Coach K vs. Coach W

[SWC75]

Since Mike Krzyzewski won his fifth national championship I've heard or read several comparisons between him and John Wooden, who won ten of them. The comparison s have generally been in Coach K's favor, siting the different era, the easy road the Bruins often had to the Final Four, etc.

(Dick Vitale was certainly ready to crown Coach K King:

)

Arguments like that are necessary to make the comparison valid as Wooden won twice as many national championships, including 7 in a row. It's true he had two of the most dominating players of all time on those teams: Lew Alcindor, (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton, but recruiting and coaching such players is to his credit and they only accounted for half of the 10 titles: Wooden won with all kinds of players and teams.

Coach K has won over 1,000 games while Wooden won only 664 of them but Wooden coached for 29 years in an era when there were 26 regular season games and only 24 teams in the NCAA tournament, (they never went to the NIT) when Coach K has coached for 40 year in an era of 31 game regular seasons and 64 teams in the NCAA tournament. Krzyzewski has won 76.7% of his games, Wooden 80.4% of his.

Of course the comparison is being made because of their records in the NCAA tournament. Coach K is presently 88-26 in the Big Dance, (77.2%). Wooden was 45-6, (88.2%).

I've suggested in the past that making the Final Four in this era is the equivalent of winning national championship in the Wooden Era because Wooden's teams, (except in his last year), got a bye right to the Sweet 16, (because of the smaller tournament) and only had to win four games to win their titles. Coach K's Duke teams have made it to 12 Final Fours. So maybe that's even more impressive than Wooden's 10 national championships.

But the teams you meet in the sub-regionals or even the regionals are not on the level of the teams you meet in the Final Four. On that stage, Krzyzewski has won 14 games and lost 7 while Wooden's teams were 20-2. I think that comparison is probably the truest of all.

 

[Brooky03]

I think Geno Auriemma is a great current comparison to Wooden. What I mean is Geno has made a legacy out of winning games in an enviroment with very little parity. There's something to be said for breaking through and becoming the dominant force in an otherwise weak landscape of basketball teams; but there's also something to be said for outshining the rest in a significantly more competitive environment, even if the degree of success above your peers is not as great.

I find that connecting to somebody or something current often helps put past persons or events in context. I don't feel strongly either way, but I'd imagine that how one looks upon Auriemma should/would be similar to how he/she looks upon Wooden.

 

[Toga]

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/08/sports/la-sp-0609-wooden-gilbert-20100609

 

[SWC75]

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/08/sports/la-sp-0609-wooden-gilbert-20100609

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Gilbert_(businessman)

"he began his relationship with UCLA basketball sometime around 1966-1967". UCLA already had two national titles by then and had recruited the players that would get them the next three. Gilbert wasn't Wooden's "sugar daddy" he was a guy who burrowed his way into an already successful program.


And Duke's program wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny, either.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Wooden won before the NCAA started cracking down on boosters giving gifts to players.

 

[shantydaze]

Wooden won before the NCAA started cracking down on boosters giving gifts to players.

According to Jerry Tarkanian, the NCAA only turned a blind-eye to "sugar daddy power-programs."

Tarkanian's rolling mantra was that the NCAA had a double-standard for enforcement, that it picked on smaller schools but protected the sugar-daddy power programs. This produced variations of his most famous quote: "The NCAA was so mad at Kentucky they gave Cleveland State two more years of probation."

Depending on his audience, he would often sub in UCLA and say the NCAA was going to "get so upset at UCLA, they'll put Northridge on two years probation."

Tarkanian would drive to your house to talk about UCLA basketball in the glory years under John Wooden. He admired Wooden but thought the NCAA had turned a blind eye to favors provided by Bruins booster Sam Gilbert.

I have always thought interesting that Kentucky and Duke are filled with McDonald All-Americans and everyone claims it is because Cal is dirty, but feel Coach K is the paragon of virtue.

 

[Nicknack]

As much as I really dislike dook, especially being that my in-laws (all of them) went to dook and speak like they are the God of college basketball, I have finally gotten to the point where I can finally say it... Coach K is the best ever. It pains me to say that because of how arrogant my wife's side of the family is (and dook fans in general) but that is the reality. Like I said, I hate it, but that's what it is. However, everything is cyclical and when K steps down in a few years, who know where their program will be just like the unknown we are facing.