NEW ORLEANS – For the 48th time over 47 years of unparalleled coaching, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski took the slow walk to midcourt and shook the hand of the North Carolina coach who beat him and his Blue Devils.
After that, he found his wife, Mickie, and they made the slow, sad walk, hand in hand, off the Superdome floor. Saturday night’s 81-77 setback in the Final Four showdown with Duke’s in-state rival will go down as Coach K’s last game, and one of his toughest losses, too.
And thanks to the Tar Heels – those gosh darn Tar Heels – the 75-year-old coach will have plenty of time to get over it.
“I’m sure at some time, I’ll deal with this in my own way,” said Krzyzewski, who announced last summer that he would retire after this season.
Coach K’s remarkable career came to a sudden close after Caleb Love made a key 3-pointer and three late free throws to lift the Tar Heels to their thrill-a-minute victory to reach Monday night’s NCAA championship game against No. 1 seed Kansas (33-6), an 81-65 winner against second-seeded Villanova in the earlier semifinal.