John Clay's notes: Coach K does it a little differently every time
Random (NCAA Tournament wrap-up) notes:
■ Mike Krzyzewski is king.
The Duke coach won his fifth NCAA championship on Monday night, pushing him one past Kentucky's Adolph Rupp into sole possession of second place on the titles list behind UCLA's John Wooden.
Surely Wooden remains the best of the best. His 10 titles are almost insurmountable. It should be pointed out, however, that the Wizard's double-digit figure was accomplished over a dozen years. His run was amazing but concise.
Krzyzewski's five titles have come over a span of 25 years. He won back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992 with teams built around Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley. He won in 2001 with Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Jay Williams and Carlos Boozer. He won in 2010 with Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith.
Krzyzewski won the 2015 championship with a roster heavy on star freshmen — Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Grayson Allen — three of whom appear almost sure one-and-dones.
We've made this point before, but Krzyzewski is not new to the one-and-done. He had Kyrie Irving in 2011, Austin Rivers in 2012 and Jabari Parker in 2014 before this year's crop.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, John Calipari should take a sense of pride that Coach K has not been afraid to take a similar path toward building a team.
To win titles over three different decades, you have to be able to adapt. Coach K has done that. His teams don't play the same way. He's not a systems coach.
He recruits the best talent he can, players he thinks fit his program, and then figures out how to get them to play their best.
That's the definition of a coach.
■ Speaking of which, hopefully Calipari's well-deserved inclusion as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class for 2015 took at least a little of the sting out of Saturday's disappointing loss to Wisconsin.
At Monday's Hall of Fame announcement and interview session, Calipari seemed humbled and touched to receive such an honor.
It shouldn't be forgotten that for all he has done at Kentucky and did at Memphis, his most amazing accomplishment was at UMass, where he took an absolute nothing of a program all the way to the No. 1 ranking and a Final Four appearance.
That's one of the more improbable success stories in the history of the sport.
■ The Final Four was not a great weekend for gracious losers. After the loss to Wisconsin, a few Kentucky players exited the floor without shaking hands, then one muttered an under-the-breath epithet. After the loss to Duke in the title game, Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan complained about the officiating.
■ Sam Dekker had helped carry Wisconsin through the tournament, then came up 0-for-6 from three-point range in the title game.
■ The Duke-Wisconsin finals drew more viewers (28.3 million) than the seventh game of the Giants-Royals World Series (23.5 million).
■ We've all tried to put into context Kentucky's disappointing loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, but hopefully no one called it tragic. The plane crash that took the lives of seven people — including two Illinois State athletic department members — flying back to Illinois after Monday night's finals is tragic.
■ The SEC is putting some of its television network windfall to good use by hiring Ben Howland (Mississippi State), Rick Barnes (Tennessee) and now Avery Johnson (Alabama). The league should be a much more interesting watch next season.
■ In case you want to plan ahead, Louisville's KFC Yum Center will play host to the NCAA South Regional in 2016.
■ Indianapolis remains the best place to hold the Final Four.
This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 6:29 PM with the headline "John Clay's notes: Coach K does it a little differently every time."