Complete transcript from today's Coach K interview -
Do you expect to play more up-tempo this year?
“If you look at the history or our program, we’ve been one of the national leaders in offense. … We didn’t play as much up-tempo last year. We didn’t have enough players.
Playing up-tempo means you have to play up-tempo defensively.
“We have a team with experience and depth that can play that style, and that’s a style that we really like playing. And you do what you have to do with what you have.”
Can your players correctly pronounce your name?
“As long as they can play defense. They can say, ‘Coach, coach, coach.’ That’s not a requirement.”
What do you expect from sophomore Gerald Henderson this year?
“Gerald was not as healthy as he needed to be last year. He had horrible luck in preseason with two major injuries. He’s good right now. When you come to perimeter players, DeMarcus [Nelson] and G [Henderson] can get a rebound, and push it up. When it doesn’t have to become just a point guard-oriented break you become tougher to defend in the break.
“Our fast break will not be a structured break. I really like the way we’re going to play.
“As with any player, I’m worried about if they will do what they can do. When we have our first scrimmage with ACC officials on Wednesday, Gerald scored 28 points. But he had no rebounds. But he really played well. He’s still learning the game- ‘Remember, you’ve got to rebound, too.’
“He should be a force on the boards for us. Just like DeMarcus for us, Those kids are athletic and they can match up with anybody athletically.”
How has freshman forward Kyle Singler looked?
“I call Singler a player. If you put them into categories, in some way you eliminate them. You’re saying that’s what you are. “You should all just be a player. Now, what is your skill set? What’s your role?.
“And a role is not [position] 2, 3 or 4? But do I rebound, do I shoot? That determines you’re your role, what kind of player you are. …
“Kyle’s really good. Kyle would start for us. He’s already earned the respect of everyone on our time. He’s really well-rounded player.
"There’s really not a part to the game he doesn’t play fairly well. He plays every play.”
What about his defense?
“Really, he’s a very good basketball player. He doesn’t have a weak area. Now, the key s for us to get him to be even stronger in all areas so he becomes a special player. But he’s already a very good player.”
Can he have a similar impact to Luol Deng?
“I don’t know. We’ll see. That’s a lot to put a lot on someone.”
What do you think of the ACC Tournament being in Charlotte this year?
“Charlotte’s been great. I have a lot of great memories in Charlotte because we’ve won there .And I have some bad memories too because we’ve lost there. We played had a lot of very important games in Charlotte.
“I would like for our conference to have one site, where ever we think that site would be good. And then make that site as unbelievable as possible.
“The Big East has a huge advantage. They go to New York and its Madison Square Garden .Madison Square Garden is not bad.
“I’m big on Greensboro. It’s a town that could just take over and make that tournament as good as they possibly can.”
Asked about the death of Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, Krzyzewski said the death of former N.C. State coach Jim Valvano had more of an impact on him.
“That’s more of a life-changing time for me. I miss Skip. That’s tragic what happened. But it serves as a reminder but I’ve already changed and done that stuff.”
Krzyzewski went on to say he was “an idiot” for trying to do too much before being warned by Valvano about that.“[You think] you’re Superman. You can do anything. You don’t need sleep, you don’t need rest. You just keep pushing it. But that’s what Jimmy did. And I know I did that.
“You’re lucky that you don’t get incurable cancer - you get exhausted and have a bad back. You’re lucky that that’s all happened to you.”
How will what happened last year affect your team?
“Last year wasn’t bad. The ending was bad. It was skewed. We won some games we had a good shot at losing early. We won most of those games, probably all of them. When you’re 18-3 and not being the Duke teams of old, but everybody puts that on those teams. …
“We were 22-10 and we were beaten up emotionally and physically.”
So how was the season? “Horrible for Duke. A lot of people would love to be our horrible. …
“I don’t feel bad about my guys. I understand who we were.
“We were 22-11. … Every once in a while its good to get socked in the face. And it’s good for your fans if they accept it. Sometimes they don’t understand.”
On junior point guard Greg Paulus:
“He was our best shooter and still is our best shooter. Greg can shoot the ball. … He needs to remember to do that.
Whether he starts or comes off the bench, for any of our players, they are not going to play the minutes. Nolan Smith is a really good player and is a little bit different player.”
On how your depth will affect your team this season:
“Really, that’s one of the secrets to being a [great] team. Having that depth to where you can practice that depth.
Every exchange, you can’t take an exchange off or you’ll look bad.”
On sophomore forward Lance Thomas:
“Lance is a good player. Lance started a third of our games. He was a freshman. He’s 6-9, 220 and has great energy. It’s whether he’s in the post or in the perimeter he needs to show energy and I think he will. Lance can defend a 1 through a 5. He’s a very unique player. Outside shooting is not a strength for him.”
On practices being more competitive and having a deeper team:
“That’s really one of the best things that can happen to a team, where a team makes itself better. If I don’t have to coach attitude or competitiveness in a practice, that’s a huge plus.
“Last year, you couldn’t do that. You were coaching that attitude or competitiveness. With a younger team, they think that’s too hard or they [the coaches] are down you. There is nobody in the locker room to teach culture – ‘He’s not down on you, he wants you to be better.’
“We have that back. That was gone for a year.”
On N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe: “He’s terrific. … He’s a State guy. That’s helped him be accepted by the State people. And he’s a State guy who’s won a national championship, so that means even more.”
On senior forward DeMarcus Nelson:
“I expect him to be steady. And I expect him to play like a veteran and use his leadership.
"DeMarcus should be a player that affects every stat line. He should score a certain amount of field goals, free throws, get offensive and defensive rebounds. He’ll get some fouls. He should get some steals. …
“He still should be our best perimeter defender. He should have an impact on the game in every way.”
Was last year humbling?
“I’m humble without having last year. Last year was not about humble, Last year was about having a young team that had two extremes. It had an extreme winning part where they didn’t deserve to win as much as they did and then an extreme where they didn’t deserve to lose as much as they did.
"So at the end of the year, it washed out.
“Not humbled. Learning. The game will humble you all the time.”
Does the stress of your job ever concern you?
“I like what I do so it’s not as much stress. At this time in my life I can handle anything in my career. I like to have a good time, to listen to music, to have good wine – good wine. Put that in parenthesis. And I’ll be the judge of whether it’s good or not.
“I’ve gotten into more white now with all the heat. But we have our own wine cellar that we built two years ago.”
Krzyzewski said he recently at a fundraiser for the V Foundation in the Napa Valley in August“I love that we host a wine celebration. Every time were there at 2 in the morning we’re given him a toast and just laughing.”
On how he feels Duke can be perceived negatively by the media and by fans:
"Sometimes in your own area, you take hits, just because we’re not the team in that area. We’re not the state team. So you take some hits.”
Like all the questions today about bench decorum?
“I laugh at it. But I know what’s going on. You’ve got to be naive to think that doesn’t go on. I have had 28 years here, but it’s OK. And I’m OK.
“I don’t need counseling or whatever. But I know what’s going on.
“When you win big, people get tired of it, sometimes even your own fans. But people get tired of seeing the same people win or same school.
“So if you win big you’ll be hated by some people or disliked or whatever. Locally that can go to a whole ‘nother level.”
Krzyzewski went on to say that larger state universities can have advantages because of their enormous fan bases. The size of those fan bases can have an affect on how the schools are perceived in their local markets.“And the fact that I’m here a long time lends itself to that. That’s just going to happen.”
He also expressed concerns about how Duke is perceived nationally:“I would say, just nationally, I would ask you why would ESPN would have a poll … that says, ‘Vote for the 10 Duke players who are the most hated’ and not do that for another program? …
“They do these polls - I saw the last couple of years where we were America's most favorite team – and America’s most hated team. They are two different polls.
“I’d ask ESPN, ‘Why not put in a poll: What are the10 players you like the best?”
So why do you think is this?
“Winning. Winning and no change in coach.
“Now, I would like to win more than we did last year so we can have more people hate. Or love us.”
The league's media picked North Carolina as the favorite in the ACC for 2007-08 in its pre-season poll at Operation Basketball in Greensboro on Sunday.
Operation Basketball Pre-Season Media Poll
Grandover Resort & Conference Center Greensboro, N.C.
Team Predictions
| School |
Total |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
8th |
9th |
10th |
11th |
12th |
| North Carolina |
768 |
64 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Duke |
653 |
0 |
29 |
22 |
10 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| NC State |
641 |
0 |
27 |
21 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Clemson |
514 |
0 |
6 |
9 |
18 |
10 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Virginia |
492 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
14 |
14 |
13 |
9 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Maryland |
447 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
14 |
17 |
12 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Georgia Tech |
389 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
10 |
11 |
20 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
| Boston College |
332 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
14 |
9 |
14 |
1 |
1 |
| Florida State |
284 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
17 |
18 |
9 |
7 |
0 |
| Virginia Tech |
162 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
10 |
14 |
24 |
| Wake Forest |
157 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
13 |
18 |
19 |
| Miami |
153 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
15 |
18 |
20 |
ACC Pre-Season Team
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia
Tyrese Rice, Jr., Boston College
Brandon Costner, So., NC State
Ty Lawson, So., North Carolina
ACC Pre-Season Player of the Year
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina (60)
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia (4)
ACC Pre-Season Rookie of the Year
Kyle Singler, Duke (36)
J.J. Hickson, NC State (15)
Nolan Smith, Duke (5)
5 others with 8 votes
Links -
New York Times
Barry Jacobs
Stumble It!
DUKE Off vs.
FSU Def
Video
