DukeUpdate.com Current Quote Archives
"Shane [Battier] does a great job taking charges. ...It's definitely a skill. I know at Duke they teach that, they drill that, how to step in and take charges and sacrifice your body." -Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, on why he doesn't take charges (5/15)
After the UNC win at Cameron, UNC thought about cutting down the nets in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but Williams thought it “might cause a scene.” - Roy Williams
"This is the best [Hall of Fame honor] for me. This is where I live. This is where I’ll live for the rest of my life. It’s the place I love. When you are in the hall of fame, it immortalizes you. It’s forever." -Mike Krzyzewski, on where his Duke Hall of Fame induction ranks amongst his career honors (9/10)
"I would say in 1986, when [Duke] made the Final Four with Johnny Dawkins, I was like a sophomore or junior in high school. That’s when I fell in love with that team. Then I really started looking hard into Duke, and once I looked at everything, I just loved everything about it. The coach, the players, their style of play, the colors, and they wore Adidas sneakers, and I loved that back then. Just the school, it was outstanding. I just loved everything about it." -Christian Laettner, on when he made up his mind on attending Duke (5/9)
"When people are reminded of great plays in championship games, to be part of that is unique and special. The only bad part is you’re reminded of my poor choice of haircuts every March." -Grant Hill, reflecting on his iconic alley-oop dunk in the Duke/UNLV '91 Final Four Game (4/2)
"Jason Williams-- great kid, very bright too. Very gifted athlete, well skilled, an outstanding talent, but not nearly as good as Kyrie [Irving]. Not even close.” -AAU coach Sandy Pyonin, who coached both Williams and Irving, along with 31 other NBA players (11/5)
"Shelden [Williams] is our pillar of strength. He fights for us. He hits big free throws. He makes big buckets...There's no kid I've enjoyed coaching in his four years more than this kid." -Mike Krzyzewski (3/12) - R
"I would like somebody who has been a part of our Duke basketball family. If I had to pick one guy, I'd pick Johnny Dawkins. I think as a player and coach, he's given as much to this program as anybody and he'd do a great job." -Mike Krzyzewski on His Potential Successor at Duke (3/2) - $
"The league has been set up for Carolina and Duke since that became the featured game," Williams said. "All the schedules are off of those two games and set up for television. CBS, ABC, ESPN pick the games for ratings and what's left goes to Fox. We've been the third team picked and that's why we play every Sunday night. We play one Saturday (ACC) home game in January and February and that's not fair." -Gary Williams whining about Duke & UNC receiving special treatment (from 2005).
"If [the 2000-'01 season] gets too bad I'm going to pull a Krzyzewski...That one year (1994-'95) when Mike didn't like his team, his back got to hurting a lot worse...I may come down with some ailment here." -Eddie Sutton, who took a medical leave of absence from his 13-11 Oklahoma State team on 2/16/06 after registering a 0.22 BAL and subsequently being charged w/DUI (10/25/00)
"I think everyone has a rivalry with Duke. When you're at their stature, everybody wants a piece of you. That's just the way it is. Duke is the standard..." -Seth Greenberg (2/12)
"[Mike Krzyzewski's son-in-law Chris] Spatola's dream is to be a basketball coach when he gets out of the Army...family ties certainly won't hurt him when he becomes a civilian. Krzyzewski has made it clear he wants Spatola to work for him when he gets out of the Army, most likely in the summer of 2007. His current assistants -- Johnny Dawkins, Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski -- joke that one of them had better have another job by then. -John Feinstein (2/4) - R
"Its like walking into a church. When you walk through the hallways, you see the retired jerseys and you know all the great players that have come through here. And that trickles down into our fans where they feel like theyre a part of the team. It all builds up to make it a special place. And you can feel it the moment you walk into the building. -Greg Paulus, on Cameron Indoor Stadium (1/21)
"Our players are just as good as their players, and our coach is just as good as their coach." -Wake Forest's Trent Strickland, Ahead of Duke's 82-64 Win Over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem (1/8)
"I spent a lot of time [at Duke] last year watching practice and watching games. That's a great learning environment for any coach, to be able to have the privilege to sit in and watch [Mike Krzyzewski] and his staff teach and motivate. It was a tremendous environment for me to be in. It motivated me. Everyone knows Mike has a special way of reaching people. You don't have to spend very long around him to feel good, to feel better about everything." -Former Duke assistant Mike Dement, on his experience around the Duke program (12/31)
"Some laws we break." -Luol Deng, on the Dinka tribe's custom that calls for abstinence before marriage (scroll) (12/19)
"J.J. [Redick] just refuses to lose. He's one of the amazing players to play at Duke -- and if he's one of them, he's one of the amazing players to play [college basketball]. He's just amazingly tough. He's the best, man. He's got a will that you can't teach." -Mike Krzyzewski, on J.J. Redick (12/1)
"Bruce Springsteen, Martin Luther King Jr., George W. Bush, Brett Favre, and Jesus." -J.J. Redick, on the Five People He Would Invite to a Party (11/10) - R
"The infrastructure is there for Duke to keep rolling. Kids know what he'll be doing. If he misses a tournament here or there, kids will see he's representing the national team. People will be drawn. It's not about who sees us the most. Duke has become a brand name and kids equate Duke with Coach K and a great program. We won't miss a beat." -Chris Collins, on the Impact of Mike Krzyzewski's Appointment as National Team Coach on the Duke Program (10/27)
"Until the games begin, any poll that ranks Duke anywhere but No. 1 should be wadded up and spit through a straw, preferably at the doofus who concocted such a poll. Duke is No. 1, and the gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is enormous." -Gregg Doyel (10/12)
"Five years is a long time to do this. I'm
telling you, I'd be lying if I said anything different. It's an inner struggle. It's like
going to your job every day and never getting paid for it...As a football player, if all
you base your love of this game on is winning or losing, you're not going to last
anywhere. There's only one or two teams a year that doesn't lose a game. You suffer
through it, the day after and the day of. The good thing is you've got another game the
following week. The thing is I've got only six more of those games left. And I'd like to
finish the way I would have liked this whole first five years to go."
-Brian
Greene, on Dealing w/Losing Football Games (10/4) - R
"[Josh McRoberts] can do some
things that a big man can't do. His ball-handling skills and athleticism are something you
don't always see with a 6'10" player. If he works on his shooting and free throws
then he'll be a star at the next level,"
-J.J. Redick, on
Josh McRoberts' Potential (9/30) - $
"I want to be a part of something
special. I didn't want to look at [Duke] on TV and think, `I could have been a part of
that.' If the NBA is there for me in the future, it will be there."
-Shelden Williams, on
His Decision to Return to Duke for His Senior Year (7/9) - R
"[Shavlik
Randolph's] career didn't turn out how any of us wanted it to, and we're all responsible
for that. But we're not ashamed of his time at Duke. Any time that happens, there's a
'What if?' I didn't find any fault in the way that we used him...Would I want him to come
back for his senior season? Absolutely. I would love to continue to coach him. But part of
me admires his courage to go after this."
-Mike
Krzyzewski, on Shavlik Randolph's Duke Career and Decision to Turn Pro (6/26) - R
"You
learn you make [winning] happen. The players and the coaches make that happen. It's not
just a rite of passage. I think that's a lesson that the players in 1995 had to learn, and
we didn't have our leader there to snap us out of it. When everything hit the fan, we
didn't have the rock or the foundation that was always there, who knew the right buttons
to push. We didn't have the right instincts of what our team needed."
-Chris
Collins, Reflecting Back on Duke's 1994-'95 Season (5/22) - R
"It doesn't matter to me either
way. I'm still going to vote for Duke in the top 25 in the first poll. You know that. I
did that for 12 years. You've got to give them an early start. It's one of my old teams.
I'm sure most coaches have their favorite teams."
-Steve Spurrier, on the Coaches
Making Their Final Poll Votes Public (6/1)
"I thought he was really, really
Duke-ish. That's usually kind of uptight and just a different type. But he's not like
that. He's so laid-back. He's one of the coolest cats on the squad. I didn't know he was a
trash-talker, I didn't know he was a comedian. I didn't know a lot about Laettner. He's
been a very pleasant surprise. He's a good dude, a good family man, a great
teammate."
-Miami
Heat's Keyon Dooling, on His Initial Impression of Christian Laettner (5/29) - R
"I just felt in my heart that I wanted to
go to Duke. I love history and tradition and what better place to go than Duke for that.
Coach K has been through almost every possible situation. Hes an unbelievable coach,
I have a great relationship with the coaching staff and I love the players."
-Duke Commitment Jon Scheyer, on His
Decision to Become a Blue Devil (5/17) - $
"Coach Krzyzewski has values, an innate
sense of decency and a commitment to friends and family I admire. Even if he didn't go to
West Point, his character alone would make me a big fan of his. He and everyone in his
program play to win in life, and that's the way it should be."
-President
George Bush Sr., on Mike Krzyzewski (4/26)
"I changed my mind so many times, it was unbelievable. Even now, I don't know if I
made the right decision or not."
-Luol
Deng, on His Decision to Leave Duke Early for the NBA (4/12) - R
"I didn't care what happened in [Duke vs.
Michigan State] until Jim Nantz started with his, 'Coach K was saying this week that, no
matter what happens, the Duke students and alumni will remember this team for the rest of
their lives, the way they kept battling back from so many injuries, how they handled
adversity and blah blah blah' routine (I'm paraphrasing). Yeah, what a bunch of courageous
underdogs -- instead of relying on players who were top-10 national recruits in their high
school classes, they had to rely on some of the guys who were just in the top 30. I feel
horrible for them. It's such a chore to play Shavlik Randolph big minutes when he was the
No. 1 recruit from that 2002 class. Check out
this
column from Dick Vitale from October, 2001. Really, I'm supposed to feel bad for Duke?
Ever?"
-ESPN.com's
Bill Simmons, on Duke (3/28)
"I haven't got tired of it yet. Maybe
some other people do, but I don't....It is a blessing, something I get to enjoy until the
day I die."
-Christian
Laettner, on His Historic Game-Winning Shot Over Kentucky in 1992 (3/16)
"I pick Duke every time, because they're the
greatest team ever to put on the blue and white. Honestly, I don't understand how
anybody could be born not being a Duke fan. And I'm from Virginia."
-Phillies Reliever Billy Wagner, in ESPN The Magazine