April 3, 2001

By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The coach roaming the other sideline had all the sympathy, plus five starters who could wind up in the NBA someday.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski knew all about the first part. He's been a close friend of Arizona's Lute Olson for years, and as much an admirer of the wife Olson lost to cancer in January as there is in the college basketball fraternity.

But Monday night's national championship game was only a few minutes old when Krzyzewski figured out how much talent was arrayed against his young Blue Devils.

"I didn't realize how good they were until they started the game. That's when I looked over at Johnny Dawkins and said, 'They're better,"' Krzyzewski said, referring to his assistant.

Instead of panic, the coach felt something akin to admiration. In his world, being the best means beating the best. And that's what Duke did, overpowering the Wildcats 82-72 to give Krzyzewski his third national title 10 years after he won his first one.

"That's why I tell my guys, always surround yourselves with good people," Coach K said. "It may not be your time, but if you're with them, it happens to you."

One thing the 54-year-old Krzyzewski knows how to do is wait. He doesn't demand confirmation of his coaching genius every trip down the floor. He isn't one of those raving sideline acts whose temperament is in constant need of icing down. His insides might be churning, but most of the time his expression was as neutral as the shot clock.

Because he knows Duke's time is coming.

That's the difference between building a team and building a program. It's the reason he's been in seven national championship games in the past 16 years. When you get good players and prepare them the way Krzyzewski has through 21 seasons at Duke, you always have a chance.

The Blue Devils took the same route through the regional tournament sites - Greensboro, N.C., then Philadelphia - and wound up playing for the title in the same building where they beat Michigan in 1992. But on the eve of the championship game, when someone asked him whether he was a "karma guy," this is what Krzyzewski said: "I'm an inner-city Chicago guy. We don't do karma stuff."

Behind that answer is a childhood spent watching immigrant parents work hard so he could have opportunities they never did. It's the same lesson he passes on to the kids who play for him. Work hard, sacrifice. Pass up the shortcuts. Never rely on destiny or luck.

"If you have a chance to hear him speak, you should check out the session," center Carlos Boozer said. "Everything he says you just believe instantly."

But Coach K does more than talk. Earlier this season, Mike Dunleavy missed two free throws in the closing seconds of Duke's first loss of the season, 84-83 at Stanford. Instead of giving the sophomore forward less responsibility, Krzyzewski gave him more.

It paid off in the opening minutes of the second half, when Dunleavy, the son of former NBA player and current Portland Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy, took over a game filled with bigger stars on both sides. He scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half, mostly on 3-pointers, before turning the game over to Shane Battier down the stretch.

"I'm sure the rest of the guys were thinking, 'It's about time,"' Dunleavy said.

"Especially his roommate," Battier chimed in.

Battier, the college player of the year, finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and capped off his senior year with a championship and the game's most outstanding player award. He passed up a chance to leave school early for the pro ranks, and his reward was a testament to those virtues Krzyzewski tirelessly pushes all the time.

"I'm lucky to have known him," Battier said. "I know he'll be one of my most valuable friends for life."

Krzyzewski builds friendships the way he built the Duke program - for the long haul. He began his coaching career as an assistant under Bob Knight at West Point, taking the best of his mentor's teachings and leaving the excesses behind. Now those two trail only UCLA's John Wooden (10 championships) and Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (four) on the career list.

The other thing that Krzyzewski learned long ago is that no one wins all the time, and that honest preparation sometimes is a reward in itself. That's what made the waiting between titles so much easier.

"When we came down here, we knew he'd been here and we thought we had an advantage," Boozer said. "We just followed."