Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Head Basketball Coach
Duke University
118 Cameron Indoor Stadium
Durham, NC 27708
Dear Coach Krzyzewski:
Well the NCAA Tournament is finally over and UConn has just been crowned as our new National Champion. Your Duke squad had a successful season, even if like the other 66 schools in the tournament you fell short of making it to the Finals. Figured now that the season has ended would be a good time to write to you and ask you for one small favor.
Been a Dayton Flyer fan for my entire adult life, but have always respected the manner in which you conduct yourself as a coach and how well prepared your teams always are. Particularly enjoyed the
Sports Illustrated profile of Jabari Parker and how you deftly handled his adjustment from high school phenom to college basketball player this season:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...jabari-parker/
(While you were recruiting Jabari you no doubt noticed his Simeon teammate #24, Kendall Pollard. He was the guy grabbing all the rebounds, playing tenacious defense and blocking shots -- he ended up a Flyer)
Also impressed by the gracious gesture you made after the Blue Devils’ ouster at the hands of #14 seed Mercer by going into the Bears’ locker room and congratulating them on their upset:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/mike...ratulate-duke/
What a class move, Coach.
Hard to believe that a #7 and a #8 seed ended up playing for all the marbles, isn’t it? And that’s really the point of the whole deal, no? Play the games and may the best of the 68 schools selected win.
Which brings me to the subject of why I am writing to you. It was a comment that you made immediately before the Selection Sunday Show on CBS:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...e-a-10-come-on
What shocked me was that you went so far as to single out one conference in particular by name --
the Atlantic 10 -- as not being worthy of receiving the number of bids that they eventually ended up getting.
It seemed so out of character for you to do that. Since the University of Dayton was the last of the six A-10 schools to be invited, by inference, what you were really saying is:
The Dayton Flyers should not be in the Field of 68
And as we all know now, UD not only deserved to be included in The Big Dance, but made a lot of noise by upsetting Ohio State; your ACC conference mate and #3 seed Syracuse, as well as Stanford before ultimately falling to Florida in the Elite Eight.
You were quoted as saying “I might get in trouble” for saying what you said, but the
Flyer Faithful are big boys and girls and we can handle a little misplaced criticism. Here’s where the “favor” part comes into the equation, coach. All will be forgiven in Flyerland if you would grant us this one small request:
Schedule a home and home series with the Flyers
UD will even allow the series to start at Cameron next season and then you can return the favor by coming to UD Arena in 2015-16!
Have your people call UD AD
Tim Wabler at: (937) 229-2165
Not feeling that magnanimous? We understand. After all, Duke played
zero true out-of-conference road games this year…as did Syracuse.
Okay then, how about this idea instead?
Strongly suggest that Dayton and Duke be paired up in one of the neutral court doubleheaders to be played at Barclay’s Center in 2015, 2016 and 2017. As you are aware, these games are part of the deal with the Atlantic 10 for graciously allowing the ACC to hold your conference tournament in Brooklyn for 2017 and 2018:
http://articles.dailypress.com/2014-...ays-center-vcu
Hey, the NCAA listened to you and put NC State into the tournament this year didn’t they? A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade will happily take your call and your suggestion that a Blue Devils/Flyers matchup needs to be included as one of the twin bills. You can reach her at: (757) 706-3040 or by email at:
BMcGlade@atlantic10.org
Thanks for your time, Coach and the Flyer Faithful look forward to seeing our two great universities playing each other again on the hardwood…
soon!
Sincerely,
Jim “Swampy” Meadows
UDPride.com
swampy@udpride.com