COACH K: THOUGHTS ON DEFENSE & OFFENSE

A sign prominent in the Duke locker room: NO ONE PENETRATES OUR DEFENSE.

“Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be.”
-Coach K

Duke thrives on getting to the foul line on offense, often attack the basket with dribble penetration. The Blue Devils place equal stress on keeping opponents off the line. Krzyzewski considers that latter a “critical” aspect of playing intelligent basketball. His teams practice situations in which they have six fouls and must strive to play tough defense without incurring a seventh that would put the opposition on the line with a one-on-one opportunity.

“The worst thing we can do is put the (other) team in a one-and-one.”
-Coach K

“...you can’t play any defense if the other team is on the foul line.”
-Coach K

“Our offense is based on thinking. If you can really think on the court, then you have as much freedom as your abilities will allow you. What you try to do is create roles for your players. Not numbered roles or titled positions, but you try to say, ‘Look, here is where you’re successful, now in this frame of reference you can do whatever the defense allows you, so read the defense.”
-Coach K

“I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.”
-Coach K
“I don’t think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them.”
-Coach K

“Last year, I said I wonder where we’ll put the second banner. We’ve got to find out, don’t we? I’m probably stupid for saying this, but I wonder where a third one might go.”
-Coach K

“The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first.”
-Coach K

“You can’t defer if you’re the person who’s in the leadership position.”
-Coach K

“I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it’s plural.”
-Coach K

From "Coach K's Little Blue Book"