COACH K :: essays research papers

The emotions Mike Krzyzewski displays on the courtare the hallmarks of any college basketball coach.His angry stare from the bench seems to sear referees. A snarl of disgust from the Duke leader gets his squad keystone in line, and fast.showed a softer side.He cried.From those tears sprang a new beginning. Dukesloss to Connecticut in the NCAAchampionship gameno longer mattered. The stunning termination of fiveplayers, three of those leaving early for the NBAdraft,became distant memories. His physical pain becamean afterthought on that April day when, recoveringfrom hip-replacement surgery, ChrisCarrawell, ShaneBattier and Nate James paid a enforce to his home.With all the stuff that was happening, they just cameout and said, Coach, we just want to know howyoure doing,Krzyzewski says. It made me cry. Itwas like, You care. We talked for a long time thatafternoon, and we talked about next year. That wasthe alternate of this years team.This years Duke team was minutes removed fromc utting down the nets Sunday at the ACCTournamentwhen Krzyzewski opened up about his teamsemotional journey this season. Acursory glanceshows few changes from last year Duke stormed tothe Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season andtournament titles in 2000, finishing 18-1 in the leaguethe 1999 squad did the same, only without the oneloss. Both Duke teams stood No. 1 in the final APTop 25 polls and had No. 1 seeds in theNCAATournament. nonetheless the talent level and sky-high expectationsheaped on both teams are remarkably similar. Andthat may be the root of the biggest emotion of all atDuke these days.Surprise.nA decade of Duke dominance ended with a thud lastMarch. The Huskies stunned the nation with a 77-74win in the NCAAchampionship game, and the badnews kept streamlined out of Durham.Sophomore Elton Brand, the national Player of theYear, announced his intention to enter the NBADraft.He made history as the first player in Krzyzewskis19-year reign at Duke to leave school early for thepros.Then, in rapid-fire succession, sophomore point guardWilliam Avery and freshman sensation CoreyMaggette also declared for the draft. Junior onwardsChrisBurgess, disappointed with a lack of playingtime, decided to transfer. The teams rock, five-yearstar Trajan Langdon, graduated in May and alsoheaded for the NBA.Everybody was leaving us, Carrawell says. QuinSnyder left over(p) (to take over the head coaching job atMissouri). We lost a couple people off sportsinformationWe went over and saw coach. I was like, Are yougoing to be ready to coach us this year? Carrawellsays. He was like, Yeah, Im going to be ready, and