I know several people who started off with this plan, had one knee done, and after discovering how horrible that experience was, decided never to get the second done.
I've had surgery a couple of times, in my late teens and mid-20s, and nothing as difficult as a knee replacement. Coach K's dedication to his coaching is impressive. Most people would not have the drive and fortitude to commit to this again while keeping up with his professional responsibilities.
I hope the surgery goes well. There is no guaranty we will see Coach K on the sideline this year (or any year after) . . .
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
1. I don't believe for a minute that the Duke Basketball Program cancels an overseas trip that would benefit the university and the players just because the Head Coach has a knee issue. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognize a cow patty in the field.
2. I now feel as though I have been lied to by that Head Coach.
Nope - often done with spinal or epidural anesthesia, especially in someone "advanced in age".
In someone not "advanced in age", often done these days as outpatient surgery.
K won't be able to joke any more, as he's done the last few years, that he's been waiting to get his knee replaced because it makes the shape of the letter "K" when combined with the one that already had been replaced
Well, but isn't the key "that would benefit the university and the players"? Posters earlier in this thread have speculated that, given the inexperience of this team, sending them on a trip to play their first games under the direction of an assistant coach (or even an assistant head coach) might be more confusing than helpful. It seems at least plausible that Coach K and the staff concluded that, without K, the trip would not benefit the players. Granted, that conclusion is arguable, but I don't think it's so obviously not the case that we should be sure there is another undisclosed reason here.
Like Henderson, I remain skeptical that the knee alone accounts for the cancellation. Several posters have proposed-- without evidentiary backing -- various high-sounding theories for why the trip without K would harm players' psyche/team chemistry, etc. To me (perhaps I lived in DC too long) these attempts ring hollow. Too often, when someone says, "I'm doing it for the principle" the "principle" becomes "principal" and an amount of money. Let's face it, money, or the lack of money, is a driver of college athletics. Thus, I continue to believe that something about the financial arrangements for the DR is a far more logical reason for the cancellation than the knee (and K's absence) alone.
Maybe Coach K just wanted us to stop obsessing about Bagley and start obsessing about something else. Seriously get well coach.
There's also a marketing/image/recruiting aspect here. With all of Coach K's recent surgeries and him missing games in both the '16 (one game) and '17 seasons, he and Duke probably weren't all that enthused with him being unavailable again while the Duke DR trip receives coverage, in whatever fashion it was going to be covered (likely TV/ESPN, imo). They probably want the next image of Duke to be Countdown to Craziness with Coach K available and on the bench. Recruiting is the lifeblood of any college program. Yes, it's true our coach is old and perhaps frail, but we don't necessarily want to broadcast that if it can be helped.
Color me naïve, but I tend to believe people (unless they have demonstrated that I should not). I see nothing wrong or suspicious about the statement as issued. Of course, without conspiracy theories, these threads would be much shorter in the summer!
or maybe someone took a look at the weather forecast...DR in August can be nasty, just saw some 78 degree dew points for this weekend, which is just plain nasty.
It makes Derm feel like Reykjavik...
There was probably an element of that. The extra practices might not have been thought productive enough without Coach K to use the four year opportunity. Maybe K was also uncomfortable having the team travel overseas without him. Not sure if the economics of the trip were a factor. Hopefully there was nothing else like security threats that entered into the decision.