Mike Krzyzewski

LAS VEGAS -- It's a command played out in countless junior high gymnasiums and one usually met by grumblings and groans. "Defensive slides," the coach tells his players, his voice even but stern. Only this isn't any coach. This is Coach Mike Krzyzewski, synonymous with Duke and winning. Coach K, to nearly everyone now. And this isn't any team, let alone one of seventh- and eighth-graders.

Given the task of changing the face of the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team from bronze to gold, managing director Jerry Colangelo selected Mike Krzyzewski of Duke as head coach in 2005. "The right man at the right time," Colangelo said. In 28 seasons at Duke, Krzyzewski has won three national championships, been named national coach of the year 12 times and won 803 games, the sixth-highest total in Division I history. Before the U.S.

\o7Text messages from press row ... \f7It's easy to imagine Mike Krzyzewski giving thanks daily for the strength it must have taken in 2004 to turn down a $40-million offer to coach Kobe Bryant. ... BTW, shouldn't No. 8/24 switch to No. 1, as in, \o7looking out for \f7A former NBA player might never again be overshadowed within his own family in quite the same way as former Lakers forward Stan Love, father of highly touted UCLA basketball recruit and incoming freshman Kevin Love. ...

LAS VEGAS -- No one can blame the Lakers' Kobe Bryant if he's having a serious case of "what could have been" playing for Team USA this summer. From Jason Kidd (the point guard the Lakers did not trade for last season) to Michael Redd (the perimeter shooter the Lakers did not draft in 2000), Bryant has reminders everywhere. But the biggest "what if" for Bryant is Team USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who flirted with the Lakers' coaching job before Rudy Tomjanovich was hired in 2004.

LAS VEGAS -- On the court, Kobe Bryant has been a ferocious defender for Mike Krzyzewski in the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. Off the court, Krzyzewski is an equally strong defender of Bryant. The bond between player and coach was formed when Bryant considered coming to Duke rather than jumping directly from high school to the pros. It was strengthened when Krzyzewski considered leaving Duke to coach the Lakers after Phil Jackson's departure in 2004.

People like to say you can't coach NBA players the way you coach college players, but watch Mike Krzyzewski try. Before the first practice of the new-era approach to reclaiming U.S. dominance in international basketball after a string of embarrassing failures, Krzyzewski gave his roster of NBA millionaires a talk that sounded a lot like College Hoops 101. "Each day before we come here, we talk about how we are going to conduct ourselves," Krzyzewski said.

With Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski poised to be named coach of the U.S. Olympic basketball team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Lakers' Kobe Bryant responded with enthusiasm Wednesday. "That's cool," Bryant said. "I've been looking forward to playing in the next Olympics, if I'm fortunate enough to be selected and if I stay healthy. "It's a sense of pride. This is our sport. Us Americans really don't like being second in anything. That competitive streak comes out."

The Lakers' search for a coach has led them to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who was offered the job Thursday in a meeting in North Carolina with General Manager Mitch Kupchak, according to team sources. Said a source close to the Lakers on Krzyzewski, who has won 621 games and three national titles in 24 seasons: "It's his for the taking, his job to lose," with a multiyear contract discussed at an estimated $8 million a year.

It was Monday afternoon and some Duke basketball personnel had gathered on a campus court in Durham, N.C. Mike Krzyzewski entered the gym, according to a witness, and approached the group. The conversation stopped. "You'll never guess who called," Krzyzewski told them. "Kobe Bryant. He wants me to come coach him."

Coach K? Coach Y! Why on earth would the world's best basketball franchise offer its coaching job to a guy who doesn't even work in the same sport? Why would the world's most revered -- and coddled -- active college basketball god step down from his comfy blue clouds to listen? The Lakers' wooing of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is like the owner of the shiniest apple orchard dangling his keys to the guy running the juiciest orange grove. Same soil. Different climate. Same idea. Different fruits.