Mike Miller College basketball editor • E-mail

Let's hear it for Mike Krzyzewski. Even the Duke haters have to give it up for a guy who wins 700 games.

Especially when the guy wins 75 percent of the time his team takes the court. Most of it in the ACC. Boggles the mind.

Yeah, the guy's team probably gets too much attention by the media. Yeah, the big recruits want to go to Duke. And maybe he gets a few calls by the refs during the season. But all of that is not the reason why the guy has 700 wins, no matter what the haters say. (And right now, all of my friends are sending me hate e-mails detailing why I shouldn't care about Krzyzewski. They can click on this article we did last year on hating Duke. That's all the haters get today.)

Put it this way: When Bob Knight breaks Dean Smith's Division I wins record sometime in the 2005-06 season, Krzyzewski will be the one to break Knight's record.

Knight, 64, has about 130 more wins than Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski's 57. It's no coincidence that they're the two youngest coaches to reach 700 wins. After all, Knight coached Krzyzewski at Army. They've stayed close through the years and Krzyzewski acknowledged how important his old coach was to him after Sunday's win.

Usually, the 700 milestone is one that comes when a coach is in his 60s, which means Krzyzewski's in the driver's seat for the all-time mark.

Arizona's Lute Olson and Temple's John Chaney, who both won their 700th games last season, are over 70. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who Krzyzewski leads by 16 wins, is a year older. Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, who also will hit 700 wins this season, is 62.

Duke has averaged almost 31 wins a season the last eight years. If he gets to 725 wins by the end of the season, that puts him at 900 wins sometime during the 2010-11 season. Once he gets there, it'll just be him and Knight.

So when does he pass the General?

Bill Brill from ACC.com projects Krzyzewski, at about 31 wins a season, to have roughly 925 victories by the time he turns 65 on Feb. 13, 2012. Maybe 935. And, as he correctly points out, Knight has the same wins now. Assuming Knight does stop coaching at some point and Krzyzewski keeps coaching — and avoids any serious health problems or toys with the idea of jumping to the NBA — it'll be about 10 to 12 years from now.

By then, we're looking at another 300 wins for Coach K, and setting the all-time record at probably somewhere over 1,000 victories.

Let that one sink in. One thousand wins.

Olson hit that mark on Dec. 11, but it was done compiling his high school, junior college and D-I coaching records. This is a guy who will win 1,000 almost exclusively while playing in ACC.

Even more amazing? It's a long shot for anyone to catch Krzyzewski.

Unless Duke stops winning — a possibility, sure, but does anyone believe Duke won't be a powerhouse until Krzyzewski retires? — I doubt Boeheim will catch Coach K. Call it a hunch. Boeheim is also a certainty to hit 800, even 900 wins, but the Orange don't pile up wins the way Duke has in recent seasons. It's close, but Boeheim comes up short.

The next closest active coaches to 700 wins are Jacksonville's Hugh Durham, Lamar's Billy Tubbs and Drake's Tom Davis. All are older than Krzyzewski.

Cincinnati's Bob Huggins has about 150 fewer wins, but is almost 10 years younger. But the Bearcats are joining a revamped Big East next season, which will certainly be tougher than Conference USA. Plus, the Bearcats also haven't won the way the Devils have. Huggins will get to 700, but he'll be well short.

Gary Williams at Maryland is the same age, but also with about 150 fewer wins. Carolina coach Roy Williams is four years younger and has won at an historic clip during his career — that's 80 percent of the time — but he's 250 wins shy of Coach K.

And there's three big name, young coaches who have piled up wins and could hit the milestone wins. Kansas' Bill Self (now at 250 wins), Florida's Billy Donovan (who passed 200 last season) and Iowa's Steve Alford (almost to 200), win consistently and will undoubtedly keep winning.

Self's the oldest of the three at 42, but has the best win percentage; Donovan's the youngest (40 next year). To match Krzyzewski's milestone, Self needs about 26 wins a season. That's doable. (Or from my point of view as a Kansas grad, necessary.)

And that's just wins. To match Krzyzewski in perception with NCAA titles and Final Four appearances is probably to much to ask of any coach.

It's just another reason to marvel at what Krzyzewski's done. And more ammo for the haters.

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