Shuh-Sheff-Skee

So I'm the type of guy who is a SPORTS fan, through and through.  Of course, like all of you, I have my allegiances.  For example, I'm a die-hard Yankees fan; but I'm a baseball fan first.  I'm not gonna run around screaming "Red Sox suck!" at the top of my lungs.  Because they don't.  They're a fantastic organization.  Would I EVER root for them?  Hell to the no.  But I'm not an idiot.  I'm a baseball fan who happens to love the Yankees.
College basketball is no different.  I bleed Tar Heel blue, but in general I'm a basketball fan first.  It is my love for Chapel Hill, however, that makes this statement so hard for me to say:
Mike Krzyzewski is the BEST active college basketball coach.  Hands down.

(Hold on while I compose myself... and prepare myself for the inevitable barrage of texts I'm going to receive from all of the Duke and/or Carolina fan friends I have.)

Right now many of you are wondering, how could you go there, Sick?  First, let's take a look at some stats.
In 30+ seasons at Duke, he has: 3 National Championships; 11 Final Four appearances (second all-time behind legendary Coach John Wooden); 12 ACC regular season & 12 ACC tournament championships; a more than 25 win-per-season average; 75 NCAA tournament victories (the most all time); over 800 total victories (one of just 6 men to reach this mark, and he's 4th on that list); 26 NCAA tourney appearances in 27 years including an active 15-straight streak; and my favorite stat (THOUGH TRUST ME IT FUCKING PAINS ME)... his Duke team won more games (291) in the decade beginning in the year 2000 than any other team in any other decade in NCAA Basketball history INCLUDING Wooden's Bruins.  Those numbers are fucking staggering.
 

But stats don't tell the whole story.  When it comes to recruiting, Coach K is behind the 8ball.  Duke's academic standards make it much harder for him.  John Calipari can get the kids who cheat on their SATs and probably can't even spell B-A-S-K-E-T-B-A-L-L.  That shit won't fly at Duke.  I don't mean to stereotype, but for the most part good athletes are NOT good students.  Think of the jocks at your high school... were any of them on the honor roll?  Duke requires both of it's student-athletes.  Coach K can't go out and get the #1 athlete who barely graduated high school.  Sure, he still gets All-Americans. But he can't pick & choose as much as other coaches.  I look at it like this: other coaches pick system guys, Coach K has to get guys and put them into his system.  Either way, he's got a smaller (and generally less-talented) pool to choose from... and Duke is STILL a perennial powerhouse in what is (at the very least) a top 3 or 4 conference every single year.

Still not sold?  Just give it the eyeball test.  If you hadn't watched a single game of college basketball this year, and I showed you a team photo of all 65 tournament teams before the tourney began, would you think they'd be a serious National Champion contender?  Would you even pick them to win a game of anything other than chess?  Me either.

Not convinced yet?  Think back a few years.  USA basketball was an embarrassment in international play.  When a brain-trust of basketball aficionados decided we had to be #1 again, they convinced all the greats to play... Lebron, Kobe, D-Wade, etc.  And who'd they pick to coach?  Coach motherfucking K.
 
On yesterday's episode of Pardon the Interruption, Wilbon said that if he had to play 1 basketball game with his LIFE on the line, he'd want Coach K to coach him.  It pains me to admit it, but I agree.

So, Coach K, I salute you... just this once.
You're the best.
....Even though you look like a fucking rat.