Get Ready for the Coach K Hate

[kako]

The hate Coach K is getting is ridiculous. But I expect nothing less when it comes to Duke and Coach K. People will criticize for quite literally anything.

It comes with the territory. When you are dominant, everybody wants to take you down for any reason. K could cure solve world hunger, cure COVID and win 3 Olympic gold medals for the USA and people would still dump on him. Duke is 2-2 and the NCAAMB world gloating. If Duke didn't matter, they wouldn't care. WWLD? (What Would Laettner Do?) I think he would revel in the hate, so that's the way I take it. As long as they hate Duke, the team is still doing well. Does anybody hate UCLA men's hoops anymore (except maybe SC)? Probably not. There's a reason for that.

9F

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

The hate Coach K is getting is ridiculous. But I expect nothing less when it comes to Duke and Coach K. People will criticize for quite literally anything.

If you go to a neutral social media site, most folks actually seem to back K. Of course blowhards from certain schools won't, but this is in no way tarnishing L's rep.

Even some Kentucky and UNC fans seem to be begrudgingly admitting that K is in the right on this.

[DukieTiger]

A big LOL at the idea that the guy who is by far the best coach in the current sport and at absolute worst the second-best coach in the history of the sport is being motivated by his team being a 6 seed instead of a 2 seed this year or whatever. I could maybe see being skeptical of the motivation of a coach who is on the hot seat wanting to the season to be canceled, but come on.

If I sat someone down who knew zero about basketball and had them listen to Coach K's comments on COVID and basketball, Seth Greenberg's comments on COVID and basketball, and the comments of Oates or Oats or Granola or whatever his name is, I bet they could easily figure out which one of the three is considered the best leader, manager, and coach in the sport.

A small quibble in that I don't think you can say that K is currently "by far" the best coach (though certainly no disagreement with the historical side obviously) based on recent results.

But the main point I wanted to make is that both K's greatness and his team's record are immaterial to the concerns K is raising, which is why it's silly to attack his comments on those grounds and why it was a cheap way for coach Oats to get some attention.

Moreso than a lack of respect for K as a competitor, Oats did not give respect to K's position of concern for his team and for others. It also does not fairly represent the idea that there can be a reasonable level of disagreement with K. I appreciate Brad Brownell's* response and slightly different perspective: https://twitter.com/MarcWYFFNews4/st...63165448073228

*And to be clear, I'm in no way suggesting that Brownell is a better coach or leader than K is

[Troublemaker]

It comes with the territory. When you are dominant, everybody wants to take you down for any reason. K could cure solve world hunger, cure COVID and win 3 Olympic gold medals for the USA and people would still dump on him. Duke is 2-2 and the NCAAMB world gloating. If Duke didn't matter, they wouldn't care. WWLD? (What Would Laettner Do?) I think he would revel in the hate, so that's the way I take it. As long as they hate Duke, the team is still doing well. Does anybody hate UCLA men's hoops anymore (except maybe SC)? Probably not. There's a reason for that.

Yup. And Coach K pretty much predicted what would happen as he was making his comments.

I also theorize that Coach K secretly doesn't even care about all the attention he's receiving, good or bad. The takeaway from many parents of recruits will be: "Here's a coach that cares about his players' well-being."

Post relevant to my theory perhaps:

Is this really a big deal? The Elon and Charleston Southern games were unlikely to be rescheduled as there is simply no room in the schedule. All this really means is that the Garner Webb game will not be played. This feels like the headline (“Duke cancels entire remaining conference season!!!”) is made out to be more than it really is - one game being cancelled, which honestly had a high likelihood of being cancelled already.

[Steven43]

Of course blowhards from certain schools won't, but this is in no way tarnishing L's rep.

Hey man, changing K’s name to “L” won’t fool anyone, especially on DBR. 😉

[Duke79UNLV77]

Yep, K is so conniving that he made sure we got in our cupcake games against Mich State and Illinois to pad our record and then ducked juggernauts Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb, and Elon. Plus, he was cunning enough to send his young team home to spend some time with their families for the first time in 4 months so as not to ruin them with extra time in practice and games. The gall!

[Steven43]

If I sat someone down who knew zero about basketball and had them listen to Coach K's comments on COVID and basketball, Seth Greenberg's comments on COVID and basketball, and the comments of Oates or Oats or Granola or whatever his name is, I bet they could easily figure out which one of the three is considered the best leader, manager, and coach in the sport.

Wander, I don’t recall you having been a particularly big fan of Seth prior to this most recent comment. What did he do to win you over? 😊

[Steven43]

Yep, K is so conniving that he made sure we got in our cupcake games against Mich State and Illinois to pad our record and then ducked juggernauts Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb, and Elon. Plus, he was cunning enough to send his young team home to spend some time with their families for the first time in 4 months so as not to ruin them with extra time in practice and games. The gall!

I know, right?? Who are these numbskulls with such piss-poor analytic skills? It’s embarrassing.

[roywhite]

Two thoughts:

1. Alabama being strongly a red state, I'm sure this plays well with his supporters.
2. Get Alabama on the non-conference schedule next year. Take no prisoners.

9F

Please skip the gratuitous political comments.

[jv001]

It seems to me it would have been a good time for the team to have gotten better by playing those games. However, Coach K put the players and asst. coaches welfare above that. Some people don't have an idea of what's going in the world of sports or what's taking place outside of the world of sports. Those whiners need to get a life.

GoDuke!

[wavedukefan70s]

I think it was the right call. Let them breathe a little comeback reset.these are strange days .
Basketball could shutdown for all we know.
I truly believe we are not far from that scenario.
Coach cal was the onlyone to make sense that i have read.
Its his team let him run it.
Oates can go jump in a lake.

[weezie]

Surprised that Izzo rather weakly simpered his comment, considering he actually had the virus. Not surprised Cal made it more about Cal and his tough 16 hour days.

Who thinks Duke will likely see 'bama during the NCAAs, if they are even held?

[mattyoung18]

Duke vs Bama in the NCAAS for sure.The committee will be all over this match-up.

[freshmanjs]

Duke vs Bama in the NCAAS for sure.The committee will be all over this match-up.

They don't set up story line matchups.

[CoachKville13]

https://www.syracuse.com/orangebaske...like-that.html

Jim Boeheim coming to K's defense. He said the season should not be paused, and generally appeared to disagree with the substance of K's comments, but delivered a sharp rebuke of Nate Oats. Boeheim said: "It’s sad to see somebody say something like that. It speaks to somebody’s character."

[Bluedog]

Am I crazy because I didn't take Coach K's comments to definitively say that he thinks all basketball should be stopped. I heard him say it "feels weird" and there should be leadership at the top to consistently reassess things. One could perhaps surmise that to mean Coach K personally thinks basketball probably shouldn't be played, but I took it to mean that Coach K thinks stopping play isn't even a consideration right now and it should be, but that is not necessarily his conclusion. He just believes there should be analysis and redecision making based on the latest health protocols and figures rather than just blindly following the plan they had from the onset.

[ClemmonsDevil]

https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball...rzyzewski.html

Excellent job by Oats here. Fantastic stuff.

[MartyClark]

https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball...rzyzewski.html

Excellent job by Oats here. Fantastic stuff.

I agree. It was an articulate and seemingly sincere apology. Good for Coach Oats

[bundabergdevil]

That front page picture of Oats looks a little like Greg Paulus.

[Wander]

https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball...rzyzewski.html

Excellent job by Oats here. Fantastic stuff.

Do you think if Coach Oats hadn't lost the nonconference game to Clemson he'd still be saying that?

Kidding, kidding.