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

April 1, 2022

Mike Krzyzewski

Paolo Banchero

Wendell Moore Jr.

Mark Williams

Caesars Superdome

Duke Blue Devils

Semi-Finals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Duke student-athletes and Coach Krzyzewski.

Q. Duke-Carolina has always been the gateway to ACC championships. This game could be a gateway to a national championship. What's the difference between --

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I don't know that it's more important, but it's not more important because it's North Carolina. It would always be important if it's North Carolina. It's the most important because if you win you get a chance to play for the national championship. And that has to be your focus. That's the focus.

Q. Is Mark the best defensive player you've ever played with? And what's the best part about playing with him on that end of the floor?

WENDELL MOORE JR.: I would say, yes, Mark is the best defensive player I've played with. It's great because he makes my job easier guarding the perimeter. I know if I get beat off the dribble he'll be there to have my back.

PAOLO BANCHERO: I have to agree. Definitely the best defensive player I've played with. He gets a lot of credit for the blocks, but I think more the effect that I see is just when -- just the shots he changes and kind of the fear he puts in the offensive players, you know. A lot of players are hesitant to go up. They pump fake or kick out when usually they go and try and finish just because Mark's there. So it's a big help, for sure.

Q. How tough has it been just trying to stay in the moment and not think about the possibility of Coach's last game, your last game?

WENDELL MOORE JR.: I honestly don't think it's been that tough for us, because we've been dealing with it all year. It's kind of been something that's been following us really every game we play in. Coach's last something.

So now the fact that it's the Final Four, realizing that this is not only Coach's last something but it's our last something as a team. This group of 14 won't be together anymore after this. So we just all stay in that moment together. I think we've done a great job at it.

MARK WILLIAMS: 100 percent. I think realizing that it's our last something is really important. And I think we've learned that throughout the course of this year. We've definitely learned to embrace that. It's an opportunity a lot of people don't get to have. So just embracing it and making the most of it.

PAOLO BANCHERO: Just staying in the moment as a team. Being in the present. At the end of the day, we're at the Final Four. And this is all fun to us. We don't look at it really as pressure. We get to play in front of more people than anybody has. We get to play on the biggest stage in college sports. So we're looking at it as fun, really. At this point, I feel like the pressure is out the window. I think it's four teams left. All great teams. The best one's going to win. We're just going to go out there and do our best.

Q. I just spoke to Trevor and Jeremy. They seem calm, poised, ready to play tomorrow night. Has it set in that you guys are getting ready to compete for a national championship tomorrow night?

WENDELL MOORE JR.: I think it set in for us really as soon as we got here. We got off the plane, it was the whole fans thing waiting for us off the plane. We loved it. Really just got us all excited from the start. And you come in here yesterday, get some shots up in the dome, it was a great moment for us, just being in that moment. Since we got here it's fun and games, but we know tomorrow it's going to be a fight and we'll be ready for it.

MARK WILLIAMS: Yes, it set in a little bit. I don't think anything will compare to when the game starts tomorrow with 70,000 people in the stands, but it's going to be really exciting. It's something I've been dreaming of since I was a little kid. To be out here is great.

I wouldn't call it pressure either. It's just opportunity that for me to have is pretty cool. I mean, for all of us to have is pretty cool.

PAOLO BANCHERO: Basically what them two said. We're just embracing it all. Obviously I definitely think it's set in that we're here. We play tomorrow. So I would hope it set in. And we'll be ready.

Q. What has this whole season been like in this run knowing this was the final season for Coach K. Follow-up for Coach. Has this team surprised you at all during this run to make it to the Final Four?

WENDELL MOORE JR.: Everything this season has been amazing. It's been a season filled with ups and downs, highs and lows for all of us. But somehow we always found a way to stay in the middle of everything. The guys to this point now, we're playing some good basketball. I mean, we're playing in the last weekend of college basketball of the season. So I think it's been a pretty good season for us so far.

MARK WILLIAMS: I think this season has been going pretty well. To get to this point you're obviously doing something right. We're really excited. Can't wait for the opportunity tomorrow.

PAOLO BANCHERO: It's been a great season. From the very first meeting we had, getting to New Orleans was the goal. So the fact that we got here, it's just a big testament to the work we've put in.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I don't know if surprised -- you set high goals for -- we've set high goals for our program every year. And then the season is about are you worthy enough; have you earned it? And so surprise is not the word. I think we've earned it. These kids have earned it. And as the other three teams have earned it. So I'm just pleased that we're in this.

One thing, before answering anything. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to talk to all of you again. Not that I'm thinking negatively about tomorrow, but I want to clear up one thing. Yesterday I said about the NCAA, I think we're all frustrated. And that's good because if you're frustrated it means then all constituents want change.

The thing that I would recommend is that this is a transformational time for college athletics. When you transform, the main thing you transform is structure, organization. The structure we have right now does not work. And so if the transformational committee is geared -- I hear all these things that they're coming out with all the compliance stuff. That should come after structure.

And I would take a look at the organization, who's on that transformational committee. I think there are more compliance people on it. Nothing against compliance people. That's part of what we do.

This is a time not to look at knits and bits. It's a time to look at the whole thing. It's a time to look at and see: Do you do something like football and they're under one roof? Do you organize men and women's basketball under another roof? Do you do that in different segments of the NCAA? Do you have different houses, not try to put everyone in one house? Do you have leadership groups for each of those houses? Do they have the autonomy then to handle situations at that level that never gets to the big house?

Do you then, at different times, meet together to see what things are happening in all these houses that help everybody? And we're not being like you're being pushed away if we're not looking at you a certain way.

Give autonomy to different groups. And then bring it all together. It's time to come up with an organization that has not been able to adapt. And so this time is to catch up on all the things we didn't adapt to but to form an organization that can anticipate change, can forward look and say these things might happen.

Do you have a lobbying group with Congress? Do you establish relationships that are one-on-one and are not committee-oriented? Like. Who does the NBA talk to in basketball for us? They don't know. I know Adam Silver better than anyone on the NCAA. So who is the Mary, Joe or whoever it is that spends the whole year -- in other words, you have to have these houses that are looking at what's happening in your house on a day-to-day basis, that has a feel for the constituents that are in that house. And so that you represent them in a way that is fair and it's adaptive and we stay ahead of it. That's what I would like.

And it has to start with structure. It has got to start -- if we don't do it with structure, you're just trying to do the same thing in the same house. I don't understand -- it's crazy to me. And I'm getting out of it, but it's crazy to me. As a leader, it's the only way to do it. It's the only way to do it.

If we don't do it -- I don't care how you do it -- you've got to look at structure and organization and shared leadership -- shared leadership. It shouldn't go up. And then little things go up. You know what I mean? They shouldn't go up. They should be handled.

It's like an army. A squad leader takes care of what's happening in the squad. A company commander takes care -- the general doesn't take care of all of those things because then that general is covered with minutia. It's not minutia at the squad level because it can end up being something big.

I hope I make a little bit of sense. I'm not blasting anybody. I'm saying, come on, do this the right way, though. And I don't see it happening that way. And the only way you do that is to understand the people on the ground.

You have got to listen to the coaches of each of these sports. They represent the players. Okay? And know what's happening. Otherwise, you have absent congressmen who never know what the hell's happening in their district. Anyway, that's my 40 years.

Q. You mentioned Congress. When Emmert was up here yesterday and for the last year he seems to be -- the NCAA in a lot of ways seems to be putting their hands up and saying we'd love Congress to lead us. Is that a solution?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, I think the way the world is going you should have relationship, you should have relationships with all the people that impact sport. So, yeah, but maybe in establishing those relationships you can put things in place in the future that anticipate change, that are brought up by people other than you. That's the way you do it, I think.

Q. On Tuesday you're going to have a lot of time on your hands. Just wondering if you would like to volunteer. In a serious matter at all, would you ever consider being involved in any of this?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Not in a formal basis. Look, I love -- it's been my life to be in college athletics. I've had many opportunities to go to the pros. And I've always felt that it's pure -- not that the pros are not, but -- well, they're not. But they're great. And so I love college athletics. And I love it for all athletes. I mean all athletes should be represented.

If you're going to change -- don't talk to just the older coaches. Like, the younger coaches have a real good feel for what's happening right now with NIL and guys -- not just guys, but student-athletes being represented by agents and the transfer portal. And you know why, they have a better feel for it than me? Because it affects them.

And you should always talk to the people that are being affected by what's going on now, not by people who are retired or people who are just on a committee who don't have -- they don't have a feel for it. How do you get a feel for it? And you have to talk -- and a lot of the young coaches would be great in this.

Q. Just over the decades you've obviously seen a lot of first-year coaches deal with and handle early-season struggles or not deal with them. Curious, what's impressed you the most about the way Hubert connected with his players and got them to play at such a high level late in the season?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Thank you for asking that. Hubert's been terrific. I mean, one, there's a lot of pressure taking over a program the level of North Carolina's, with the tradition of excellence that they've had. And for him to do it, he's under immense scrutiny. And they got knocked back a number of times. I just thought he always had poise and he has great humility. And it worked together.

And he had a belief in his players and in what he was doing. He and I did a thing together here yesterday, and I mentioned that he's run his own race. He hasn't tried to be Dean Smith or Roy or anybody else. He's been himself in that culture. But he knows that culture. He's worked in it and he's played in it. And now he's adapting who he is into that culture. And I think that's a great way for a culture to grow. And he's done a marvelous job.