Mike Krzyzewski’s time as a college basketball coaching titan was cemented long ago. When you win five Men’s National Championships and qualify for 12 Final Fours, you’re practically synonymous with the sport. Krzyzewski is to the Duke (-3.5) men the way Geno Auriemma is to the Connecticut women, or even Lombardi is to the Green Bay Packers. He’s an unmitigated and virtually unchallenged icon.
Among his many accomplishments, perhaps the most impressive achievement of Krzyzewski’s college basketball coaching career was keeping pace with fellow blue blood, ACC rival North Carolina. Since taking over in 1980, the two men’s programs have sparred back and forth for the better part of four decades. And the venom between those was always genuine.
Be it Tar Heel fans letting the visiting Blue Devils have it in Chapel Hill, or vice versa in Durham: Packed, tense games defined this rivalry through almost all of Krzyzewski’s tenure. There was nothing like Duke-North Carolina. Nothing.
On Saturday afternoon, Krzyzewski’s No. 9 Blue Devils happened to visit Chapel Hill for the last time with him as coach. And North Carolina fans let a man, who has stood in the way of so much glory, indeed have it one last time.
UNC's chant as Coach K enters the building?
"F*** Coach K, F*** Coach K"
— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) February 5, 2022
Now the question was whether North Carolina — in the middle of a down year under first-year head coach Hubert Davis — could back up the chestiness of the crowd. Surely, even amidst struggles, Duke-North Carolina would have one last classic battle in the Dean E. Smith Center with Krzyzewski watching.
Right?
Wrong. So very dead wrong.
In the midst of an 87-67 blowout victory, four Blue Devils (A.J. Griffin, Wendell Moore Jr., Paolo Banchero, Trevor Keels) all finished with double figures. A game that should’ve and probably would’ve had a little more drama in other years, had the air slowly sucked out of it by a staunch Duke team. Whatever resistance the Tar Heels mustered up, Duke had an answer every single time.
It was 31-8 Duke to start, and the Blue Devils never lost the lead: Only the second time that has ever happened in the last 20 years of this storied rivalry.
What a night for A.J. Griffin and the Blue Devils.
Duke won without trailing (only the 2nd time in the last 20 seasons that Duke did that at UNC, and 1st since 2013). pic.twitter.com/liTuYFrz88
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 6, 2022
Oh and if that weren’t enough, it was the fourth-largest road win, ever, for Duke against North Carolina. Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, Jahlil Okafor: Any rebuttal?
What started as a night of unkind (to say the least) boos for the coaching legend, ended in a forced curtain call where Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils made the most hostile environment possible their home away from home. There might still be a tournament or two to play, where Krzyzewski and Duke makes their voice heard. But let’s be honest.
Muted, stunned Tar Heel silence. What a way to go out on top.
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