Blaine Train Says Coach K is the Best

By Blaine Fentress
Senior Writer for lancewilkerson.com

You will have to give me a second.  There has been too much when it comes to sports in the last couple of days.  Started out with Butler and Duke advancing to the National  Championship game.  Wait a second, did I just type “Butler”?  Did a team from a mid-major conference make it to the last basketball game of the season?  And, it wasn’t a pretty game when the Bulldogs defeated Michigan State.  But, like they have throughout the tournament, they got the job done.  Meanwhile, Duke just played a very good game against West Virginia.  They must have a great coach.  More on that later.

Then, on Easter Sunday night, word breaks that Donovan McNabb was finally traded.  I thought it was crazy it would happen on this weekend, but I was prepared for it.  Everyone knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of where.  Buffalo and Oakland had been the long-talked about trade rumors destinations for McNabb.  Both teams I am sure he wasn’t too pleased about going to.  So, where to then?  How about a division rival?  No way, Philadelphia would never trade him to someone they have to play twice in the regular season.  Dallas?  NY Giants?  They already have quarterbacks.  But, what about Washington? 

It became a reality and on Sunday night, the Eagles traded away, arguably, their most successful quarterback in franchise history to the Redskins.  I am still trying to wrap my brain around this.  Yes, I agree that it was time for a change, more for McNabb than Philadelphia.  It seems like the fan-base and the team was ready for the Kevin Kolb era to begin.  McNabb was benched at one point two seasons ago and he had some pretty bad starts last season (remember the game against Oakland.)  But, one of the rules when it came to trades:  Never trade the player to a team in your own division.  Now, the ball is in Washington’s court, do they go after an elite wide receiver?  Rebuild the offensive line? 

Monday came and Tiger Woods had a press conference.  I am over this until he starts playing during the Masters.  I know he won’t comment on certain details and he will keep that stuff to himself unless he is forced to reveal it.  But, I am interested in how he does at the Masters.  Doubt he will win, but there will be a few boos his way. 

Baseball also started Monday and I literally spent the entire day watching the games.  Started with the Cardinals @ Reds, then moved on to Cubs @ Braves.  You can’t use the first day of the season to judge how certain teams will turn out but, if you did…Cardinals and Phillies will be the teams to beat in the National League again.  Plus, I might have become a fan of Jason Heyward within an inning.  After catching an out in the top of the 1^st, he hit a home run at his first Major League at bat.  What a debut!  And, I did watch the Astros (my team) open up against the Giants.  Tim Lincecum was lights out and Houston had no answer for him.  When he is pitching, all the Giants need to do is get 1 run because he can shutout teams very easily.  Of course, they will have to play some tougher teams than Houston, but he is one tough pitcher.

But, now we come to the meat of this week’s Train Stop, the National Championship game.  And, it was a pretty dramatic game at that.  No, neither team was hitting a lot of their shots.  But, neither team was able to pull away from each other.  Duke would get a lead, Butler would come back.  The Bulldogs would be up 5, back comes the Blue Devils.  Foul troubles became the name of the game as Matt Howard was coming on and off the bench the last five minutes of the game.  Gordon Hayward and Ronald Nored kept driving the lane on Duke and the tall trees of Duke’s frontcourt stood tall against them in the second half.  And, everybody just knew that when Hayward shot that running, mid-court, desperation 3 at the buzzer, he had a chance.  But, that is what makes these games so nail-biting, the ball can go in and you are the hero, the ball can fall short and you lose.  The latter took place. 

And, that leads me to say this:

Train Stop:  No one is better than Coach K

Mike Krzyzewski is better than John Calipari.  He is better than Tom Izzo.  Better than Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, and Bill Self.  He is even better than Roy Williams.

Before the lynch mobs start to gather, let me state some facts.

-          12 National Coach of the Year honors

-          Over 800 wins in his 35 seasons of coaching

-          11 Final Four appearances

-          First all time in NCAA Tournament victories with 77 victories

-          40 NBA Draft selections, including 15 lottery picks

-          Gold Medals with Team USA in the Olympics

-          Seven National Players of the Year

-          93 weeks ranked No. 1 in the country

-          Tied 2^nd with Adolph Rupp with National Championship victories

Thanks to goduke.com for those facts. 

More national champions than any of those coaches listed above.  Great talent has come through Duke, but it has been Coach K that has gotten the most out of what he had.  Best example of that would be this year’s team.  In a year when Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse ranked number 1, Duke was never looked at as a team that would be number 1.  People hated the ACC this year.  There wasn’t a Naismith finalist on the team.  As far as lottery draft picks, don’t even know if Duke will have 1.

But, I think sometimes we lose our minds a little during the season.  We get so blinded by our love for one team, we lose sight of other teams that can compete.  And, I will admit, I had Duke as a afterthought this season.  But, I know I wasn’t the only one. 

There lies the beauty of Coach K.  He doesn’t care how the media or the other teams view the Blue Devils, all he cares about is execution, discipline, and being able to get the most out of his team.  I am not knocking the talent of Kyle Singler and Jon Schever.  Of Nolan Smith or Lance Thomas.  But, this wasn’t a roster that scared people outside of the ACC.  If you were to say that these guys would take on John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins or Sherrod Collins and Cole Aldrich, you wouldn’t favor Duke at all.

This team’s success this season was completely because of Coach K.  In college basketball, when a team makes a run for a National Championship, you have to look at the coach for that success.  He knows how to do it because, he has done it before.  This is where saying all this becomes difficult for me.  I am a Kentucky fan back in 1992, when Duke took on the Wildcats during the regional finals.    Ever since Christian Laettner made that last second shot, I always hated Duke.  I hated how they were able to win two National Championships.  I hated how Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, and Grant Hill were able to be superstars in the game.  But, mostly, I hated how Coach K was able to win, season after season.

But, you get a little older and a little wise to certain things in life.  One of them is that having hatred for another team doesn’t really make too much sense.  And, not respecting one of the best coaches in history because of it, doesn’t make sense as well. 

So, finally, if I haven’t convinced you yet that Coach K is better than any other current coach in the game right now, I will give you one last number:  1.  That is the number that sits next to Duke at the end of the season.  He led them to a National Championship when others thought it would be other teams.  The team he was facing was the team mostly everyone in the stadium and, dog gone it, everyone in the nation outside of North Carolina was rooting for.  And, he help lead his team to victory in one hell of a game.

Bottom line:  Coach K left the other coaches in his dust.  And with that, the train rolls on…