CHARLOTTE — Although head coach Mike Krzyzewski was reluctant to talk about it all weekend, Duke’s two wins moved him into first place all-time in career NCAA Tournament victories.
Krzyzewski passes former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith and now has 66 career wins in the postseason tournament.
“You get to the Final Four and you just kind of rack [wins] up,” Krzyzewski said. “I’ve had teams that have just taken me to Final Fours. The coach doesn’t win games, the players win games.”
Duke advanced to the Sweet 16 for the eighth consecutive year and the 15th time under Krzyzewski in his 25-year tenure. His teams have also made the Final Four 10 times and won three national championships.
It has become easier to accumulate postseason wins since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“As young as Mike is, I think he’ll put that record out where no one else can reach it,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said.
Krzyzewski’s mentor Bobby Knight is the next closest with 45 wins, which includes Texas Tech’s victory over Gonzaga Saturday.
Although the always modest Krzyzewski downplayed the significance of the record, his players did not. Lee Melchionni said the team did celebrate the accomplishment quietly in the locker room following the game.
“It means a lot to me and to us as a team,” J.J. Redick said. “I mentioned it to the team before we went out on the court. I said, ‘We need to win it for him.’”
When Krzyzewski was told that Redick had used the milestone as inspiration prior to the game, he was quick to joke about it.
“I hope he goes in before the next game and says, ‘Look, we’ve got to widen the margin,’” he said.
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