It was all set up so perfectly for the event strategy of Mike Krzyzewski 1,000.
Coach K was to become the first coach to get a grand in the very same venue in which he passed up Bobby Knight for the all-time wins record. That venue happened to be Madison Square Garden which bills itself as “the world’s most famous arena.”
MSG is located in the media capital of the world, New York City, which is just two hours away from West Point. Obviously, Army is where Coach K paid his dues and cut his teeth on his rise to power. Same goes for Knight, his college coach and mentor.
Yes, Krzyzewski 1000 has all the trappings of a Disney movie. It fits every single narrative that a screenwriter would salivate over. The game just also happens to be nationally televised game on FOX; not on the junior varsity FOX Sports 1 network, but the real deal varsity channel.
FOX even made a special “Coach K cam” provided the soundtrack that befits a Disney movie when going out to commercial breaks. If you watched the game you know exactly how it sounded. If you didn’t; picture the cinematic score from the most glorious moments of the film Remember the Titans.
Indeed Krzyzewski 1000 was much more an uplifting feel good movie than it was a college basketball game. This was a special “event strategy” at the highest level; instead of simple college hoops.
To top it all off, Coach K was paired against a very high profile and well known Coach in Steve Lavin.
Here’s what Lavin had to say before Krzyzewski 1000:
“When Duke is coming to town, we understand it is a significant game, and with the added dimension of Coach Krzyzewski going for his 1,000th win at Madison Square Garden, the anticipation is palpable. It’s important for us to stay with our routines. That doesn’t mean we don’t make adjustments like we always do, but the overall preparation heading into Sunday’s game will be the same as it has been all along for this group. Our objective is to win.”
“In the history of college basketball Coach K has sustained a level of success that is incomparable. No one has done it better for a longer period of time,” continued Lavin.
Of course, Coach K 1000 also happened to unfold exactly like a production from Dreamworks Studios. Coach Lav was leading for almost the entire game. St. John’s went up by over double digits late into the second half. Duke didn’t get their first lead until inside six minutes. So the game itself played out in a script that was rich with drama.
Plus, you had Gus Johnson on the call there to emphatically remind us of every “BATTLE” that Krzyzywski has been in. Yes, Krzyzewski fought all these battles, making it a college hoops version of a Bruce Williams action flick or a James Bond adventure film.
You knew who was going to win the entire time; you only tuned in to see the exact specifics of how. What weapons did 007 use? How did he save the world?
Krzyzewski 1000, by Dreamworks studios, coming to you on DVD this May! And although it’s not related at all to college basketball or this game, when you think of Krzyzewski’s extremely-right leaning politics…well why wouldn’t the FOX network LOVE him even more?
It was all a very “fair and balanced” game. Because “we report, you decide.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)