The Coach Builds a Champion

There is no way of knowing for sure how Duke went about supplanting UCLA as the game’s four-letter word of choice, or when or why this institute for yuppie learning turned into the college of college basketball.

But it has.

Hail Duke, lord of the rims.

Faced with the threat of overthrow by the freshman princes of Ann Arbor, Mich., the Blue Devils continued their rule with a 71-51 triumph that made Duke the first school to take successive national championships since UCLA in 1973--the year Michigan’s entire starting lineup was born.

Some of the same Blue Devils who felt shame at losing the 1990 final to Nevada Las Vegas by 30 points were rejoicing here Monday at having their way with Michigan by 20.

But that’s what the best teams do.

They get better.

Duke got touched for 103 points by UNLV, whereas Michigan managed only 51, the second-lowest total in a title game since 1949.

“I think it’s safe to say we must be doing something right at Duke,” said junior guard Bobby Hurley, who, already having two championships, could come back for thirds.

The question is how?

How did this happen to this little Carolina campus with the puny student body and the strict academic requirements? How did a basketball program grow and grow until it began to devour everything in its path, making Duke soup of opponents as UCLA once did, even though there are 64 qualifiers for the NCAA tournament now as opposed to 32 or 24?

There are two answers.

The answer from Coach Mike Krzyzewski is: “Luck, skill, desire, hard work--the usual way anybody goes about getting what they want most in life.”

And the other answer?

The other answer is Mike Krzyzewski.

He’s the one who did this--the sentimental Polish kid from Chicago who taught disciplined athletes from West Point to play smart, then changed jobs to teach smart kids in Durham, N.C., how to play with discipline.

It must be Krzyzewski. Five consecutive Final Fours, you don’t do that with mirrors. If it’s a matter of getting the best players, then why didn’t Krzyzewski’s predecessors at Duke win as often as he does?

Yes, he has heads-up assistant coaches, tireless recruiters, true-blue boosters and a loyal but loony student support group. Yes, he has brainy, brawny, All-American players, although few of them seem to dominate professional opponents the way, say, North Carolina’s do.

But Krzyzewski is the one who mixes them together.

Look at the eight players who played for him in the championship game. Who were they? Where did they come from?

There was a gangly All-American (Christian Laettner) out of Angola, N.Y., and an equally tall understudy (Cherokee Parks) from Huntington Beach. There was a spry little rascal (Hurley) from Jersey City, N.J. and an unsung hero (Thomas Hill) who rode in from Lancaster, Tex.

And there was an acrobatic sophomore (Antonio Lang) out of Mobile, Ala., right alongside a classmate (Grant Hill) from Reston, Va., who might have been Duke’s best player Monday night. And the coach also utilized a dependable senior (Brian Davis of Capitol Heights, Md.) who came to the game on crutches and pleaded to play, having not missed a tipoff all season, as well as a youngster (Christian Ast) who came all the way from Heidelberg, Germany, just to see why basketball players come to Duke the way people searching for miracles come to Lourdes.

Krzyzewski used and credited all of them--and not only them.

The coach expressed appreciation for Erik Meek, the 6-foot-10 freshman from Escondido who mixed it up daily in practice with Laettner and friends, making them better and becoming better himself; and to Kenny Blakeney, a freshman guard from Washington, and sophomore Marty Clark from Western Springs, Ill., who donated valuable minutes last Saturday against Indiana. And then there was the 12th man, Ron Burt, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., who came to this championship team how? He came to it by playing intramural ball for two years and then trying out for Krzyzewski at a 38-player open talent audition on campus last October, that’s how.

“To me, Ron Burt is every bit as much a part of this team as Christian Laettner,” Krzyzewski said.

And have you noticed anything about this 12-man Duke squad?

Anything, oh, unusual?

Like the fact that not one player is from North Carolina? Or even South Carolina?

Oh, this is Mike Krzyzewski’s team, all right. He built it, using parts from anywhere and everywhere. He assembled it the way Bob Vila builds a house. Duke is the house Krzyzewski built and probably would be called that if it tripped more easily off the tongue.

Duke trailed Kentucky with seconds to go. Krzyzewski told the players they would win, and they won. Duke trailed four teams this season at halftime, Monday’s game included. Krzyzewski told the players they would win each of these games, and they did.

“When Coach K says we’re going to win, I tend to think we’re going to win,” Hurley said.

At Duke, winning is a state of mind.