Duke Basketball

Duke-UNC Weekend – Recapping Coach K’s Comments

  • Coach K mentioned that Grayson Allen joined Amile Jefferson and Quin Snyder as the only Duke players to ever be Academic All Americans every year they were at Duke.  Allen will address the students after the Duke-UNC game on Saturday evening.
  • "We wouldn't have won a national championship without him. It was a storybook kind of thing. He was the 8th man on an 8 man team who was averaging 8 minutes a game comes in and scores 8 straight points." Coach K on Grayson Allen.
  • Coach K said his team was tired after playing 5 games in 10 days and it showed against Syracuse and Virginia Tech.  He mentioned that the team had rested and practiced well going into today's final tune-up.
  • Coach mentioned that Allen would talk to the students after the Duke-UNC game which is a tradition.  He mentioned that Allen was proud of what he has accomplished this season and what he could still get done.
  • Coach K said that he had worked with most agents and knew them from his time with USA Basketball where he coached NBA players.  He said that all schools have compliance to work with guys and that they had to sign things when coming aboard which is common practice at every program when questioned in items in the news of late.
  • Coach said that Dan Dakich who recently made some critical comments on Marvin Bagkley III had the right to his opinion.  He said he does not listen to such things.  He also used the question as a time to take a shot at ledger reports which put Wendell Carter Jr. in the news implying that not all we read is true or accurate.
  • Coach K said the one thing the zone has done for this team is the help them communicate better in that building habits are difficult and that it was easier in a zone that man to man which Duke played for many years.  He also said their zone had some man to man principles.
  • The Duke coach praised UNC and their offense and ability to work the boards.  He said their offensive rebounding doomed Duke in their first meeting.