Coach K Court with wife Mickie on Valentine's Day while watching Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils defeat Notre Dame in its final season under former Duke assistant Mike Brey.
Chances are Krzyzewski, now also the special adviser to basketball operations for the NBA, shows up for no more than a few games next season. That's despite Scheyer repeatedly noting last season how much he'd love to see his predecessor in Cameron Indoor Stadium more often.
But Coach K still pops in for a visit with Scheyer's players from time to time.
The five-time national champion and college game's all-time wins leader did so in early December last year before the Blue Devils went on to win the ACC Tournament and finish with an encouraging 27-9 overall record.
And on Tuesday night, Duke basketball's official account tweeted a video of some advice he gave to the 2023-24 Blue Devils after checking out their on-court work inside the program's practice facility this week:
"You guys have a chance to be very good," Krzyzewski told the projected preseason top-five bunch, featuring four returning starters and welcoming five-star rookies. "And the word 'chance' is a big word. It's 'What will you do to make each other become very, very good?'"
He then explained the importance of embracing positional battles in practice as if no one's playing time for next season is safe.
"Don't assume," he warned. "Don't assume you're going to be good. Don't assume who's going to start. Don't assume. Whether you are that guy coming back or you're that new guy, do not assume.
"You should come after the guy you're guarding every day, whoever that is. Because you know what? Based on what you guys did last year, the expectations are higher for you. People are going to come after you — hard. You have to come after each other hard in practice."
What Coach K said next prompted the star of his final Duke basketball squad, now-NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, to tweet about his sense of nostalgia from seeing the supreme motivator lightly touch his arm during the speech before mentioning the "chills" he's getting about the team's potential.
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"As a freshman, don't just say, 'Well, I'll just fit in,'" Mike Krzyzewski directed at newcomers Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, TJ Power, and Sean Stewart. "You don't come to Duke to fit in. I get chills thinking about it. You come to Duke to be a great player and be on a great team.
"Great players don't assume...You have a chance to be an outstanding Duke team. Go for it."
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