Mike Krzyzewski considers Duke 'worthy' of national title: 'They may be the most talented'

After a dominant showing through the first two weekends of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Duke is the favorite to win it all. Led by Cooper Flagg, the Blue Devils will take on Houston in the Final Four on Saturday.

When it comes to the last four teams standing in the field, legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski also sees his former squad as the favorite. He called the talent level “worthy” of bringing home a title.

Krzyzewski evaluated the last four teams standing in March Madness and said Duke’s collection of talent stands out above the rest. He also pointed out the character in the locker room, which he said helped fuel the run to San Antonio.

“This group is worthy of winning a national championship,” Krzyzewski said on his SiriusXM College Sports Radio show. “Obviously, they’re very talented. They may be the most talented, as far as future and current – but definitely future.

“They’ve been really good kids. [Jon Scheyer] hasn’t had one attitude problem. They help one another. They’re a very, very cohesive group.”

Duke opened as a 5.5-point favorite over Houston in the Final Four, according to FanDuel, and sit at +100 to win the national championship as of Wednesday afternoon. The Blue Devils are led by Flagg, who has team-highs in four of the five major statistical categories. He’s averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals. His 1.3 blocks per game is also tied with Khaman Maluach for the team lead.

Now, Duke is heading to the Alamodome and going one round farther than last year. Scheyer and Tyrese Proctor both spoke about getting over the Elite Eight hump following last season’s early exit, and the coach reinforced that after taking down Alabama.

“San Antonio sounds great,” Scheyer said. “I mean, look, first, couldn’t be more excited and happy for these guys to my left. I think Tyrese and I, the feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land. To go to San Antonio, to go to the Final Four.

“Couldn’t be more proud of the team as a whole. Their attitudes the whole season, from day one, I think this group has been different. They make fun of me. I keep telling them, don’t change. Don’t change, keep being them.”