Mike Krzyzewski
Mike Krzyzewski
Michael William Krzyzewskiis an American college basketball coach and former player. Since 1980, he has served as the head men's basketball coach at Duke University. At Duke, Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils to five NCAA Championships, 12 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. Krzyzewski is also the coach of the United States men's national basketball team, whom he led to two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth13 February 1947
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
Mutual commitment helps overcome the fear of failure—especially when people are part of a team sharing and achieving goals. It also sets the stage for open dialogue and honest conversation.
If you just focus on J.J. and just watched him, you'd be shocked at the maze of things that he has to get through usually to get a shot. I think he's just evolved each year as a better basketball player, and the last two years he's made a year-round commitment to being in exceptional shape.
I think we could have done a little better job, but the other team forces you into those situations. I don't think we ever completely adjusted to the physicality of this game. And they did.
Our big guys were more animated than they have been the entire season.
We were never a dominant team. We knew that, and things would have to go right for us to win.
We weren't as good of a team last year. That team did remarkable things - they were a remarkable team to accomplish what they did.
Usually when you play bad, somebody makes you look bad and we didn't respond very well.
We're not going to beat a really good team with J.J. going 5 for 21.
Giving back what the game has given you, that's one of the things I want to permeate through the program for the next three years and serve as a basis for the team, ... I hope the players look at it that way, too. You forget how lucky you are to be in a specific situation sometimes. We need to get that feeling going again.
We're probably going to get beat a number of times. I just think we have to keep improving. I like my team, but we're not who we will be.
I love Collins; he's unflappable. For them to win, I think they needed Collins to be who Collins is and one of those other two guys have a good night. Just Collins had that night, and that's one of the reasons that we won.
I don't feel like crying, I feel happy. Not that we lost, but I feel happy that I've had them. I mean how lucky. We have been really fortunate with this group, these seniors, to have four years like that.
He's great, in every sense of the word. We're so lucky to have him.
We will put together a team that will represent our country on and off the court and the way the game should be played, ... It's our game and it's time to reclaim it.