NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL FOUR: NORTH CAROLINA VS DUKE

March 31, 2022

Mike Krzyzewski

Caesars Superdome

Duke Blue Devils

Semi-Finals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: We just had our workout, and our guys are excited. We're all healthy. And such a beautiful setting. And I think when our guys walked out, I wanted them to know -- before they walked out, I said just take a few minutes to let it all sink in and understand there are only four teams in the United States, four men's teams who are going to experience this. So make the most of the experience.

Q. Now that you're here, could you discuss some of the emotions of flying in, seeing the Superdome for the first time, but also how you balance some of the feelings that you and your players will obviously have, with the idea that you have a difficult task ahead of you on Saturday, how do you balance that?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, I don't think there's much of a balance. I think that's part of the experience. These guys are competitors. They've won over 30 games and regular season champion. To think about all four teams here, all four teams are championship teams. They've won their region.

And now you have a chance, to me it's an opportunity, an earned opportunity. And if you feel that it's pressure, you probably won't do well in it. But if you approach it where you've earned this opportunity to go for something even bigger, then you've got a chance to play well. So that's kind of how we look at it.

Q. I've spoken with a number of your former assistants. I wanted to ask you about a process you've gone through over the decades here. Talked with Wojo and Collins, a guy named Bilas, I don't know if you remember who that is, but every single game you inherited it from Bob Knight --

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: There wasn't tape at that time.

Q. Reel to reel.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: You had to get that done. You didn't get it back until the next day.

Q. Brey said when you used to do it with Knight, you either called it the bunker or cave, something, a windowless room. If you could confirm what that was. And, two, what is it about this process that you've done after every single game over more than four decades that you stayed true to it, why has it been this way and you've never kind of shifted off that work ethic and that routine?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: It's not kidding around. In order to do it after the game you had to have videotape. And so it changed when we were able to get that. And I've always looked at a game wasn't over until you analyzed it and were able to put a tape together of feedback for your team the next day. And once that was given than that game was put on a shelf and you move forward.

It's just the routine, the routine of what a game is and then how do you prepare for the next one. And you get into that. And then that's why memory of games that you've played is not as good with me because you have always put it behind, no matter what.

Q. Your ability to spend kind of the summer recruiting when you normally would be out with this team -- I'm not trying to discredit your relationship with previous teams -- but did that make a unique emotional attachment with this group, especially with one that's so young? Did it help?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: When you had older teams, you could be on the road recruiting all the time because you'd have time. You already had relationships and you were going to renew them or whatever. And I felt the COVID year for us last year, the two things that, in analyzing, I knew they were important but they proved to be amazingly important, were relationships and preparation.

COVID robbed me of the ability to have those. And so with the succession plan we had in place, I was able to see my guys every day. And we brought our freshmen in earlier, about three and a half weeks earlier. And they took a course and kind of were indoctrinated to Duke.

They lifted on Duke's campus longer than our freshmen of last year. So again, it's not just your program, but part of -- whatever school you go to, you've got to know the school. Like our guys a year ago, if you were a freshman, you didn't know the school. You knew your laptop or you Zoom, whatever.

Q. I wanted to ask you a little bit about experience. You rely on three of your freshmen. And in the other semifinal, Villanova and Kansas don't have any underclassmen who are starters. Those two teams have 2,000 games among older players. What is it about experience and the value of experience that helps you get to and handle being on this stage?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: There's no question that you'd rather have an older team than a younger team. But if you have a younger team, you have to get them as old as possible during the season and develop a camaraderie and -- that is at a level worthy enough to compete against those older teams.

We were able to do that in these first couple of rounds because we played really good teams. Michigan State, Tom's program is exquisite. And I thought Texas Tech was as good a team we've played against all year. And Arkansas -- and our guys have grown together really well. And they're about a level -- they're at a really high level for one year. And that's why we got a chance.

Q. Your first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach was 1984. You've coached 131 overall. Wonder if you could reflect a little bit on your evolution as a tournament coach and a bit of the evolution of the tournament itself?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Well, the tournament keeps getting bigger, which is great. Hopefully we don't screw up college basketball during the regular season. We're doing a good job of that. But it doesn't take away from March. I think in some respects it saves us. So maybe we don't reflect on what we do in the regular season at a deep enough level. But to see the game grow in that magnitude, it's terrific.

For me, you learn from experience. So I used to get into the tournament -- this is a while ago -- and I would put a four-team, like, whoever was in, your weekend. And not all the time did we get out of the weekend. And I remember Coach Knight saying you have to approach it where each game is a championship game. So then we changed that. And it wasn't so much that we assumed, but by putting that out there it creates an environment where you can think that there's going to be something else.

But I've been very fortunate to be in a lot of these games. And I don't think there's an exact formula. You just have to figure out how your team does it in this tournament. And I've enjoyed trying to figure that out with this group.

Q. As you prepare for Saturday's game -- what's the best way to say this -- as you prepare for Saturday's game, what are your defensive tendencies? What does your team have to do to come out with a win? Your team has got hot, especially in the tournament. You've seen surges from Jeremy Roach, you're playing better perimeter defense, you communicate on defense, backside defense. What does your team need to do to come out with the win?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Quite a bit and more so than I can answer. That's why you're studying them like crazy. I think for our guys, one, because we've played each other twice, to know that it's not the same team we played either time. They've grown and they're better. And to understand who they are at this minute.

So when you go over personnel, now to say, yeah, they were that way. No, they're not. They're better. And then for us, to continue to play at a high level of defense that we've done in the tournament. And when we play good defense, we usually play good offense.

In the tournament, we've become much -- like we're shooting over 50 percent. We have incredible balance in our scoring. We have five guys in double figures, and Trevor is at seven, but he can be the leading scorer in the game. And so to me that means that the offense is kind of flowing naturally because the defense is being paid such great attention to. And hopefully we can keep that going.

Q. You know who is next, right, when you're done here? Are you going to stick around for the Mark Emmert press conference?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I am sitting at the edge of my chair in anticipation of --

Q. We all are.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Is it happening, really?

Q. You can stick around.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I've got a team to coach. Well, I hope you all bring up --

Q. Do you have a question that you'd like us -- since you won't be here to ask?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I have many questions.

Q. I'm sure you do.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I think the very first one is where are we going? And who is going to be in charge? Not that I'm saying that he shouldn't be. But what are we doing? What are we doing to make sure we're taking care of all divisions that are under your roof -- men, women, all sports, those that make money and those that just make men and women out of people. And probably that's more important than the other, but you have to do that.

So there's balance. And we're understanding that everyone cannot be treated the same. That doesn't mean that everyone's not treated fairly. And it's a new day that should have been a new day decades ago. So we've got a lot to make up for.

Q. Have you caught yourself thinking about what if -- what if you win two more, cut down the nets and the storybook ending that could be?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I have not tried to do that, because then I think you leave a hole somewhere in your preparation for the game on Saturday. I think you have to be all in on Saturday and then accept the consequences of it. And hopefully they're good for us. But I think in approaching it that way, whatever happens then I'll feel good about it. It's like that bracket, not doing it that way.

And I didn't do this season to have a storybook. I did it because I wanted to coach one more year and I wanted to have a good succession plan for our program. And we've won 32 games, and my guys have been terrific. So very thankful that I had this level of youngster this year. They really get along well.

Q. A little bit off the beaten path, if you don't mind but we've been speaking to some of your former players that have played in Final Four games. And one of those is Marty Clark. He spoke about a call he got from you back in 2014, his alcoholism and whatnot. I'm wondering if you could speak about what that meant to you to kind of play a role in him getting his life back on track.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: We're very proud of him. He's been very public about how he changed his life. And as a result he's now changing other people's lives.

And basically the relationships that players and coaches have, not just at Duke, but in sport, are very deep or can be very deep. And in a moment of need, a lot of times a youngster, male or female, will reach out to someone who has had an influence in their development stage. And that's what happened with Marty.

And it worked out great. My daughter, Debbie, was really very instrumental in that. And he's doing well. He's doing real well.

Q. You talked about the journey in coaching this really young team and getting them across the bridge. I was hoping you could explain to me how important it's been to psychologically prepare them, blocking the noise out with all the pressure and really just having those one-on-one relationships with each of them.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: When you say "noise," I don't think they've ever -- I don't think a youngster looks at noise as pressure. They look at it as noise. They like a lot of noise. That's why they like mentions and comments. Their pool is not very deep, but it's very expanded.

And so when we say, listen to one voice -- like I talked to them earlier this week. I said you only have so much room, mind space where you can get in depth about anything. You can put a lot in your mind but not necessarily deep. So, can you not put in your mind things you will not get deep about and get really deep about what we're doing?

And not that they couldn't, because it's harder now. The further you go, it's harder for them. And so we've talked about that.

But really pressure, they don't feel pressure. I'm amazed at that, try to remember being that age. I would have felt pressure and nervous and maybe a little bit afraid. They're not. They are not. I admire that in them. It's not anything we taught them. They brought that to us.

Q. Wanted to talk about Tom Konchalski, if he gets set into the hall of fame as a contributor, to join Garf, what would that mean? And do you have any inside information --

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I knew you would ask. A lot of people feel I have inside information on a lot of things that I don't.

But I've been a big proponent and supporter of Tom's as I was of Garf basically because he deserves to be in. Tom is one of a kind. He's helped tens of thousands of kids from Division III to Division I and coaches marry up to develop those relationships that we've been talking about.

And there's not anyone like him. And I'm not the only one. We all benefited greatly from our friendship and our love of Tom. So hopefully that happens.

Q. Earlier Wendell was on the stage and I asked him about it feels as though from a distance that those guys kind of flipped a switch, and it seems like they're gaining more confidence every game. I know you said the confidence they have, you're surprised by in its own right. But was there something that happened between the ACC loss and the start of the tournament, because it seems like you guys are getting better every single game?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah, practice. We did not play very well for four games and we're 2-2. So they accepted -- they were responsible, accountable. And I think a lot of coaches will tell youngsters, they use the expression "trust your work."

And so when you go into competition, if you haven't worked, you have a hard time trusting yourself. But if you've worked, you can trust but you also own it. You own it more.

And so they just did that. That's on them. I mean, we helped them with that and they've gotten better. Our guys are playing well. I don't know how it all will turn out. But they're playing well.

Q. Over the last two weeks we've seen more of the emotion, the connection with this team. I'm wondering, when you announced this would be the last season, you prepared for what would come emotionally. Has it been less than, more than emotional than you prepared for, thought it would be?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Really, any emotion that I've shown it's not been because it's my last season. It's been because of something that you've interacted with a player or the team about. If you're being emotional for it's your last season, you're really a selfish person. Although there are people out there that think I am. In this respect I am not.

I have always thought that shared emotion is the best. And to be able to share that emotion and accomplishment with these guys has been really good.