‘We love you’: Coach K thanks Duke fans for support after Final Four loss to UNC
Making a trip back home from the NCAA Tournament for the last time, retiring Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski stepped off the bus on Sunday to be welcomed by more than a hundred cheering Duke fans lined up outside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The crowd waiting for the Blue Devils grew quickly as students gathered, some with signs and posters, to give their team a warm homecoming back to campus after the stinging defeat to North Carolina in New Orleans on Saturday night. By the time the buses arrived from the airport, shortly after 4 p.m., a long line of fans had wrapped around the area.
Krzyzewski, who has coached the Blue Devils for more than four decades, said he was grateful for all of the teams he led during his tenure, and for all of the fans who have cheered them on over the years.
“I take a lot of good guys with me into the arena, and I have for 42 years and with U.S.,” Krzyzewski said. “So that was my last game in the arena, and I thank God that I had that opportunity. I thank God that I had the opportunity to do it here for over four decades, with all of you.”
Thousands of Duke fans packed into Cameron Indoor and Durham bars and restaurants on Saturday night to watch what amounted to the biggest game of their lives. The match-up proved to be a close game throughout. At halftime, Duke was up by three points. And in the second half, with just three and a half minutes left, Duke and UNC were once again tied, both teams with 67 points.
In the dying seconds of the game, however, the chance to compete against the Kansas Jayhawks in Monday’s NCAA championship slipped out of Duke’s hands. The game ended with a four-point difference between UNC and Duke, 81-77.
Reflecting on what happened on the court on Saturday night, Krzyzewski said the game “was very disjointed” and praised his team for stepping up.
“In that last minute, it’s a very difficult loss to take,” Krzyzewski said, before praising UNC for their performance. “Their kids played great, they made big buckets, and it was what that game should be like.”
Toward the end of his brief remarks, Krzyzewski reiterated his appreciation for the fans, and asked them to support men’s basketball under Jon Scheyer, the former Blue Devil player who served as assistant head coach, and formally took over as head coach of the program on Saturday night, after Duke’s season was cut short by UNC.
“We love you, and I want you to know we appreciate you like crazy,” Krzyzewski said. “As Jon moves forward with his program, just continue to give him the support that you’ve given my teams — they’ll still be on his team too.”
Krzyzewski said it was “really good” to be surrounded in New Orleans by his grandchildren, who he said had been following the games during the entire NCAA Tournament.
“I’m a little bit emotional and I haven’t slept,” Krzyzewski told the fans. “But coming in and seeing you all here, brought a smile to my face.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 6:26 PM with the headline "‘We love you’: Coach K thanks Duke fans for support after Final Four loss to UNC."
