Mike Krzyzewski reveals team's emotions after leaving court following Final Four loss

Mike Krzyzewski’s illustrious career as Duke‘s head men’s basketball coach came to an end Saturday night with the Blue Devils’ 81-77 loss to longtime rival North Carolina in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. While No. 2 seeded Duke battled with North Carolina from start to finish, it was the Tar Heels that were able to make the last big play to record the win and punch their ticket to Monday night’s national championship game against No. 1 Kansas.

While Coach K would’ve liked to have had one more game with his Blue Devils’ squad, his 2021-22 team was one of the best he ever had – and the coach has said that himself on multiple occasions throughout the season. Despite Saturday’s Final Four loss, Duke won 32 total games, captured the ACC regular-season championship and made a run all of the way to the final weekend of the college basketball season – and that makes Krzyzewski proud.

Following the season-ending loss to North Carolina, and his last-ever game as Duke’s head coach, Krzyzewski met with the media for his final postgame press conference and was asked what his emotions were as he walked off the court for the last time. Instead of going into detail about himself, he decided to talk highly of his players – saying that they’re the ones who are hurting right now.

“It’s not about me – especially right now,” Krzyzewski said. “As a coach, I’m just concerned about these guys. I mean, they’re already crying on the court. … And I mean that’s the only thing you can think about. And then going into the locker room, I’ve said my entire career – or when I knew what the hell I was doing – that I wanted my seasons to end where my team was either crying tears of joy or tears of sorrow because then you knew that they gave everything.

“And I had a locker room filled with guys who were crying – and it’s a beautiful sight. It’s not the sight that I would want; I’d want the other. But it’s a sight that I really respect and makes me understand just how good this group was. And that’s what I’m concerned – I don’t want any of these guys to leave and say, I should have made that one free throw, I should have made that one. … We win and we lose together, and we’ve won 32 games and two championships together. And that’s what I want them to realize.”

Saturday’s game closed the final chapter on Mike Krzyzewski’s legendary coaching career, which lasted 47 total years – with 42 of those seasons coming at Duke. Coach K’s all-time record comes out to a final tally of 1,202-368, which makes him the winningest head coach in college basketball history. He also finishes his career with 13 trips to the Final Four and five national championships.