Duke Blue Devils win fifth March Madness title

Apr 7, 2015 | Sports

Duke Blue Devils guard Quinn Cook and head coach Mike Krzyzewski embrace after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers 68-63 in the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Championship. Apr 6, 2015. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)

Duke Blue Devils guard Quinn Cook and head coach Mike Krzyzewski embrace after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers 68-63 in the 2015 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship. Apr 6, 2015. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)

By: Issey Abraha

The Duke Blue Devils won its fifth men’s basketball national championship led by their legendary coach Mike Kryzewski.

He has taken his team to 12 final fours and became the first Division One coach to reach 1,000 wins.

His latest crown came at the expense of the Wisconsin Badgers on Monday night. The Blue Devils edged Wisconsin by a score of 68-63.

What makes Kryzewski’s championship more intriguing is how he was able to adapt to the changes in U.S. college basketball, shunning old philosophies and implementing new ones.

“He has won in three different decades,” said Shaun Collins, Humber Men’s Basketball coach.

“He has embraced change in college basketball by recruiting one and done players,” he said.

A big issue this season was whether Duke’s freshman could check their egos. Four of the freshman where McDonald’s All-Americans, picked at an annual scrimmage held for the best basketball players in high school.

“It takes a lot to make your ego disappear, when you have a team full of All-Americans that are coming in, having scored 20 points in high school and now four points,“ said Junior Davis, a Humber College basketball player.

“It says a lot about them,” Davis said.

Kryzeweski has shut down discussions about his retirement, stating he doesn’t see himself packing it in until at least 2016. That means he’ll be able to add on to an ever-growing legacy.

“This win further cements Mike Krzyzewski as not only one of the best coaches in college basketball history, but also one of the best coaches in the history of sports,” said Anthony Bruno, a Rogers Sportsnet reporter.

The Duke Blue Devils will most likely lose three of their four star players to the NBA draft this June, putting pressure on Kryzeweski to bring in another outstanding freshman class. One thing history shows is never count out a man with 1,000 wins to do just that.