Mike Krzyzewski Explains Why Duke Should Be Concerned Ahead of Sweet 16
The No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils dominated through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, winning both games by a combined 66 points. However, while every other No. 1 seed has been somewhat tested, Duke has not.
Legendary Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski, during his Sirius XM show, “Basketball & Beyond with Coach K,” on Tuesday, expressed that not being tested could be a cause for concern, especially for a young team in the NCAA Tournament.
“Yeah, well… when you think of the No. 1 seeds this past weekend, Duke was the only one that wasn’t tested, and they played well. That’s a concern,” Krzyzewski said. “Because you want the guys… they’re playing great, but when you haven’t been tested, you will be tested now.”
He added, “we have young guys, so their bodies need recovery, and we can’t afford any injuries… I think Jon [Scheyer] will need to show them that there were probably four or five times that Baylor missed a really good shot that would’ve made it single digits.”
While Krzyzewski highlighted those slight concerns, he also stated that he believes Duke right now, is the best positioned team to reach the Final Four, but cannot underestimate Caleb Love and the No. 4 seed Arizona Wildcats this weekend, despite beating them earlier in the season 69-55.
“I think going into the Sweet 16, the team that’s best positioned for the Final Four is Duke,” Krzyzewski added. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy because Arizona, they beat Arizona… Arizona’s different.
They were having whatever problems in November and December, they’re not having now, and Caleb Love, they have a five-year, top-notch player, just went for 29 in the last game, and they’re a really good offensive team. You want to make sure that the Duke team doesn’t remember the team… whatever they won by, that this is a different Arizona team.”
