Coach K On The Game

We always enjoy listening to Mike Krzyzewski talk because he usually has a fresh approach to whatever he’s talking about. Even speeches which by all rights should be boring are carefully planned and memorable.

So every summer he has times when he discusses things about the game. Quite often he calls for a commissioner for college basketball and he does that here, but he goes beyond that

We disagree with him somewhat on this point: “I see in the future a high school mega-league that has a TV contract. Can that happen? You bet your butt it can happen. Especially if those kids aren’t going to go to college, the NBA is going to want to promote those guys.”

That’s true, but the other part of it that’s true is this: it’s inherently a minor league and no one gets overly excited about minor leagues. He's not entirely wrong but if you have a chance to watch the NBA, a solid college game, or skinny high school kids, what would you choose? A really great player might change that somewhat but it’s hard to imagine big ratings.

We agree wholeheartedly with this part though: “Whoever would be in charge needs to make sure that we always do traditional, where these kids are part of it. That’s the beauty and that’s the niche we have. We don’t have a players niche; we have a traditions niche. That needs to be celebrated...We should look at the NBA and high school and G League and all that as our partners. And I still say, when one of these kids is 15 and we recognize that they’re good, they have a journey of about 20 years. Whoever benefits from that journey should get together so that each part of the journey is coordinated the right way…. In other words, take care of the game, and you take care of the game by taking care of the kids, who become men, who become stars along the way.”