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Duke

Coach K makes ACC history in final tournament appearance

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•03/12/22
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(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski has already accomplished a near endless amount of milestones throughout his legendary college basketball coaching career. Tonight, when Coach K and his Duke Blue Devils take the floor against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the 2022 ACC Tournament, he’ll be making his 22nd ACC Tournament Championship Game appearance, pushing him past former North Carolina legendary head coach Dean Smith (21).

Check out the graphic below.

Coach K and his Blue Devils had to squeak past the Miami Hurricanes in the other ACC Tournament semifinal matchup on Friday evening. That game was tied 36-36 at halftime, but Duke was able to nail key free throws down the stretch to pull away from Miami to win, 80-76. AJ Griffin pumped in 21 points for the Blue Devils, Paolo Banchero had 18 points, and Wendell Moore, Jr. pumped in 17 points in the win. Duke drilled several key free throws that helped seal the win. The Blue Devils connected on 14-of-19 free throws in the second half. 

If Duke can win tonight, Krzyzewski will push his number of ACC Tournament titles to 16. He currently owns 15 ACC Tournament crowns, the most by a head coach in ACC history. If he wants to get the win tonight, it won’t be easy. The Virginia Tech Hokies are one of the hottest teams in college basketball and they’ve been playing really well lately.

The appearance in the ACC Tournament Championship game is not only big for the Hokies because they’ve never done it before, but it likely means they’ve punched their tickets to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. If they can find a way to upset Duke and win the 2022 ACC Tournament Championship, they will officially earn the automatic bid for the ACC and guarantee their spot in the big dance.

Coach K career accolades

Coach K has won five national championships at Duke, including two years where he won back-to-back national crowns.

In winning back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991 and 1992, Krzyzewski became only the second coach to do so since John Wooden (Billy Donovan is the other).

The legendary basketball coach established an incredible level of dominance at Duke basketball during his previous 41 seasons there.

Coach K, a member of the Naismith Hall-of-Fame, has won 1,170 games in his career, the most in college basketball history. As the head coach of Team USA basketball, he won six gold medals during his time.

Coach K has enough accolades to fill up a few pages, but here are a few from his Duke coaching career: 15 ACC tournament championships (most in league history), 12 Final Four appearances (tied for most in NCAA history), 12 National Coach of the Year honors, 35 NCAA tournament bids (most by one coach), and 126 weeks ranked No. 1 in AP poll (most by a coach in poll history).