NEW YORK -- At halftime of Duke's win over Arizona State Wednesday, ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb opened by declaring Duke "alarmingly unathletic," right next to former Blue Devil star Jason Williams. Of course, Duke went on to win that game and tonight, the Blue Devils won the NIT by beating Connecticut.
So when a reporter asked Mike Krzyzewski to respond to Gottlieb's criticism, the Duke head coach responded appropriately.
"He should be an expert on alarmingly non?athletic," Krzyzewski said. "So I'll have to take a look at that a little bit closer because it comes from an expert who actually knows what it feels like to be alarmingly non?athletic.
"Actually, we're pretty athletic -- we're just not as athletic as Connecticut. Singler is a really good athlete. Lance, Miles. Jon is not leaping tall buildings with a single bound but he's a real good athlete. But I wouldn't call us like this athletic team, but we're not amazingly non?athletic. And I would rather not get into a discussion with Doug because I have respect of his stature and he should have his arguments with people of similar stature. That would be a good thing."
Krzyzewski wasn't done, either. A few questions later, he enjoyed the following exchange with a reporter:
Q. Kyle, 2?of?12, 6 points, he shoots 29 percent. I told you those numbers coming into the game.A: I would have been very worried or mad at you. I would have told you to go talk to Doug Gottlieb. You don't have to do that by the way. I won't punish you like that.
Ouch.
It's worth noting that even on Wednesday, Gottlieb, who has drawn ire from Duke fans in the past, predicted Duke would beat Connecticut. The same can't be said of Williams, who was pressured into forecasting a Huskies victory.
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