The final March of Coach K

In a dream, November unfolded.

At the end of the month, Duke went to Las Vegas to play against Gonzaga. As a young team arrived in a big game, in a big venue, and instead of being scared of the stage, it grew to fit and claim it. The flickering vision of what these BlueDevils might be was capable of being flashed bright and then would fade through the winter.

Coach K told his players that every season is a lifetime.

He told his team to get one shot at it.

Elaine Wynn is a friend of Mike and Mickie's. They have known her since Duke beat UNLV in 1991 and she loved how respectful he was after the game, refusing to buy into the narrative that this was a battle of good versus bad. She has been a friend and frequent visitor to CAMERON. Elaine likes how basketball is a family sport. She tells stories about going to games in Durham and seeing the three daughters lugging babies and diaper bags and bottles into the tight confines of the arena's old wooden bleachers and wondered why anyone would go to all this trouble to watch their dad and granddad work. She says that when you have a man that is invested in a passion, you either get on the train or you won't have a lot.

She and her ex-husband, Steve Wynn, created some of the great Las Vegas properties. After she no longer owned it, she ate there with the Krzyzewskis. It took her a long time to realize that it was not her casino. She smiled and said that one day he would have to deal with the same thing as he handed his program to someone else.

She stopped by to say hello before the game because the team always stays at the Wynn. She says he was there on business. She hugged him goodbye after the game and went by the Duke hotel room to congratulate him on the win. They were going to catch up once the madness ended. Krzyzewski likes Las Vegas. He visits the spa and plays video poker. He will sit in the sun. He and Mickie look at the shows in town and research a great restaurant. Since he doesn't fish or golf or pursue any other hobbies, a trip out west is his only distraction and a time for him and Mickie to be alone.

Elaine says that he adores her and she adores him. They are like teenagers when they are here. She will be looking at him with a small glint in her eye. He will reach out and touch her arm.

The job that Patrick Davidson did defending Chris Paul has always been embraced by the Duke basketball family. Craig Jones is a photographer.

The Blue Dukes rose to the top of the rankings. The top-ranked team in the country left on a flight from Raleigh to Columbus on the last day of November. It was dark when they landed. The unranked Ohio State Buckeyes were waiting. The Duke players believed in their hype, but the coaches were not. They were correct to worry that this was a trap game. Duke lost for the first time this season. Coach K demanded that his players learn from this feeling.

He has lost his career many times, each of them a small death and four decades of extreme reactions to them. Pick any of them to get a sense of how his main coaching strategy seems to be setting himself on fire and hoping his team will be drawn to the light. Here is one. Krzyzewski hit peak intensity as his team prepared to play Wake Forest. The night before the game, he showed the team a battle scene fromBraveheart, in which William Wallace lopped off heads and planted a sword in the ground. The team returned to the locker room after running out for layups. The crowd was loud. As Wallace planted his sword, Krzyzewski came screaming into the room, waving his old Army saber. An assistant strategically placed a planter of dirt where he planted his sword.

Krzyzewski yelled, "Let's go, motherf---ers!"

During a timeout, Coach K yelled at the officials that Daniel had been called for a foul. He just collapsed. Mickie ran to the bench. Trainers rushed to his side. It was very tense. He got up, gave his players more instructions and kept coaching.

The Blue Devil beat North Carolina four days later. Then came two losses, one at Maryland and the other at Virginia Tech. The team traveled through the night on a bus.

Patrick Davidson was a walk-on guard for the 2004-05 team.

They got back late, maybe 3 in the morning, and Krzyzewski called the team into the locker room for one of his notorious meetings. One of the players started to cry, according to former Duke guard JJ Redick. They returned home around 5 a.m. When they returned to practice later that day, they saw the board with the starting lineup for the next game against Wake Forest, a team led by Chris Paul. Two walk-ons and two former walk-ons were listed to start against Wake.

I don't know who the fifth starter is, Krzyzewski told them.

He said that he was going to go up in the stands and watch the team. Redick remembers that the assistants would make two guys fight for a ball and 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 888-349-8884 They competed in boxout and rebound contests. Five wind sprints, make a layup, then dive on the floor.

Redick won all the drills. He loved gladiators. The coach told the team that Redick and the four scrubs would start.

The next day the team was on the court. Davidson, who remains an object of cult obsession in the Duke world, pressed and mugged Paul for the first three minutes. When Davidson was taken out to be replaced with Ewing, Krzyzewski wrapped his arms around the walk-on in a bear hug. Duke won.

Coach K feels closer to this team than he has in the last decade, and he wants nothing more than to end his final season with a sixth national title. The images are from Michael Hickey.

Five years ago, in January of 2017, Coach K missed a number of games after having back surgery. Duke players can tell you punishment runs downhill, but the person he seemed to punish most in his pursuit of excellence was himself. The way Krzyzewski pushes himself has scarred him, but it has also taken a toll on everyone who reached for greatness with him. Jeff Capel ran the squad while he recovered from his back operation. The team lost to NC State. The players received a mass text that said to go to Coach K's house immediately. Three rows of chairs were set up. He went down the line. He told the star that he should quit the NBA since he already quit in spirit. The players received a text saying to be in the locker room at 6 a.m. They found two trash bags by the lockers. They were told by their assistants to take everything out of their lockers. He carried the trash bags to his car. The security code on the locker room had been changed when they came back for practice. The players walked to the court and found a pile of clothes. They had not earned Duke gear.

When Tatum finished his story, Redick shivered.

He said there was some post traumatic stress disorder there.

The day before the Ohio State loss, Father Francis was dead. He died at the age of 91. Coach K flew home after getting the news for the funeral. When his friend was walking toward the terminal door, Moe was concerned.

"What's going on?" asked Moe.

Krzyzewski said "Ankle."

He looked a little less energetic than he had beneath Madison Square Garden. He had put a lot of pressure on himself, more than usual, to finish this last run the right way, to wring every moment from an experience he would never have again.

He wants it to be so good.

It was taking a toll on Coach K and his family.

I think they are tired, says Moe.

They rode together to the service. They arrived before the event began. Krzyzewski walked to the open casket after greeting old friends. A man moved to give him space and for 30 seconds Coach K stood there and did not move. He walked back to the casket with his sister-in-law, who was married to his brother. Bill was a huge man who was a captain in the fire department and died a few years later. After the last fire had been fought, he and Pat didn't realize how much they had planned.

Krzyzewski says his brother was his hero.

He shook hands and gave hugs as he moved around the sanctuary. His presence made people feel comforted. The crowd took its seats under the dome of the Polish basilica. The service began with a single bell. Krzyzewski sat on the left side. He said goodbye to the man who gave him permission to become a coach.

Father Rog had always bridged the two parts of him, and now he was gone.

The men escorted his body from the church and Krzyzewski watched in silence.

It was clear by December that the flashes of greatness against Kentucky were indeed flashes. The last team of Coach K would have to be shaped in real time and play games before Christmas. The arrival of battle mode was what he calls the arrival of the ACC games.

Bilas says that he really believes battle mode is one of the reasons they win.

Battle mode is a way of looking at the world in a different way, stripping away everything that doesn't directly impact the next game. Visitors to town are not offended if he only talks about the team. There are many signs. He will stop sleeping. He will skip meals. He will start to look gray. He will find fuel wherever he can.

Chris Collins, a former Duke player and assistant coach, says that he is amazed by his ability to keep a chip on his shoulder. The great ones can create their own problems. We could have a game against the Tigers in January. He has coached 1,500 games, but he finds a way to get angry about something.

When the season ends, Krzyzewski doesn't know what he will do with this side of himself. It keeps you relevant. Keeps you focused. It will be interesting where I channel that. It has to be in something. If it goes, you might as well say goodbye.

He refused to engage in nostalgia this season due to his dislike of battle mode. The team didn't hear him talk about his last dance. He loves the spartan way of living and when his career is over, it might be what he misses the most. This ritualized world has Mike Krzyzewski as its coach. Krzyzewski settled into the past. He eats pizza on the bus after every road game, which is on the right side of the bus. He doesn't have to think about it when he walks onto the plane, because he has always put the players in first class. He started to think about the scarcity of the feeling he got walking onto the court when he was in memory mode.

Coach K was very happy all season. He worked up a full sweat while riding his stationary bike and watched film at the same time. The coaches broke it down after each game. They would usually be done at midnight for a 6 p.m. game. The film meetings happen at CAMERON. They used to happen at the house of Coach K, where the assistants would order pizzas and watch tape all night. The assistants used to throw the morning paper on the porch after sunrise. The pizzas were part of the routine. Before he had to monitor his health, Krzyzewski would put a salt shaker on his seat in the bus to make sure he didn't put salt on his pizza. Two old Duke stalwarts met up for lunch on the road. They both reached for the salt shaker at the same time.

The death of a beloved yellow lab named Blue was a sad way to start Coach K's season of farewells. It was courtesy of Duke.

His family gave him a present for Christmas. The puppy would be born at the end of March after they made the deposit and picked out a new Labrador. He wanted to make sure his family knew he wouldn't ever forget Blue, or that he could be swapped out for another dog.

He said firmly that he was not replacing Blue.

They smiled and said they understood. This would be a new relationship and not an attempt to recreate an old one. Christmas is a big deal in the Krzyzewski family. Mickie got a lot of pink sneakers. Mickie always gets everyone matching pajamas, and this year they were black and white flannel. There is a photo of people in front of a tree. The children and grandchildren spend the night at their house. During the family-only time, Coach K scheduled practice.

Mickie scolded him for ruining Christmases.

She runs a ship. They call her the Queen Mother. She was reminded that this would be the last Christmas he would ruin.

It has been more than 50 years since Mike Krzyzewski graduated from West Point, but the friends he forged are still strong today. Army West Point athletics.

On January, the day after the New Year. After a win versus NC State and a loss at Florida State, Coach K got the news that another of his West Point classmates had died, the first to pass during his final season. Bob was a decorated war hero. One of the guys holding a saber was Mike, who later used it to fire up his team. Those days were long and gray. After Bob died, his widow,Lorie, was walking through their neighborhood in Idaho when her phone rang. A call from North Carolina.

They laughed and remembered the good times when Krzyzewski apologized to her. They talked about their families and bragged on their grandsons.

Bob's daughter tells me that the phone call meant a lot to her mom. It was amazing how close they are.

The friendship Krzyzewski forged in the shadow of the daily Vietnam casualty reports and the influence of his college coach, Knight, shaped his life in ways good and bad.

A young Mike Krzyzewski probably hated Knight even though he was a big fan of him. The basketball press made the comparison all the time until Coach K bristled at that, both wanting his mentor's approval and wanting to be seen as his own man. In the early 1980s, Knight was in his mind as he started his climb in the sport.

At the 1986 Final Four, Knight wore a Duke button on his shirt. The relationship changed when Coach K won his first national title in 1991 and then beat Indiana in the 1992 Final Four. According to Ian O'Connor's new book, Coach Knight did a limp drive-by handshake after the game and Krzyzewski waited in a hall for a second chance after the Hoosiers news conference.

The letter was written.

It is a critical breaking point in Duke basketball. After the game in 1992, Knight had a mutual friend from West Point deliver a letter to Krzyzewski threatening to end their relationship, just venom pouring off the page, turning a perceived slight into a paranoid, angry screed. Knight had been to Krzyzewski's family home for his father's wake. The coaches stopped speaking and Coach K gave up trying to be the bigger man. He is like a child whose father won't acknowledge his success.

The Knight letter dominated the Duke community after the 1992 win over Indiana and the Michigan game 48 hours later. Krzyzewski returned to his hotel suite in a fog. Notre Dame head coach Brey remembers how he and his wife were trying to make sense of their hurt when he was an assistant. Brey knew he had to do something. He stood up and spoke.

He said "F--- Bob Knight."

After the game, Mike Krzyzewski took out one of his rosaries and said a prayer, dedicating the contest to his friend Bob. He does that every game. It is his time to be alone. He steps into a private room just off the big space where he does his postgame news conferences when he is on the road. He will reach into his right pocket once he gets settled, where he will keep the rosary blessed by Pope John Paul II. His mother's rosary is in his other pocket. He dedicated several games to his family. He dedicated it to Mickie's family because she grew up in Virginia. He keeps photographs of young kids he met in hospitals who died, and a prayer card from one of his first players at Army on his desk in his spartan downstairs office. He carries them with him. They are him. He is always in touch with the other planes of existence. His desire to walk with spirits is one of his greatest gifts and it is at the heart of his success. He is a collection of everyone he has ever met. He has a way of communicating with the people who walked this road with him but didn't make it to the end, he has a rosary in each pocket and twin portals. The people are being carried by him.

Coach K is still willing to bat for his players after all these years. Exhibit A was his response to the foul by David Collins. USA TODAY Sports

Coach K looked terrible in January. He always does it this time of year. It must be February.

Duke had four games in eight days and five in 12. The whole program hunkered down in battle mode, like a ship that sounds like a general quarters and turns on red lights. Duke won the first game against Carolina and people inside the program were upset that the Tar Heels didn't honor Krzyzewski during the game. It was the fourth loss of the season and the last three by a total of four points. Moore came crashing down after David Collins undercut him. He writhed on the floor, and Coach K wheeled around to the bench and yelled, "What the f--- are you doing?"

He moved toward the baseline. A 75-year-old man was stalking off to fight a college kid after his daughter screamed in front of her television.

She says that her dad has small lips. I haven't seen him that angry in a long time.

In her dad&s conference room, Debbie is talking about the play, how Coach K got himself under control, and how the coach did a masterful job defusing, until everyone hugged and the game continued. His mentor might have destroyed his career in a moment of rage, but he is not his mentor.

You say this Bobby Knight thing?

He has coached 1,500 games, but he finds a way to get angry about something.

- Chris Collins

She is quiet and her voice fades. Her dad had a relationship that was soured by pettiness and anger. He didn't duplicate Knight's mistakes. One of the most poignant parts of this season has been the constant stream of former players coming to meet the coach, bringing family members and children, wanting to be a part of the end. He has spent his final season surrounded by the relationships he built over five decades, relationships that remain intact in no small part because he saw firsthand how not to treat someone. The relationships always seemed to win out despite the rifts. The people close to Krzyzewski understand that Knight has bad impulses, but he has been able to control them.

He sighs when I ask about Knight.

He talks about how to be a better person.

He says that in the last decade, he will not have hate or resentment in what he does. She would ask, "Why let that in your heart?"

He was able to let go of hate and resentment. He learned from others. He learned from practice and from teaching. Knight once thought he would be carved in stone on the mountaintop of his sport, and now he is the fifth-winningest coach who destroyed everything he built. His biggest contribution to basketball might be showing Mike Krzyzewski how not to treat people, which has allowed Coach K to emerge from this brutal grind of 47 seasons with his life and friends and family intact.

Debbie K is smiling.

She knows she shouldn't say it.

She blurts.

After winning a national championship playing for Mike Krzyzewski, Jon joined his coaching staff and never left. Icon Sportswire has Jaylynn Nash.

Every morning, Mickie Krzyzewski sends out the basketball schedule. It starts on a family text chain called Basketball Freaks, but gets forwarded around the Duke basketball world. The group chat of Coach K, Mickie and their three girls is not the same as this thread. In Basketball Freaks, she has listed all the college games they might care about, along with the time and the channel.

JohnnyDawkins is against Houston at 9:00.

Ore v BobbyHurley.

ChrisCollins v Minn.

People look forward to the daily updates on Harvard, Austin Peay, Jeff Capel, and The Fighting Capels. The Duke basketball office has always been a blend of Coach K, his team and his family. When the three Krzyzewski girls were young, they had crushes on dad's players and now some of their own girls babysit for the assistant coaches. The house has 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 The punishment for drinking in high school was that her parents told the team. She remembers Danny Ferry running into her and her mom and dad at a Duke football game and cracking, "Hey, Deb, wanna go get a few beers?"

Collins says he sees him as a second father.

His players became part of his life. They were with his mom. They were familiar with his brother. Amaker remembers that he was taken on a tour of West Point when he was in New York recruiting. Brey remembers going through Chicago to find something to eat after work.

Every former player I spoke to had a story about hearing from him. Collins told me about a tough loss he suffered when he was at Northwestern. They lost at the buzzer after being up 11 with four minutes to go. The team got on a plane and flew to Chicago, and he got a phone call as he was driving home. It was Coach K who was talking me off the ledge.

The Arizona State coach says he struggles to treat the Duke coach like a peer because he reveres him so much. Only two people in his phone have their numbers saved. His wife is programmed as L, and his coach is simply K. Jay Williams almost died in a motorcycle crash years later. When he got the news, Krzyzewski was in the air. The pilots were told to turn the plane toward Chicago. From the air, Krzyzewski asked if he could pick him up. The coach went to the hospital and stayed in the car. He was one of the first people Williams saw when he woke up. When Coach K got back in the car, he turned to his oldest friend with tears in his eyes and said, "Moe, it's pretty bad."

His greatest gift has always been his need for lifelong relationships. He is loved by his family in Durham and Chicago, as well as by the players and coaches at Duke and the Olympic teams, and he is at the center of a huge spinning wheel. It is important to know that this last season has been a happy one, with formers returning and bringing their children with them. Krzyzewski went to watch film after visiting the guys in the training room. He was told to look in the gym. He can always access the closed-circuit camera in Cameron. When he turned on the feed, he saw two of his assistant coaches with their kids, and two former players with their kids.

He says it looks like a daycare center.

Tommy Amaker was a member of Mike Krzyzewski's staff for two national titles at Duke. It was courtesy Duke.

He celebrated by going into the office on a Sunday and turning 75. He has been sleeping for four or five hours a night. He is overworking himself. He is doing things he did when he was 40 while watching film all night.

On Tuesday, the last game of 5-in-12 was against Wake Forest, the same day that excerpts from O'Connor's biography were released. News stories started circulating online after O'Connor interviewed more than 250 people over two years. The juiciest one said that Coach K kept Amaker from getting the job because he wanted to keep control of the program.

Krzyzewski began to fall.

He was really upset and didn't feel good all day. He thinks loudly.

She talked about Amaker while sitting with him.

The situation is not as bad as the headlines suggest. The belief around Coach K is that the source quoted in the book overstated the coach's desire for control once he's gone. Duke and Amaker did not comment on the subject. A source close to both Coach K and Amaker described O'Connor's reporting to me as accurate. The private dispute being made public shows that the succession plan left some damaged feelings. On the day the story became public, Krzyzewski worried that he had hurt a member of the tribe. I like Tommy. He is one of my boys. I don't want anything to hurt my guys.

He looked at his daughter while sitting in his office.

He said he wanted to take care of everyone.

She told him that he had and that he was.

She understood the part of his emotional reaction that was hidden, coming days after he turned 75.

She told him that he would still be taking care of the people even when he wasn't on the sideline. They are still your boys.

Krzyzewski led his team onto the court. During the first half, Mickie and Debbie watched from upstairs as their daughter waved her cell phone at them. A message was seen by Debbie that said "Poppy doesn't feel good".

Debbie went behind the bench to talk to the trainers, not wanting to worry her mom yet. They wanted to wait for the media timeout to get him some water. At halftime, everyone agreed to meet in the locker room. When Debbie came upstairs, Mickie asked what was going on. He felt lightheaded.

Mickie said that he was going.

Krzyzewski had trouble keeping his eyes open at halftime. His blood pressure went up. He was given fluids by the doctors. When he was able to watch the game, he started yelling at the officials and his blood pressure rose again. His daughter Jamie scolded him. This is what we are doing? You are going to stroke out in the middle of a basketball game?

He raged at himself, too, at the time he was 75.

He barked, "I sound like I'm weak!"

Debbie told him that he sounded human.

The team won, barely, and the beat reporters searched for news about Krzyzewski's health. He spoke to his players briefly and then went home without breaking down the film, a tiny concession.

Later that night, she sent a text to her mom.

She asked where he was.

Mickie told him to watch the game from bed.