Simply stated, Coach K’s 12 years as head coach of the USA basketball team has significantly added to the “cool factor” of Duke basketball in the eyes of high school seniors with realistic NBA dreams.
Beginning in 2006, Krzyzewski turned the USA back into a hardwood empire while showing the world that he can garner the respect and admiration of the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In doing so, his success rate in landing the top recruits at Duke took off to levels the program had never experienced.
Even though Coach K’s role with the national team dwindled quickly after he led it to its third consecutive Olympic gold medal in 2016, the transition was not official until last week when San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich began a training camp with the latest edition of Team USA.