An epic night in New Orleans: The end of Coach K’s career doubles as the peak

NEW ORLEANS — As if Duke-North Carolina wouldn’t exceed the astronomical levels of hype.

As if we were getting anything other than one of the greatest games in Final Four history.

“It was a game that the winner was going to be joyous and the loser was going to be in agony,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “And that’s the type of game we expected.”

Some things are destined for iconic status. North Carolina’s 81-77 national semifinal victory against Duke immediately logs in that category. The eighth-seeded Tar Heels not only won their first and only NCAA Tournament against their despised rival, but also booted Krzyzewski off the stage and out of this tournament, ending his peerless 47-year career with a loss so infamous that it goes into an echelon of its own genre.

North Carolina, you just achieved the biggest rivalry victory American sports has ever seen. And there’s still a national title game against Kansas to be played on Monday night. That might feel like a scrimmage in comparison to the weeklong buildup and world-squeezing anticipation of Blue Devils vs. Tar Heels. Saturday night provided enough stakes to burn this feud for another few decades.

Then they went out and played the game and put on an all-time basketball classic.

For Duke and Krzyzewski, the ending comes one game and two days too soon. For as great and composed as Duke looked in its previous four NCAA Tournament games, none of those involved North Carolina. It’s just different when these two share 94×50 feet of hardwood. A magic tends to ensnare all involved, while the rest of us spectators all too willingly get sucked right in. What transpired inside Caesars Superdome on this night felt different. Felt special.

Felt like we’ll never experience something like this again. That’s because we won’t.

We just witnessed the end of one of the greatest coaching careers in all of sports, and to declare it happened in dramatic fashion would be underselling just how powerful it felt to be inside the building on this Saturday night.

It was 15,355 days before this one — March 18, 1980 — when a 33-year-old was introduced as Duke’s next coach. Almost no one knew how to pronounce or spell Krzyzewski then. Forty-two years and 1,202 victories later, arguably the greatest coaching career ever in basketball has been ended by a blood rival in a blueblood battle for the ages.

Before Saturday night, Krzyzewski had left the locker room on the losing end 367 times. The 368th will never be forgotten in Chapel Hill or Durham or throughout college basketball. Maybe forever in this sporting landscape. Fates were fulfilled on this night. It came full circle. The man coached 1,570 college games, but three losses sew up a Hall of Fame career otherwise adorned with a novella’s worth of accomplishments and accolades.

The first loss Krzyzewski took at Duke was on Dec. 5, 1980. The last one at home only four Saturdays before the Final Four, on March 5. The final one materialized after two drama-soaked hours of unreal basketball in front of a capacity crowd of 70,602 blessed souls fortunate enough to be on hand to see it.

All three losses with a common theme and enemy: North Carolina.

Defeat, defeat, defeat.

“Those kids from both teams played their hearts out,” Krzyzewski said. “The crowd was standing most of the game, I think.”

After a three-year absence from having a proper Final Four with full attendance, this was one of the biggest parties in America’s quintessential celebratory city. College basketball returned to a place on Saturday night it had not been for a long time.

And, naturally, it was going to take something herculean for the winning side. K goes out with an L because of Love and Armando Bacot, whose 11 points and 21 rebounds kept North Carolina in the push as the game grew to higher and higher levels of suspense. Big shot after huge shot after are-you-kidding-me shot.

How does a legendary coaching career slam shut? Many reasons, some bigger than others. But the two biggest: free throws and a 20-year-old sophomore from St. Louis named Caleb Love. For Duke, it was missed foul shots, four in the final 3:52 from Mark Williams, Paolo Banchero and Trevor Keels.  

On the other side, the death-or-glory gall of Love. In the final 44 seconds, the point guard seized the game in his hands (two rebounds, six points) and delivered a closing performance that will fit alongside another Tar Heel (Michael Jordan) who became legend in this building 40 years ago. Love’s 3-pointer with 24.8 to go from the top of the key put UNC up 78-74. Then the icing of it with Love hitting both his foul shots with 8 seconds left. The game’s final shot…