MBB: Duke 90, Indiana 69 Post-Game Thread

[jimsumner]

The story that Butters told me, with some subsequent K comments.

Butters called Knight to ask about Weltlich, who was head coach at Mississippi.

At some point in the conversation, Butters asked Knight if there was anyone else they should be talking about.

Knight brought up K's name.

K came to Duke for an interview with Butters and associate AD Steve Vacendak. Iowa State was also pursuing Krzyzewski but K preferred Duke. K thought he nailed the interview. Expected an offer.

Did not get one. As he and Mickey were leaving Duke for the airport, he told the Mrs. that they might be living in Ames.

Meanwhile, back in the Gothic Wonderland, the interview over and K gone, Butters turned to Vacendak and said, "I think we've found our guy."

Vacendak responded "then why are we letting him get on a plane without a deal?"

Or words to that affect.

Butters sent Vacendak to RDU post-haste. They paged K and Vacendak found him before he flew away forever.

But Steve Vacendak is the unsung hero of this story.

[richardjackson199]

The story that Butters told me, with some subsequent K comments.

Butters called Knight to ask about Weltlich, who was head coach at Mississippi.

At some point in the conversation, Butters asked Knight if there was anyone else they should be talking about.

Knight brought up K's name.

K came to Duke for an interview with Butters and associate AD Steve Vacendak. Iowa State was also pursuing Krzyzewski but K preferred Duke. K thought he nailed the interview. Expected an offer.

Did not get one. As he and Mickey were leaving Duke for the airport, he told the Mrs. that they might be living in Ames.

Meanwhile, back in the Gothic Wonderland, the interview over and K gone, Butters turned to Vacendak and said, "I think we've found our guy."

Vacendak responded "then why are we letting him get on a plane without a deal?"

Or words to that affect.

Butters sent Vacendak to RDU post-haste. They paged K and Vacendak found him before he flew away forever.

But Steve Vacendak is the unsung hero of this story.

Fantastic update. Thanks Jim!

[sagegrouse]

Olympic Fan (may he RIP) to the rescue! Post #31.

should repeat the entire post in Al's honor:

Bay Area Duke Fan
Wasn't it Bob Knight who recommended K to Butters?
Olympic Fan -- Not at first ... Butters started his search by calling Knight and offering him the job. He later explained that he thought Knight was the best coach in the country and he had to try, but that he never expected Knight to say yes.

When he said no, Butters asked for his recommendation. Knight recommended Bob Weltlich, a former assistant who was then the head coach at Ole Miss.

Butters said thanks, then contacted Weltlich.

It was only after Vacendak pushed Butters to look at Krzyzewski that Butters called Knight a second time and asked him what he thought of Krzyzewski.

Knight said "he has all of my good qualities and none of my bad." He then apologized for not recommending K to begin with -- he explained that he didn't think an AD at a major school would take a candidate with K's record seriously. But he did give him a strong recommendation.

But Butters never would have called Knight and asked him about K without Vacendak's intervention.

[jv001]

The story that Butters told me, with some subsequent K comments.

Butters called Knight to ask about Weltlich, who was head coach at Mississippi.

At some point in the conversation, Butters asked Knight if there was anyone else they should be talking about.

Knight brought up K's name.

K came to Duke for an interview with Butters and associate AD Steve Vacendak. Iowa State was also pursuing Krzyzewski but K preferred Duke. K thought he nailed the interview. Expected an offer.

Did not get one. As he and Mickey were leaving Duke for the airport, he told the Mrs. that they might be living in Ames.

Meanwhile, back in the Gothic Wonderland, the interview over and K gone, Butters turned to Vacendak and said, "I think we've found our guy."

Vacendak responded "then why are we letting him get on a plane without a deal?"

Or words to that affect.

Butters sent Vacendak to RDU post-haste. They paged K and Vacendak found him before he flew away forever.

But Steve Vacendak is the unsung hero of this story.

Vacendak is one of my longtime favorites. I don't know why but I liken Steve to Kevin Billerman another favorite Duke player. GoDuke!

[HereBeforeCoachK]

wow, I had never heard the Iowa State part....especially the "we might be living in Ames" comment. Chillingly close. I had heard the airport part before. Close, very close...

[chrishoke]

From the OLYFAAN post:

“I helped out Tom,” Vacendak said. “I provided him with information and helped provide the pool of candidates.”

In fact, it was Vacendak who suggested that Butters check out the coach at Army. He was Mike Krzyzewski’s strongest advocate during a coaching search that largely focused on more established names.

“Certainly, I’d have to say that Mike was my preference all along, but it was still Tom’s decision,” Vacendak said. “I just tried to provide him with my best sense of what Duke was and what it could be and who the man best to fulfill it was – and I thought it was Mike.”

How was Steve even knowledgeable about Army and Coach K? I always thought Knight was the first to bring up his name. Fascinating. By the way, even before I knew this, Vacendak was at the top of my list of all timed Duke favorites. I still have the program from the 1966 Duke basketball banquet with Steve's autograph

[Listen to Quants]

I thought the same thing about Knight's estrangement of both Alford and K. I'm glad K was able to reconcile their relationship. I thought the program did a nice job of portraying Knight's strongly positive qualities too. He was a complicated man with deep anger, narcissistic, manipulative, abusive, and power problems. I don't disagree with budwom that there are sociopathic, antisocial personality traits.

But Knight was also a generous, brilliant, charismatic, human, and kind man. What he did to Neil Reed and his family was appalling, disgusting, and sad. And there were clearly many more examples of that to others. What he did for the former player with the spine injury was deeply benevolent. And Knight also showed many more examples of actions like that which is why he is deeply respected by guys like K (I think). I don't think it's just for his brilliant basketball mind. Fran Fraschilla talked about how he was an assistant coach for a small mid-major team who played Knight's Indiana team. After the game he said Knight called them out of the blue and spoke for over 90 minutes on strengths he thought their team could optimize and weaknesses he thought they could shore up. Fraschilla said they took it to heart and were able to win their conference.

Knight was complex. K would not be where he is today without Bob Knight. Meaning Duke would not be where we are today. Recall it was Bob Knight who suggested to Tom Butters that he hire unproven Mike Krzyzewski to be Duke's head coach.

Sad story.

This is my view as well. The 30-30 was good television but while claiming to be out for 'truth' were light on the positive aspects of Knights character. He seems to genuinely shun publicity for his good acts. A modesty too rare. He was, as I understand it, a major fund raiser for the IU Library, getting over a million (in then dollars) in one campaign. It was mentioned that he 'graduated his players' but that was not put in the context of High DI bball. They did not take gut (or Gut) classes for As, and he had attendance monitored when needed. I'd have loved a random sample of current opinion from his players. He does seem desperately flawed, but that segment left me no more sure/informed than before.

[jipops]

Javin had the 2nd best dRating on last year's team. And in admittedly limited minutes as a freshman, he had the best dRating on the 2017 team as well. The fouls have always been a problem (career 8 fouls per 40 minutes).

Given that, Javin continues to be near the bottom of the rotation as a junior. He’s averaging 1 1/2 minutes more than AOC who has a better DRtg than Tre Jones and Barrett. So either the metric is not as meaningful as it seems it should be or his offense is just so bad... or the fouls, which goes back to the D.

[Kedsy]

Given that, Javin continues to be near the bottom of the rotation as a junior. He’s averaging 1 1/2 minutes more than AOC who has a better DRtg than Tre Jones and Barrett. So either the metric is not as meaningful as it seems it should be or his offense is just so bad... or the fouls, which goes back to the D.

Well, unsupported by other stats, the metric isn’t as useful as it should be. But in Javin’s case, it’s the fouls.

Though it may not follow that the fouls “[go] back to the D.” I don’t have stats for this, but it seems from watching that a lot of Javin’s fouls are moving screens. Plus many of his fouls on the defensive end don’t necessarily look like they come from playing poor defense, as opposed to simple overexuberance, at least to my eyes.

[House G]

From the OLYFAAN post:

“I helped out Tom,” Vacendak said. “I provided him with information and helped provide the pool of candidates.”

In fact, it was Vacendak who suggested that Butters check out the coach at Army. He was Mike Krzyzewski’s strongest advocate during a coaching search that largely focused on more established names.

“Certainly, I’d have to say that Mike was my preference all along, but it was still Tom’s decision,” Vacendak said. “I just tried to provide him with my best sense of what Duke was and what it could be and who the man best to fulfill it was – and I thought it was Mike.”

How was Steve even knowledgeable about Army and Coach K? I always thought Knight was the first to bring up his name. Fascinating. By the way, even before I knew this, Vacendak was at the top of my list of all timed Duke favorites. I still have the program from the 1966 Duke basketball banquet with Steve's autograph

This interview with Steve Vacendak sheds some light on how he knew about Coach K at Army:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOCBEvlUEw

[timmy c]

It was a busy week at the Timmy c household. Was hoping to catch a replay, unfortunately it Looks like the replay isn't available on ESPN. Anyone know where to find it?
Thanks all!

[MChambers]

It was a busy week at the Timmy c household. Was hoping to catch a replay, unfortunately it Looks like the replay isn't available on ESPN. Anyone know where to find it?
Thanks all!

It's still available on the WatchESPN app, and you can cast it to a TV.

[UrinalCake]

Looks like the replay isn't available on ESPN. Anyone know where to find it?
Thanks all!

YouTube is a good thing