Duke Heavily Represented In NBA Playoffs

When Mike Krzyzewski took the national team job, a lot of folks though it would divide his attention and hurt his Duke program. We ourselves were uncertain but believed he had earned the right to do it and whatever happened we could live with it.

For his part, he said he was pretty sure it would help Duke, and he was right.

Krzyzewski’s coaching prowess, his NBA connections and Duke’s immense presence in the market means that not only are highly rated recruits almost certain to be drafted, they’ll put their NIL stuff on steroids.

They’ve just have to wait a year to cash in.

This year, for instance, Duke has 15 players in the playoffs or 16, depending on how you count (we refer to Boston’s Semi Ojeleye, who transferred to SMU after his sophomore year).

We would imagine Coach K and staff would focus mostly on basketball, but increasingly, young players are looking at the business side and Duke is better able to address that than anyone else. The presentations must be incredible.