It was, believe it or not, just a shade shy of one year ago on Nov. 13, 2009 when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was subjected to the near-torture of having to watch his top recruit, Harrison Barnes, deliver the news via Skype to Duke's archrival down the road in Chapel Hill.
"I want to let you know I’ll be joining you guys next year," Barnes informed a downright giddy UNC coach Roy Williams through the social networking video platform.Just another dagger delivered to Coach K, the latest sending the Duke program further down into the abyss that had become known as Blue Devil mediocrity.
Now, Coach K is literally on top of the basketball world.
It began with the Olympic gold medal in the summer of 2008 and also included another gold this past summer in Turkey at the World Championships.
Sandwiched in between was an improbable national title this past April. On the horizon, quite possibly this April, is taking the mantle from his former college coach, Bob Knight, as the all-time winningest men’s Division I coach.
Yes, there is a reason everyone is smiling in Krzyzewski-ville these days.
But there were plenty who pegged the 63-year-old Coach K on the decline, certainly not on the rise.
Myself included.
"People didn’t think he could do it in his 60s," said Duke assistant Chris Collins, who also played for Krzyzewski. "He’s competitive, and I’m sure he used that as motivation."
"I’m aware of it," Krzyzewski said of the talk he had passed his prime. "But it wasn’t really extra motivation. I thought we were one game away from going far a couple of years ago."
But the Blue Devils weren’t quite living up to the lofty expectations set in Durham since the mid '80s -- they went to five consecutive Final Fours from 1988-92 and won back-to-back national championships in 1991 and '92.
Duke wasn’t just an elite program. It was the elite program.
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