Tom, I didn't watch this one either. The only thing I know is that K had very serious problems with Ndiaye. Here's a rather stupid email that I got about coach K(I don't know enough to have an opinion, but let me know what you think):
> I had briefly posted a
>tongue-in-cheek column in this space about how Duke
> coach Mike Krzyzewski was
>becoming
>more and more like his old rival,
> Dean Smith.
>
> How Coach K, once happy just to
>be
>playing in the NCAA Tournament, was
> now bitching about his regional
>assignment, like Smith used to do.
>
> How Krzyzewski had gotten as good
>as
>Smith ever was at baiting officials.
>
> And how the Duke team commuted
>from
>Greensboro for the ACC Tournament, just as
> Carolina always does, and how
>Blue
>Devil Roshown McLeod even pointed to a passer once
> during a recent game.
>
> It was fun and sure to make a few
>Dookies mad. Then I read Micks Bag about what
> Krzyzewski had said during his
>press
>conference Monday, and I got hot.
>
> I have never heard such a
>one-sided
>bunch of self-serving crap, even after listening to this
> guys hypocritical harangues for
>18
>years.
>
> Lets tell the other side of the
>story, if you will.
>
> Sure, Makhtar Ndaiye taunted the
>Duke
>fans after Sundays ACC Championship game -- the
> same Duke fans sitting in the
>first
>few rows (and members of Krzyzewskis own family)
> who pelted Makhtar and other Tar
>Heels with the bluest sailors language imaginable, some
> of it bordering on racist. Lets
>go
>ask the media sitting between the fans and court, if they
> have the guts to say what they
>heard.
>
> A dagger in the heart and the
>slitting of a throat are certainly not pleasant pantomimes, but
> Krzyzewski should know those
>gestures
>have become part of the black culture of sports in
> America. If hes ever watched
>SportsCenter, hes seen it from college basketball and
> football, to the NFL and,
>certainly,
>the NBA. For him to say such stuff would never happen
> at Duke is laughable and
>ludicrous.
>
> For on-court taunting, Krzyzewski
>should ask his own player, Ricky Price, what he said to
> Serge Zwikker on the foul line
>before
>his crucial free throws in the famous double-overtime
> game in Durham three years ago.
>
> White celebrating is still more
>mainstream than black celebrating, but while wholly accepted
> at conservative, predominately
>white
>Duke, it is no less harmful. And Krzyzewski's as guilty
> as anyone for being a bad
>example.
>
> Does Krzyzewski wear ear plugs
>during
>home games? Does he not hear the foul-mouthed
> and choreographed cheers of his
>fans,
>young and old? Does he not see his own point guard
> Steve Wojo pound his chest, raise
>his
>arms to arouse the crowd and talk trash to opponents?
>
> Krzyzewski says players trashing
>each
>other can incite a fight or a riot. Whos he kidding?
> Whens the last time there was any
>on-court brawl of that proportion? Minnesota-Ohio State
> in 1972, maybe? The European
>soccer
>riots he mentioned are started by fans with the type of
> biased anger Krzyzewski, himself,
>shows on the sideline and into TV cameras.
>
> Telling officials that call was
>Bullsh---. Using the F word like it is part of the Kings
> English. Spending an entire
>timeout
>dressing down a referee, as the crowd howls.
>
> And how about what he says to
>2,000
>students during a pep rally, admitting hes had too
> much wine at dinner and whipping
>them
>into a frenzy by bashing everyone from Dean Smith
> to the president of his
>university;
>and telling students hes changed his mind, that its okay to
> burn benches after a big victory.
>You
>call that role modeling?
>
> Earlier, he had written a letter
>in
>the Duke Chronicle asking students not to destroy anything
> after the upcoming game with UNC.
>Destroying Carolina will be good enough, he wrote.
> Destroying? Isnt that a military
>term
>depicting the obliteration of an opponent? How much
> more inciting is that than a few
>gestures of gamesmanship by athletes in the heat of
> competition? Surely, Krzyzewski
>never
>pushed and shoved and swore at an opponent while
> playing for Bobby Knight at Army.
>
>
> He claims that if one of his Duke
>players did what he saw some of the Tar Heels doing in
> Greensboro, hed punish the kid
>and
>apologize for it. Who apologizes for his own profane
> tirades in easy earshot of women
>and
>children at games? Who apologizes for the kind of
> vulgar, violent locker room
>confrontations with players that, if made public, would get some
> coaches fired?
>
> The whole transparent truth about
>Krzyzewskis calculated outburst is pretty pathetic. The
> ACC has channels for such
>complaints,
>and he knows where those remarks belong. Hes
> now issued a public dare to new
>commissioner John Swofford, a Carolina guy, to do
> something about his speaking out
>against a player from another school. Angered that his own
> family was insulted at courtside,
>he
>lashed out like a mercenary acting on his own, rather
> than a soldier going through the
>ranks.
>
> And dont think there wasnt some
>intent to disrupt the Carolina program and further label
> Ndiaye heading into the NCAA
>Tournament. Krzyzewski just lost the 10th out of 12 games
> to his arch rival, got his butt
>beat
>for the second time this season by a mild-mannered,
> 30-year assistant coach he tried
>to
>show up early in the first half. You think hes speaking
> from some higher moral ground
>here?
>Please.
>
> Krzyzewski is showing all the
>signs
>of a man on his way out the door. Hes hired super
> agent David Falk, whose
>professional
>mission is to land athletes and coaches eight-to-nine
> figure contracts. His loss of
>love
>for recruiting high school athletes is well-known among
> coaching colleagues. And his
>supposed
>great relationship with Duke President Nan
> Keohane is as genuine as his jet
>black, 51-year-old head of hair.
>
> Hes on his way to the NBA for big
>bucks, as sure as I am sitting at this computer. But
> heres a little reminder about pro
>basketball, coach. They talk trash up there, worse than
> anything they say in college. The
>black athletes celebrate, strut and posture differently from
> white athletes up there, so be
>prepared for the culture shock. And the fans, well, theyre even
> filthier than some of those in
>your
>own arena.
>
> Thats okay, though. Certain ones
>who
>follow you should be right at home. Adios.
> |
