It was announced on Sunday that the Duke Blue Devils would be taking on the 15-seed Cal State Fullerton Titans on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Duke comes into the game as an 18.5 point favorite, but former Duke player Carlos Boozer has an interesting theory on Mike Krzyzewski, who is wrapping up his final season at Duke before assistant coach Jon Scheyer takes over the program, should the Blue Devils somehow get upset on Friday.
“If (Duke) loses on Friday, I could definitely see Coach K saying ‘you know what guys, I need 12 more months. I need one more year,'” said Boozer during an appearance on The Maggie and Perloff Show.
"If (Duke) loses on Friday, I could definitely see Coach K saying, 'you know what guys, I need 12 more months. I need 1 more year'"
Former #duke star @MisterCBooz says he could see #coachk return if #bluedevils lose in first round of #NCAATournament https://t.co/R7WXtdgTXz pic.twitter.com/YFNCkxnRX5
— Maggie and Perloff (@MaggieandPerl) March 15, 2022
Given the situation, it’s certainly wild to consider that as the end of Coach K’s “final” season. You would expect that Krzyzewski would want to end his legendary career with one more championship, or at the very least a deep run into the NCAA Tournament, but Duke has been susceptible to upsets in the first round before.
The team was famously upset by Lehigh, led by current NBA star C.J McCollum, in 2012 as a two-seed, which just so happens to be their seeding this year as well.
Krzyzewski has remained adamant that he is retiring this season, saying that he will not be involved in the program whatsoever once he is retired. However, it is certainly worth considering how Coach K will approach the situation if Duke were to lose early on in this tournament.
