If Mike Krzyzewski is bitter about how his coaching career ended, he is not saying so publicly.
Krzyzewski appeared on the “College Hoops Today” podcast with Jon Rothstein last week, where he discussed, among other things, Duke’s Final Four loss to rival North Carolina.
The meeting between the two longtime adversaries was their first in the NCAA Tournament, a fact that Coach K said was “kind of crazy.”
“It’s kind of crazy that it only happened once because you have two of the Top 3 to 5 programs in the history of the game playing,” Krzyzewski said, via On3. “I’ve coached like 98 games against North Carolina and they’ve usually been where both teams have been ranked very high. Therefore you figure that teams that are ranked high advance in the tournament and probably should have met (before).”
The Tar Heels outlasted the Blue Devils 81-77 to end Krzyzewski’s legendary tenure at Duke and advance to the national title game.
“It was an epic game,” said Krzyzewski. “(I was) proud to be a part of such a game and obviously proud to be in the Final Four.”
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In addition to beating Duke in Krzyzewski’s last game, UNC also topped the Blue Devils in the regular season finale, Coach K’s final contest at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
There’s no doubt that those two defeats are sticking with Krzyzewski even in retirement, but he’s probably going to keep taking the high road out of respect for the storied rivalry.