The proliferation of players from high school straight to the NBA, sponsorships, street agents, and AAU coaches dictating where star players attend college, and alumni who use any influence they can to help produce winning programs have many followers of college basketball longing for the golden years of the 1970's and '80s.
Innocence returned to college basketball if only for a fleeting moment last week. Mike Krzyzewski's decision to spurn the Lakers' $40 million, five-year offer to become their head coach was influenced in large part by Duke junior biology major Andrew Humphries. Humphries' small part in Krzyzewski's decision should make every college basketball fan feel like they can be at least a small part of their favorite program.
"In the tiniest way, I was able to become a part of that history and lore that is Duke basketball," Humphries said. He wrote Krzyzewski an e-mail asking him to, "please still be my coach."
Humphries grew up a Duke fan in Waynesboro, VA dreaming of wearing the blue and white of the Blue Devils and playing in the Final Four. He realized at a young age that that dream would not be reality. He had to settle for what most students in the Duke general student population do, camp out in Krzyzewskiville to attend games as a Cameron Crazy.
"I got to Duke and discovered that, yes, I am going to play for Coach K. I am going to be his sixth man." Humphries said. He also said that although he is not directly associated with the team in any way, he feels like he is a part of the team.
In a time of big sponsorship and players more concerned about their stock in the draft than their team's success, Humphries' influence was refreshing. This direct impact harbored back to the old days in an age of nasty message boards and weblogs.
Humphries asked Krzyzewski to stay at Duke as "our coach." It's the family atmosphere at Duke that also played a large part in Krzyzewski's decision. His coaching staff is comprised entirely of former Blue Devil players. Krzyzewski emphasized he feels like all the relationships at Duke are different. The e-mail from Humphries brought Coach K to tears.
The way it is at Duke is that, "It's been our team, with everybody involved," Krzyzewski said. His goal is to keep that atmosphere going.
Krzyzewski paid tribute to Humphries in his press conference to announce that he was staying. "If Andrew is listening, thanks a lot, you never know what's read." Krzyzewski's wife, Mickie, took the thank you a step further when she left a message on Humphries' cell phone. She thanked him for his e-mail and invited him to the press conference, he was unable to attend, but will attend a fantasy camp that includes former Duke players later this summer.
In a day and age when the small guy seems to keep getting pushed out of sports in a variety of ways, one very small voice helped to alter the landscape of college basketball, and particularly Duke basketball, forever. Love or hate Duke, this gives all college basketball crazies a reason to dream.
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