Better The Devils You Know

Krzyzewski is much more like, say, Jimmy Johnson than Tim Floyd.

Johnson, while coaching at Oklahoma State and the University of Miami, always embraced professional football. He was already around the pros, always kept one eye on the pro game, which is a big part of why he was so successful as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. And Krzyzewski has always embraced professional basketball, in ways that someone like, say, Bob Knight, has not. Yes, there would have been major adjustments to make, but it wouldn't have been terribly foreign to him.

So why consider it so seriously if you're happy with what you've got?

Krzyzewski asked himself just that question probably a half-million times over the past few days and ultimately answered it this way, "I'm 57, maybe I should look at it."

So he took a long look. He owes himself that. Duke owes him that. The Lakers were smart to encourage him to do that.

You'd never get him to say it, but perhaps he didn't like some of what he saw. Kobe would have been on board, presuming he's eligible to play. But Shaq is still asking out. Derek Fisher is a free agent. Karl Malone is a maybe and who knows whether Gary Payton has anything left. Perhaps the L.A. gig isn't so attractive now, well, not when the alternative is Duke basketball.

The Lakers, by the way, really could be in a pickle now. Suppose Rudy Tomjanovich, who has won two NBA championships to Coach K's none, tells Mitch Kupchak to up his offer by a couple of million dollars per year or take a hike, considering what the club just offered Krzyzewski. You don't think Pat Riley, with whom the Lakers have also flirted, is going to play second banana to anybody, even Coach K, do you?

The Lakers' melodrama has held us captive for a year and will apparently hold us indefinitely. With Krzyzewski hunkered down in North Carolina, maybe Kobe's upcoming visit with the Clippers is a bigger threat than the Lakers thought a week ago. I sure wouldn't want to be Kupchak, the GM, with Shaq wanting out, Kobe unsigned and Coach K no longer an option.

Of course, none of this is Krzyzewski's problem. The notion that he is disillusioned with college basketball because kids are leaving school (even his) early or skipping college altogether is missing a much bigger point. Krzyzewski will continue to put great teams on the floor. The players who do come and stay will receive formal and informal educations. Almost all of them will graduate. Almost all of them will play in the Final Four. Almost all of them will experience the happiest four years of their lives while playing for him at Duke.

"You have to follow your heart and lead with it," he said yesterday. "Duke has always taken up my whole heart. For me, this has been the perfect place to coach, teach and learn."

And as long as that remains the case, there's no need for him to go anywhere else.