THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110393
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
For Duke, there is no other choice but to believe that Mike Krzyzewski will make everything OK again.
``We'll wait for Coach to come back and put it all together for us,'' forward Ricky Price said Friday afternoon.
It's the kind of simplistic analysis you'd expect from an innocent freshman. But, in truth, it holds some appeal, even for a jaded sports writer who, in the wake of Duke's improbable plunge, is tempted to reconsider his opinion that coaching is overrated.
``The difference next year?'' Price said. ``Coach will be here.''
It will make a difference, no matter which Krzyzewski returns.
A casualty of an obsessive personality and a withering schedule, as much as a bad back, Coach K says he is adopting a new set of priorities.
``My family is at the top,'' he said the other day, ``then my team after that because they're like family.''
Krzyzewski is the most notable of a group of basketball coaches who this year have succumbed to fatigue or stress.
The list includes Maryland's Gary Williams, who stayed home from the ACC tournament to recover from pneumonia, ex-UNLV coach Tim Grgurich and former Golden State Warriors punching bag Don Nelson, hard-driving men who underestimated the toll their fast-track life was taking on their health.
``I was unbelievably exhausted,'' said Krzyzewski, an unbelievable admission for him. ``I couldn't sleep. I'd never been in that situation before and I sure as hell never will be again.''
Coach K insists that he'll cut back on his work with national committees, charities and the media. This can't be bad for Duke.
``When he's in the room with us, he gets us motivated like nobody can,'' Price said. ``When he's coaching, my own potential is at its highest level.''
You wonder if this Duke team didn't walk that fine line between honestly missing Coach K and using his absence as a convenient crutch. It would be a natural reaction to losing such a dynamic presence.
``We won't do the things we do and think some of the things we think with Coach here,'' Price said.
Friday, it fell to Price to start the game covering - or trying to - Wake Forest's senior guard, Randolph Childress, who only went on to have the greatest shooting day of his college life, finishing with 40 points.
Pulling on a Duke baseball cap, Price smiled and said, ``If I'm going to get killed by someone, I want to get killed by the league's best.''
If Duke hopes to contend again with the league's best, it will take more than a return of Coach K, mellower or not. The Dookies' only reliable big men are seniors. Greg Newton, an inside player who was recently suspended for academic reasons, will win a starting job almost by default if he returns. And not only don't the Blue Devils have a dependable point guard, they've signed only one recruit for next season.
But if some see this as a big problem for Coach K, the wary competition worries about Duke's new opportunity.
Wake Forest coach Dave Odom predicted Friday that Duke would be even tougher to recruit against now that Krzyzewski, for the first time in years, can promise prospects playing time right away.
This doesn't guarantee a quick fix, but it does suggest that Duke eventually will be OK now that Coach K has put himself back together. by CNB