College basketball fans – especially fans of those teams who wear those two different shades of blue – are getting ready for another installment in a rivalry that has become legendary across the nation. The first Carolina-Duke matchup of the season takes place Saturday evening in Chapel Hill.
And for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, it will be another stop along the way on his farewell tour.
In case you haven’t heard, Coach K is retiring at the end of the year – a fact that saddens Duke fans and elates others whose teams have gone up against the Blue Devils year after year.
Although Saturday’s game will likely be his last as a coach to the Smith Center, Duke game analyst John Roth said Coach K – in typical Coach K fashion – will be focused on making sure his team is ready to play and not on himself.
Roth said it’s hard not to reflect on the legendary coach’s 42-year career at Duke. “He is classic for focusing on the here and now,” Roth noted, adding that his focus will be “trying to make sure this team gets his best” effort on Saturday.
Roth, who is part of the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield, spoke with John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk and said he’s been around Duke about as long as Coach K has – he was a senior at Duke in 1980 and Krzyzewski was named coach in March 1980.
Since 2009, Roth has been host and analyst for Duke radio broadcasts and is the producer of the Duke football and basketball coaches’ television shows. He also worked in the sports information office at Duke from 1982 to 1990, and he was its director from 1986-1990.
Roth said Coach K “always seems to have the right thing to say,” whether to motivate players or others he meets. “He is always ‘on,’ Roth said. “You never see him when he’s not ready to be his best.”
And when players recognize that characteristic, it’s hard not to want to give him back their best effort, he said.
Watching and working alongside Coach K has been an unbelievable and rewarding experience.
“To be consistent at something for 40 years – it just blows me away sometimes,” he said.
Roth’s take of this year’s Blue Devils?
“I think they’ve continued to get better from the beginning of the year ‘til now. To me, they’re getting better by the game.” Statistically, Duke’s offense is tops in the conference, he said, and the defense isn’t too shabby, either.
But statistics and drawn-up plays sometimes go out the window during rivalry games like Duke-UNC, and fans from both sides surely have games that stand out in their memories.
If there were a Mount Rushmore for basketball coaches, Roth said Coach K and UNC’s Dean Smith would undoubtedly be two of the faces memorialized in stone. And Coach K’s retirement at the end of this season marks the end of a 60-year run that saw either Smith or Krzyzewski on the sidelines.
Saturday’s game starts at 6 p.m., but chances are, the hype and anticipation surrounding it begins way before tipoff.
