Mike Krzyzewski has won a lot NCAA tournament games in the history of men's basketball, however that doesn't mean he and the Duke Blue Devils aren't immune to an early exit. It's the second time in three seasons and fifth time ever that Mike Krzyzewski and his team lost in the opening game. 14th-seeded Mercer took out his third-seeded Blue Devils 78-71 Friday. They then lost to 15th-seeded Lehigh in 2012. These first-round upsets happened in North Carolina, while the Lehigh loss came in Greensboro and the Mercer loss was in Raleigh.
Lehigh and Mercer do not have the star power of the Blue Devils yet Mike Krzyzewski apparently didn't put notice that both were led by upperclassmen. Mercer started five seniors and Duke's best players were freshman Jabari Parker and sophomore Rodney Hood.
Mike Krzyzewski together with Duke hadn't yet been knocked out in the first round since 2007 before their loss to Lehigh. The sixth-seeded Blue Devils lost to VCU that year. This loss last year was the last time that Duke, having won four national championships and reached the Final Four 11 times under Mike Krzyzewski, wasn't one of the highly seeded teams.
As a program, Mercer has had 1,176 wins, that's 191 more than Mike Krzyzewski has all by himself. With their first NCAA win, the Bears are now only 81 behind Mike Krzyzewski's total NCAA record.
Meanwhile, Mike Krzyzewski still congratulated the Bears after Duke's defeat. Mike Krzyzewski entered the Bears locker room and congratulated them with their victory.
Mike Krzyzewski said as he stepped in, "You guys have a hell of a basketball team. I love the game and you guys the play the game really, really well. And your coach coaches it well. If we had to be beaten, I'm glad we got beaten by a hell of a basketball team. So good luck to you."
As Mike Krzyzewski went away, the locker room was deafening with silence as the players tried to process what just happened.
Mercer center Daniel Coursey said after a while, "Oh. My. God. I honestly don't even know. That's huge. Coach K is one of the most famous basketball coaches ever. For him to tell us we're a great basketball team, that's pretty unbelievable."
Mike Krzyzewski indeed is one of the best and most famous basketball coaches, as can be seen from his track record, and with this praise for the team that beat him, it shows that he is also a good sport.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
