Duke outlasts Texas Tech to carry Mike Krzyzewski into Elite Eight

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Krzyzewski, old Army point guard, was saved by his young Duke point guard. Jeremy Roach won a big game for him Thursday night the way Bobby Hurley used to win big games for him, driving fearlessly into the lane and sinking jumpers and making the plays winning NCAA quarterbacks make.

So Coach K’s incomparable career lives to see at least one more night. His second-seeded Blue Devils were tougher in the end than third-seeded Texas Tech, which is saying a mouthful given that the Red Raiders are as tough and as physical as they come.

But there was Roach in the final minutes, slicing and dicing Texas Tech’s renowned no-middle defense, delivering the complementary points needed for freshman sensation Paolo Banchero, who led Duke with 22. And there was AJ Griffin of Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains, making both ends of a one-and-one with 12.9 seconds left to effectively seal Coach K’s 100th NCAA Tournament victory, and a trip to the Elite Eight to face Arkansas.

The Razorbacks beat the No. 1 overall seed, Gonzaga, by playing ugly-ball. The Red Raiders tried to do the same to the Blue Devils, and it didn’t work. Krzyzewski walked out of the Chase Center with career victory No. 1,201, a 78-73 decision, and a cleaner path to what would be his 13th Final Four.

Coach K’s players were more heavily recruited than Mark Adams’s players, by a lot, but they were also younger and less physically mature. Tech’s leading scorer, Bryson Williams, is a sixth-year senior who turns 24 next month. Duke’s leading scorer, Banchero, is a one-and-done freshman who doesn’t turn 20 until November. This was grown men against young men, and usually the grown men win.

“They probably have as many transfers as any program in the country,” Krzyzewski had said. “We have one of the youngest teams, if not the youngest team I’ve coached, and you’re trying to build habits.”

The Sweet 16 is a tough place to build habits, especially against a defense Krzyzewski described as probably the best in the nation. The Red Raiders’ toughness appealed to Coach K, as did the dirt road traveled by their first-year head coach Adams, who was 65 years old when he finally landed a head-coaching job in the big leagues.

Krzyzewski said Adams learned the game from bus stop to bus stop, rather than through the comforts of first-class plane tickets. “When you are at the bus stops,” Coach K said, “you don’t make a lot of money. You better love what you do.”

Nobody ever loved what he did more than Krzyzewski, who made the big money and still coaches like he’s desperate and broke. In the immediate wake of his 1,200th victory last Sunday at Michigan State’s expense, Coach K was as overwhelmed as longtime Duke observers had ever seen him after an early-round NCAA game. He choked up as he looked down at his players at the postgame press conference and said, “You guys were terrific, man. I’m really proud to be your coach. It had nothing to do with coaching those last four or five minutes. It had to do with heart and togetherness. They followed their hearts, and God bless them.”

When Krzyzewski announced his retirement in June 2021, it was clear the victory tour to come would serve as both blessing and curse to his 42nd and final Duke team. The blessing? More coast-to-coast attention for the five or six potential NBA players on the roster meant more opportunities for those prospects to prove to executives and scouts that they can perform at the highest level under extreme pressure.

The curse? The pressure would be about as intense as any college team had ever confronted.

Asked about the impact of announcing his retirement in advance, rather than officially calling it a career after his final game the way, say, North Carolina rivals Dean Smith and Roy Williams did, Krzyzewski said, “It wears on you a little bit because everywhere you walk, everyone is taking a picture of you and they’re watching everything. Look, that gets old. You know, that gets old.

“But I feel for my guys. They’ve had pressure put on them that we’re not putting on them. I tell them all the time, ‘We’re playing for us, for you.’ It’s not a sinister plan against us or anything, but it just happens that way.”

Krzyzewski’s players have handled that pressure with uncommon grace. Down five points to Michigan State with five minutes left, the ultra-young Blue Devils seemed to be in deep, deep trouble. But instead of cracking (Tom Izzo’s words) under the weight of Coach K’s pending goodbye, they grew up in a hurry and fought their way to San Francisco.

“They’re good players, but they’re really good guys,” Krzyzewski said. “You don’t go to those Sweet 16s just with talent. You do it with character. That’s what my teams have had. It’s not like I’ve given them that. We’ve recruited that, and we’ve made use of it.”

In his last season, under extraordinary circumstances, Krzyzewski’s players have shown their true character and poise. They did it by winning 31 games and counting, and by advancing to the Elite Eight.

They also did it by managing a remarkably unique season without much problem. That’s been the Blue Devils’ greatest gift to Coach K, who gets at least one more NCAA Tournament night.