If you haven’t been following handshakegate, or whatever we’re calling the semi-feud between Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Oregon star Dillon Brooks, here’s what you’ve missed: Coach K believes he is such a great basketball coach that he can’t stop at coaching his own players, he must also coach opposing players, because every Division I player deserves the wisdom of the great Krzyzewski.
Or not.
Krzyzewski apologized Saturday (first via The Sporting News and then in a public statement) for telling Brooks in the handshake line that he’s “too good of a player” to hoist a deep three in the meaningless waning seconds of the Ducks’ win over the Blue Devils. Krzyzewski apparently viewed the shot as showboating, whereas other might have interpreted it as getting rid of the ball before the shot clock went off.
Statement from Coach K: pic.twitter.com/4lavGxMcuu
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 26, 2016
Krzyzewski initially denied making the remarks to Brooks, who revealed the conversation after the game, but apologized after TNT audio captured him saying exactly what Brooks said he said.
Here was the offending shot…
Not to be outdone, Oregon's Dillon Brooks also puts the final touch on his team's win #MarchMadness https://t.co/6cWGpStwcf
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2016
And here is irrefutable proof that Coach K is a liar…
Anyway, most people seem about ready to move on from this “controversy,” but maybe instead we should hold on to the saga as evidence that Duke is exactly the pompous, arrogant, self-indulgent program we think it is.