I'm certainly not the only basketball coach who has devoured just about anything and everything having the name "Coach K" on it: biographies, articles, his own books and videotapes. I still have Duke playbook manuals having a Smith-Corona font and picture illustrations of a rail-thin Johnny Dawkins and Jay Bilas with a full head of thick hair, both wearing those classic short shorts of the '80s. When I watch Coach K's teams play, I always have my notebook at arm's length in case I need to jot something down I haven't seen Duke do over the last two decades. I mean, it doesn't take a genius IQ to figure out that the soon-to-be 903 win coach probably has a pretty good grasp on the game of basketball. Especially when said coach has learned a thing or two from his own college coach, a guy with a mere 902 wins. A guy named Knight.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then theft is shameless adulation. I've stolen Krzyzewski's principles on denial defense, his modified motion offense, a number of baseline out-of-bounds plays, and countless other basketball ideas. I've even found myself personalizing his own sideline posture from time to time-- the way he sits, the way he gestures. But of all the things I've learned about the game from observing one of the best at his craft, what I've learned from Coach K that has been most important to me is something having nothing to do with basketball.
