Even with ailing back, Coach K is a motivational genius (maybe)

Random notes:

▪ At the time, Mike Krzyzewski’s house party trick on his Duke Blue Devils seemed like one of those antiquated throwback punishments that would have little effect on today’s players.

Maybe we were wrong. Duke had lost three of its last four games, including an 84-82 loss at home to North Carolina State, when the players were issued a summons. Recovering from back surgery, Coach K held a team meeting to tell players they were barred from using the locker room or wearing Duke gear until they proved they were worthy of being Blue Devils.

The result: Duke pulled out an 85-83 win at Wake Forest on Saturday thanks to Luke Kennard’s late three-pointer. Two days later, the Blue Devils followed that up with an 84-74 win at Notre Dame.

Don’t look now, but maybe Duke is starting to put its talented pieces together.

▪ In the same vein, watch out for Arizona, which has now won 14 straight games.

▪ Splitting its 10 games with the Big 12 in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge was definitely a step forward for the SEC. And that was without Kentucky beating Kansas, or South Carolina, arguably the league’s second-best team, even playing in the event.

▪ It’s past time the NFL shut down the Pro Bowl. ESPN reports only 7.45 million viewers watched last Sunday, the fewest since 2007.

▪ Three preps for the Kentucky Derby are scheduled for Saturday. There’s the Withers at Aqueduct, which leads into the Gotham on March 4. There’s the Holy Bull at Gulfstream, which will feature Derby favorite Classic Empire and leads into the Fountain of Youth on March 4. And there’s the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita, which leads into the San Felipe on March 11.

▪ Smart move by Mark Stoops promoting Matt House from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, replacing the departed D.J. Eliot. House has DC experience at Pittsburgh and Florida International. And with several key players — many of them sophomores last season — returning for 2017, better to keep continuity than bring in a new approach from outside the ranks.

▪ You have to love Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle, who after his team beat Cleveland said, “We’re a (bad) team, but we’re an underrated (bad) team. That’s about as accurately as I can put it.”

▪ Paris High School winning the All “A” Classic last weekend took me back to the days of Big Bill Gaines, who led the Greyhounds to an upset of No. 1-ranked Clark County in the 10th Region finals in 1970.

▪ Brush with greatness (sort of): When returning from my non-trip to Las Vegas, I found a table at O’Hare Airport in Chicago to write my Monday column. Having finished, I packed up and headed for the gate. There right in front of me was none other than John Lynch, headed to his gate after doing his Fox analyst work for that afternoon’s Bears-Packers game. Now Lynch has been named general manager of the 49ers.

▪ My Super Bowl pick: Rooting for the Falcons, picking the Patriots.

▪ Did you see where during media day interviews Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan lost his backpack which was carrying his game plan for Sunday? Luckily, longtime San Francisco Chronicle columnist Art Spander realized he had taken the backpack by mistake and returned it. Reminded me of when a UK basketball player left a scouting report of an opponent in a hotel lobby when playing for Rick Pitino. They can laugh about it now.

▪ RIP, Bill Mooney, the award-winning Thoroughbred writer, historian and all-around nice guy who passed away last weekend after a long battle with cancer.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Even with ailing back, Coach K is a motivational genius (maybe)."