Ellen Ozier / Reuters

Mike Krzyzewski has to do more yelling, cajoling and coaching than he has with recent Duke teams, which is because the Devils aren't as talented as they have been in the past, writes TSN's Mike DeCourcy.

COMMENTARY

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 10:10 p.m. ET March 13, 2005

Mike Krzyzewski is talking his way toward the end of a fairly ordinary post-game press conference, ordinary save for the fact that this one is after a Duke victory and those have been in shorter supply the past month. He is saying the typical stuff in his atypical manner, revealing only what he wishes to reveal, but is so uncommonly articulate that you hardly notice.

He speaks of J.J. Redick, his star junior shooting guard, who has had himself a night: 38 points, a career best. I didn't think he forced anything tonight. I thought he played with the most poise all year. Fine praise, well-deserved, but fairly routine. Something is different, though. This is not the same Coach K. Something was different out there in the gymnasium, and something is different now.

And then, it's obvious. The voice. Usually, Krzyzewski comes in here and sounds as if he just gargled with honey. Now, he is hoarse. He sounds like Nick Nolte doing a one-man show on the life of Gerry Faust. He sounds like Rod Stewart after a three-hour concert featuring no other song but "Hot Legs." The reason is obvious. Krzyzewski is hollering more.

"He wants us to fight, go all out," Duke senior guard Daniel Ewing says. "Play all out and see what happens."

There is no other way for Duke to keep company with North Carolina, Wake Forest and Illinois. The Blue Devils have eight scholarship players. They are starting a former football player at power forward, Reggie Love, who last played competitive basketball in 2002. There is not a single tall, long, athletic wing player to put some sting into the man-to-man pressure defense. There is no genuine point guard.

But don't believe the Devils are without talent. If they were without talent, they could battle all they wanted and still not stand 22-5 with victories over three of the nation's most successful teams. But talent is in short enough supply, and is short in just enough of the wrong places, that they must maintain their edge to be special. And if that is how they need to play, that is how they need to be coached.

This does not mean Krzyzewski is going all Huggins on us. Not at all. He is having to coach in ways that recent Duke teams did not demand, though. So the most successful college basketball coach of our time is adapting, and that includes calling out more instructions, beseeching his players during timeouts to play with passion and fiercely protecting his territory with game officials. This is where the voice went, surely. A lot of it must have been lost in the first few minutes of this game against Wake Forest. It was well-spent. Two hours after his first volley toward a referee, Duke celebrated its first victory in nearly two weeks.

Five seconds have passed since the ball was lifted toward the ceiling of Cameron Indoor Stadium for the opening tip between Duke and Wake Forest. Five seconds. Already Krzyzewski is on his feet, swinging his arm away from his waist, a gesture meant to indicate to officials that Deacons point guard Chris Paul is using his free arm to ward off the defense.

Most college coaches have as much use for a seat on the bench as for a new pair of ballet slippers. Krzyzewski, though, always has wedged himself comfortably between assistants Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojciechowski and has remained there during the majority of the action. On a lot of nights, he has had the best seat in the house for the best team in the land. Now, he might spend as much time standing in one game as he previously did during an entire season.

"I'm up more. Not on them in terms of yelling at them but as someone they can look to," Krzyzewski says. "Most of the teams I've had, I've allowed them to do much more out there. This team needs more from me."

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