by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
Mike Krzyzewski continued his climb to the top of college basketball Wednesday night when he passed Dean Smith for the second most wins in NCAA Division I history with Duke’s 108-62 win over UNC-Greensboro. The win gives him 880 wins for his career and puts him just 22 behind Bobby Knight for first all-time.
Krzyzewski is currently on pace to break Knight’s record some time in March. If his team does indeed run the table, that win would come in the first round of the NCAA tournament. An unexpected early exit might leave him waiting till next season to accomplish the feat.
As you would expect Krzyzewski isn’t really concerned on when he breaks the record.
From The Greensboro News & Record:
“I talk to Coach Knight about once a week, but we don’t talk about number of wins,” Krzyzewski said. “We talk first of all about whatever he’s shooting at that time, wherever he’s hunting. I always ask him ‘Who, um, what did you shoot?’ And hopefully it’s not somebody, it’s something.”
Krzyzewski said he won’t be thinking about Knight or his 902 wins from here on out. He’ll be thinking about the next game, Sunday against Miami, and then the game after that. But for one night, he was thinking about a lot of other things. He was thinking about Smith, and he was thinking about his players and his staff.
While it’s inevitable that Krzyzewski will pass Knight, his greatest competition might come from a few other current coaches. Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun have 843 and 833 wins, respectively, putting them about one season’s worth of wins behind Krzyzewski.
