Mike Krzyzewski has won two national championships in the last 16 seasons at Duke. Without question, national titles are the ultimate prize in college basketball and Coach K deserves props for the two sets of nets his teams have cut down.
Beyond that, Krzyzewski’s NCAA Tournament numbers aren’t that impressive. In fact, in the last 16 years, Duke has been a 1 or 2 seed 12 times. During that span, the Blue Devils have made it past the Sweet 16 only 4 times total:
random research: in past 16 NCAA Tournaments, Duke basketball has been 1 or 2 seed 12 times. despite that they've made it past the Sweet 16 only 4 times total. FOUR in last 16 yrs! yes there are two titles in that span, but the underachievement in other years is epic.
— Lachlan McLean (@LachTalk) January 23, 2018
Of course, 2 of those 4 times he won championships but that is still major underachievement if one considers the star players and easy paths to the Final Four during those years.
In comparison, John Calipari has taken Kentucky to the Elite 8 in 6 of his 8 seasons in Lexington. That includes one national championship and one runner up.
In the Calipari era, both Duke and UK have played in two national championship games. K won both, Cal won one. In the other six seasons, Cal has been to four other Elite Eights, two more Final Fours — and K got out of the Sweet 16 just once. NBA over winning is a fallacy. https://t.co/lDkYzSGGMA
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_SEC) January 22, 2018
