Duke vs. Bellarmine: 5 biggest storylines for 2020-21 matchup
1. For just the second time in their respective coaching careers, Mike Krzyzewski and Scott Davenport will meet on the sidelines
Friday’s game will, obviously, feature one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball – but it will also feature one of Div. II’s most accomplished coaches, who also served nine seasons as one of the most respected assistants at the Div. I level.
There really is not much to say about Mike Krzyzewski that is not obviously known. He is, arguably, the second greatest coach in college basketball history, surpassed only by John Wooden. He has won five national championships, has qualified for 12 Final Fours, has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times, and has amassed a 1,157-350 record between coaching stops at Army (1975-80) and Duke (1980-present).
He is just five years removed from his fifth national title, has been to the Elite Eight in the last two NCAA Tournaments, and his squad last year – at 25-6 and ranked 11th nationally by season’s end – looked primed to be a contender for another championship. They had collected some of the best wins in college basketball last year, including over Kansas, Michigan State, and Florida State.
Krzyzewski is one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of athletics, but he will now go head-to-head against Div. II coaching royalty in Bellarmine’s Scott Davenport for just the second time in history.
Davenport has built a name and a legacy for himself since taking the job at Bellarmine in 2005, but his coaching history goes much further back than that. A graduate assistant at Louisville in 1984-85 and assistant at VCU the following season, Davenport truly began his legacy at the high school level at Ballard in Louisville, where he would stay for 10 seasons (1986-96) and win a state championship in 1988.
Staying in Louisville, Davenport returned to his alma mater under Denny Crum in 1996, remaining there throughout the remainder of Crum’s tenure and working alongside Rick Pitino in his first few years. He wound up leaving the Cardinals in 2005 to accept the Bellarmine job, having helped lead Louisville to a 185-106 overall record in his nine seasons there – culminating in a Final Four appearance in his last year.
His time at Bellarmine has been nothing short of remarkable. After going 40-43 in his first three seasons, Davenport led the Knights to a Sweet Sixteen berth in his fourth year – before winning the national championship two seasons later. He has led the Knights to three more Final Fours during his tenure and enters this season with an astonishing 264-109 overall record.
Oddly enough, Davenport and Krzyzewski never crossed paths in a game during the former’s time at either Louisville or VCU – but they have met once during Davenport’s tenure with Bellarmine. The Blue Devils and Knights competed in an exhibition at the beginning of the 2011-12 season – when Duke was coming off a season spent entirely in the top five nationally, and Bellarmine was hot off their national title season.
That exhibition – at least, the first half – was incredibly competitive, and saw the Blue Devils lead by just five at halftime, 38-33. Duke would pull away from the Knights in the second stanza, however, winning by an 87-62 margin.
Do not be shocked if the first half on Friday resembles 2012’s exhibition match-up – but, obviously, Bellarmine will need to perform exceedingly well in the latter half to have a chance in their first legitimate contest against the Blue Devils.