SU-Duke Is Not A Rivalry, Says Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Is Syracuse and Duke a rivalry? Well that question was brought up in both post-game press conferences for Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski.

Following Syracuse’s nail-biting, 78-75 victory against No. 10 Duke on Wednesday evening, legendary head coaches Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski, each having amassed more than 1,000 career wins, had some interesting things to say in their post-game press conferences.

Despite the fact that the Blue Devils and the Orange have played in a handful of exciting contests since SU joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2013-14 campaign, Krzyzewski dispelled the notion that the two programs have become rivals.

"“I don’t think it’s a rivalry,” he said, per a Syracuse.com report. “I think every game in this league, everybody has a rivalry with us. Everybody wants to beat us. It’s been that way for 25 years. That’s the human nature I live in. I have to be ready for that, and I have to have my teams ready for that.”Krzyzewski continued: “I love Syracuse and obviously I love Jim and his family. Congratulations to him. You don’t know what a treasure you have with him. … He’s brilliant, competitive, loyal and he doesn’t need his ego scratched. He’s humble. I love the guy and I’ll be forever grateful for him. It’s hard for me to think of a rivalry with Jim or Syracuse.”"

It wouldn’t surprise me if a few Syracuse fans hated on Krzyzewski for these comments, however,

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While I don’t have an issue with them. The ‘Cuse is only in its fourth year as a member of the ACC, and Duke has a much longer, and more storied, history with schools such as North Carolina and N.C. State.

Now, in a decade or two, should the Blue Devils and the Orange continue to engage in battles like the one on Wednesday night, then perhaps we can talk about these two heavyweights as rivals. Of course, at that juncture, neither Krzyzewski nor Boeheim will roam the sideline for their respective squad. And that kinda stinks.

Regardless, Boeheim, in his post-game presser that I caught on Syracuse.com, doled out a sprinkle of praise for his guys after the Duke triumph.

"“They’ve battled back all year. We have gotten better, because it’s four new players in the starting lineup, and a sophomore. No team has less experience in the country. … They’ve gotten better, and they’ve learned. And they’re a tough group.”While on graduate transfer John Gillon’s buzzer-beater that enabled SU to prevail, Boeheim said: “Once in a while you get lucky. And we’ll take it. We’ll take one. We’ll take one of those. … Sometimes you have to get lucky. … It felt good. It went in. It went in for us. Always feels good. I was just getting ready to walk back and get ready for overtime. It’s one of those things. Doesn’t happen often.”He added: “We go as John Gillon goes, pretty much. When he’s good, we haven’t lost when he’s been good. He was really good tonight.”"

Boeheim also commended the 30,000-plus fans who packed the Carrier Dome and went bonkers following Gillon’s game-ending heave.

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"“While it was a great basketball game. Fans have been great all year here. We have played good at home, so they haven’t seen too much disappointment, not since the non-league portion of our schedule anyway. … But we’ve had three tough games in a row. We’re down to the wire, and we got one tonight. It was a great win. We get ready to play an even tougher game on Sunday [at No. 7 Louisville]. I was very proud of the players hanging in there.”"

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