Duke-Carolina: K's Post Game Press Conference

[TKG]

I watched K's post game press conference on TDD and he got into a little pointed back-and-forth with a reporter at around the 11 or 12 minute mark. There was obvious tension between the two, despite K's attempt to make light of a past disagreement between the two.

1) Who was the reporter?
2) What is the history between he and K?

Thanks.

[Durham Thunder]

It's gotta be a local reporter. K's such an agreeable, smart, collected person. When's the last time he's had an openly-tense relationship with anyone? With that being said, the national guys (like Vitale) appreciate and revere K.

Plus, the smaller time guys usually are eager to make themselves known anyway, anyhow. Then again, a coach recently pointed out a certain ESPN reporter as a "disloyal idiot".

[dyedwab]

It's gotta be a local reporter. K's such an agreeable, smart, collected person. When's the last time he's had an openly-tense relationship with anyone? With that being said, the national guys (like Vitale) appreciate and revere K.

Plus, the smaller time guys usually are eager to make themselves known anyway, anyhow. Then again, a coach recently pointed out a certain ESPN reporter as a "disloyal idiot".

I love Coach K, but he has a contentious relationship with some in the press (Gregg Doyel, anyone?)- and does not suffer fools (or foolish questions) gladly, as you can tell by watching virtually any K post-game press conference.. And following the reporters who cover us on a regular basis - Laura Keely, Bret Streslow, Steve Wiseman, etc., I think they are MUCH better at filtering the overwhelming negativity that surrounds Duke in much of the college basketball media. They were the first line of defense during the absurd chant-gate fiasco.

[jimsumner]

Barry Jacobs asked K to elaborate on some earlier comments about Tyler Thornton channeling his "hate" productively.

K and Barry actually get along pretty well these days and I saw it as good-natured banter and I was about two feet from Barry and 10 feet from K. There were no scorch marks.

And Barry is about as far from a fool as anyone I know. Even an implicit comparison of him to Doyel is absurd.

That said, K does know how to control a room. He's a pretty bright guy and he's been doing this a while.

But he can have an edge. The local media have a word for it. Getting K'd.

[TKG]

Barry Jacobs asked K to elaborate on some earlier comments about Tyler Thornton channeling his "hate" productively.

K and Barry actually get along pretty well these days and I saw it as good-natured banter and I was about two feet from Barry and 10 feet from K. There were no scorch marks.

And Barry is about as far from a fool as anyone I know. Even an implicit comparison of him to Doyel is absurd.

That said, K does know how to control a room. He's a pretty bright guy and he's been doing this a while.

But he can have an edge. The local media have a word for it. Getting K'd.

Thank you Jim. Context is important. On the video you cannot see the questioners' faces and I am not famillair with the voices of the reporters.

[dyedwab]

Barry Jacobs asked K to elaborate on some earlier comments about Tyler Thornton channeling his "hate" productively.

K and Barry actually get along pretty well these days and I saw it as good-natured banter and I was about two feet from Barry and 10 feet from K. There were no scorch marks.

And Barry is about as far from a fool as anyone I know. Even an implicit comparison of him to Doyel is absurd.

That said, K does know how to control a room. He's a pretty bright guy and he's been doing this a while.

But he can have an edge. The local media have a word for it. Getting K'd.

I've learned more about basketball from reading Barry Jacobs then practically anyone - didn't mean to imply that he was like Doyel. Just that 1) reporters and K can have contentious interchanges, especially when K thinks that the question is dumb, 2) that K doesn't have positive relationship with every reporters and 3) It's not "local guys trying to make names for themselves" who end up in K's sites, while national guys revere him. We have some pretty good Duke beat reporters and the national media mood in college basketball reporting is far, far more Duke-negative

Makes sense that, as someone brought up, the exchange mentioned politics. Barry Jacobs has been pretty politically active and his politics diverge, shall we say, from what we know of Coach K's

[Olympic Fan]

I also heard the exhange between K and Barry and didn't think there was any tension there ... just good natured banter.

Funnier to me was a question from Dane Huffman of the N&O (not sure he's still there, but was an editor there for many years). He asked K about Kelly and phrased it, "You're sort of playing through this stretch withou Ryan ..."

K interrupts to "edit" the comment: "Not 'sort of' ... we are playing through this ..."

[wsb3]

Barry Jacobs asked K to elaborate on some earlier comments about Tyler Thornton channeling his "hate" productively.

K and Barry actually get along pretty well these days and I saw it as good-natured banter and I was about two feet from Barry and 10 feet from K. There were no scorch marks.

And Barry is about as far from a fool as anyone I know. Even an implicit comparison of him to Doyel is absurd.

That said, K does know how to control a room. He's a pretty bright guy and he's been doing this a while.

But he can have an edge. The local media have a word for it. Getting K'd.

I watched it and I would agree with Jim. It just seemed good-natured. Those post game deals are often awkward because you don't see and often don't hear the reporters question.

[Mike Corey]

In the brief amount of time I was able to attend men's bball press conferences, I saw Coach K get testy only a few times. The only way I'd describe it is like the Socratic method in reverse with Professor Kingsfield.

pc3.jpg

My sense, which I would as ever defer to anyone who's done this for more than 18 months as I did, was that Coach K took particular umbrage with anyone who dared assess his team in a uniquely negative way. It could be a single word, but that would be enough to prompt Coach K to go after someone.

It could come after a win or a loss. But when it came, it was best to just be grateful he wasn't targeting you. I saw him at his angriest after the loss to UConn in the '04 Final Four. Perhaps JimSumner or Al Featherston remember the details, but some reporter suggested that Duke had choked. And that did not go over well at all.

[BD80]

... I saw Coach K get testy only a few times.

... when it came, it was best to just be grateful he wasn't targeting you. I saw him at his angriest after the loss to UConn in the '04 Final Four. Perhaps JimSumner or Al Featherston remember the details, but some reporter suggested that Duke had choked. And that did not go over well at all.

What did the reporter expect????

Only ol' roy would have agreed with such an assessment of his own team. Any true leader, Coach K being just one of many, would have fired back at such an accusation.

[Mike Corey]

What did the reporter expect????

Perhaps, exactly what he got.

[The Gordog]

I watched K's post game press conference on TDD and he got into a little pointed back-and-forth with a reporter at around the 11 or 12 minute mark. There was obvious tension between the two, despite K's attempt to make light of a past disagreement between the two.

1) Who was the reporter?
2) What is the history between he and K?

Thanks.

The only tension I saw was at the very end:

K: I just didn't like you mixing politics and writing.
Reporter: As oppoosed to mixing basketball and politics?
K: I'm not in politics. I'm, I'm not running for anything.

It seemed a little weird but friendly at the same time.

[The Gordog]

Gems fall from the man's mouth sometimes.

K: if anger destroys something bad, it's good.If it destroys something good then it's bad.

Eat your heart out Yoda!

[-jk]

The only tension I saw was at the very end:

K: I just didn't like you mixing politics and writing.
Reporter: As oppoosed to mixing basketball and politics?
K: I'm not in politics. I'm, I'm not running for anything.

It seemed a little weird but friendly at the same time.

If it was Barry, he has, indeed, run for (local, almost always unthanked) office.

-jk

[DU82]

If it was Barry, he has, indeed, run for (local, almost always unthanked) office.

-jk

Barry Jacobs is the chair of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. (Orange County is where Chapel Hill is located.) He is in his fourth four-year term on the board.