Mike Krzyzewski has piled up national championships, coaching awards and ACC titles during almost 30 years as Duke's basketball coach. But he sais that there's plenty of room in his trophy case for an award of even greater significance.
"Someone asked (Kobe Bryant), on your mantle, what (awards) would have the highest place? The gold medal," Krzyzewski, the coach of the U.S. Olympics men's basketball team, said yesterday.
"And all the guys would say, and have said, ‘What's more important? The gold medal. Playing for our country.'
"And that's really the way other countries have felt playing against us. That's been an advantage (for them) -- like, why are you playing? Why are you competing? And our guys are competing for the right reasons."
The U.S. team has a couple of weeks off before training camp starts later this month, but there's precious little time for Krzyzewski to catch his breath.
Back on Duke's campus for his annual summer youth basketball camp, Krzyzewski held court during a wide-ranging news conference in which he confirmed that Tyson Chandler would be an alternate on the U.S. team, emphasized that his work with the Olympians actually has improved his coaching at Duke and defended the 12-man U.S. roster from cynics who might scoff, he suggested, that his players are "going to sell shoes."
"You know what, they're going to sell shoes anyway," Krzyzewski said. "Those guys aren't hurting if they sell less shoes. They're doing it because they want to be a part of this. I felt that from every guy the entire time I've been coaching this group."
That includes Krzyzewski. He said he's approaching his assignment at the Olympics with a keen focus on delivering the favored American men their first gold medal in basketball in eight years.
The magnitude of the task was hammered home earlier this week during the team's formal introduction in New York, where they were greeted at a museum by a display of more than 350 shoes arranged to form a U.S. flag, as well as Rockefeller Center's setting up a basketball court in honor of Team USA.
"It'll be the biggest honor. I don't know if it's the biggest challenge, because when we were 38-47 (after three seasons at Duke), that next year, that was a pretty big challenge," Krzyzewski said. "But challenge doesn't have to mean so much pressure. Challenge to me is very exciting. I tell you, it's the biggest responsibility I've had as a coach, but I'm excited about it. I don't feel pressure."
Krzyzewski said Chandler would be the Americans' top backup in case one of his 12 players is injured, and downplayed injuries to Dwight Howard (stress fracture in his sternum), Dwyane Wade (surgically repaired left knee) and Bryant (torn finger ligament).
"Dwight's stuff was all precaution.... If they had a game that night in the NBA playoffs, he would have played," Krzyzewski said. "It's just giving him a little bit more time, and Kobe's played with that injury the whole time, for a couple months. He said he's fine.... (Wade) is more of a buildup and getting accustomed to competition again. I thought he looked pretty good, the one practice we had."
Krzyzewski also said that his Duke team won't suffer because he will be out of Durham for a significant part of late summer. The Blue Devils are coming off a 28-6 season in which they slipped late in the season and for the second straight year failed to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
"This whole (Olympics) thing has been good for everything that I'm associated with, including Duke basketball, which I'm primarily associated with," Krzyzewski said. "Obviously, am I out on the road recruiting as much? Does that hurt our recruiting? There's no way that that hurts our recruiting. What hurts our recruiting is if I can't make decisions on kids and start relationships with them early. This has all been good."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement