NCAA Tournament 2022: 5 key storylines for Duke vs Texas Tech matchup
By Bryan Mauro
Final Game for Coach K?
Any storyline for this game is going to talk about that this could possibly be the final game in the legendary tenure for Coach K at Duke. It’s going to be talked about a lot especially if Texas Tech leads in this game. I don’t want to talk about it in this article because any basketball fan is going to know that this could be it for the legend and many would argue that he has not done much this year outside of game day as that has all been given to the next coach Jon Scheyer.
Either way, this is going to be a huge story in this game, and be rest assured the talking may take away from the actual gameplay. I hope it doesn’t, but the announcers are likely going to make it a point to discuss this until they are blue in the face.
It makes sense for K to get all this attention considering that he is the greatest coach most of us have ever seen. John Wooden is the greatest coach the game has ever seen, but Coach K has the most wins of any active coach in the game, and the most wins of any coach to ever grace the floor. For those that do not know the story, the Blue Devils had made the tournament eight times prior to the 1980-1981 season when their legendary head coach took over.
Since that point, they have missed the tournament five total years and only two years total since 1983-1984. They have won five national titles in that timespan and have seen many players go play in the NBA or become coaches from the program. He has built a blue blood and he deserves all the recognition he is going to get when it is all over for him.
The one thing that none of us want is for the ceremony and final lap for Coach K to take precedent over the game and the results of the game on the floor. We will all give Coach K his proper send-off, because love him or hate him the game is going to be worse without him on the sidelines, but please wait until the game is completed to give the proper send-off do not take away from what is happening on the floor.
This was mentioned first because I, like many others, know that it is going to be the main topic of conversation during the game especially if Duke is losing for the duration.