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Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils won a challenging game against the Michigan State Spartans after a late-game comeback Sunday. That gave his young group an excellent learning experience.
Now that the players have had the experience of accomplishing a big NCAA Tournament, Mike Krzyzewski believes his team is ready to keep doing so.
Krzyzewski is among college basketball's best coaches ever, but the current group of Blue Devils left some people questioning whether they had the mentality to rise to the occasion. The come-from-behind 85-76 win over Michigan State on Sunday showed the players have the mentality to dig deep and find a way to win.
Now they will need to take the lessons learned and find a way to use them. Next up is a Sweet 16 game against a physical Texas Tech Red Raiders team.
Ninth-ranked Duke (30-6), the No. 2 seed in the West, plays 12th-ranked Texas Tech (27-9), the No. 3 seed in the West, on Thursday in San Francisco, California. The winner of the West region semifinal will reach the Elite Eight.
Coach K is seeking a record-setting 13th Final Four appearance. But Duke will have to win two more games to reach that milestone. He is tied with UCLA legend John Wooden.
The development of NBA draft prospects like Paolo Banchero is similar to some of the other great players that have come through Duke over the years. Members of Coach K's Duke family believe they can win it all.
Coach K's Duke Blue Devils vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
The matchup between the Blue Devils and Red Raiders is going to be a game between two teams that are almost polar opposites. Duke's high-profile, high-octane offense will face Texas Tech's elite defense, which is the best in the country by many metrics.
The differences are not just in each team's strengths as the two coaches have had extremely different careers.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, 75, has the most wins in college basketball history, going 1,200-367 in 47 seasons, 42 at Duke. He's won five national titles and three gold medals for Team USA. Krzyzewski, a former Bobby Knight assistant, began at Duke in 1980.
Texas Tech coach Mark Adams, 65, began his coaching career in 1981, but his path has been considerably more winding. He is 71-99 in six seasons as a Division I coach.
Adams is a first-year head coach at the school but has an extensive coaching resume. He was an assistant at Texas Tech for five seasons, including the 2019 team that finished as the national runner-up. He coached at many levels, including Division I Texas-Pan American in the 1990s. He also coached in Division II, the NAIA and junior college.
Adams won a junior college national title in 2010 with Jae Crowder, and he's even coached minor league hockey.
Meanwhile, one team, Texas Tech, has a lot more experience.
In the Sweet 16, it will be young players facing veteran players, two veteran coaches from different paths and an offense with elite potential against an elite defense.
