The photo was taken in a back hallway of the Smith Center, out of public view, two generations of coaches standing together. Who could have imagined, when Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams and Hubert Davis and Jon Scheyer all posed before the first Duke-Carolina game in February, that it could have been recreated this week in New Orleans?
That was the extent of North Carolina’s honoring of the imminently retiring Krzyzewski, which was … fine, considering the Tar Heels had acknowledged his 1,000th win a few years earlier and been criticized by their own fans for it. It also took a longer view of the two transitions, recognizing that what’s happening with the two programs is not about one person, but the shared passage from two Hall of Fame legends to two inexperienced alumni groomed to take over.
Saturday’s Final Four game is only going to further drive that point home. Davis’ work as a first-year head coach is only going to heighten the pressure on Scheyer next year, just as Scheyer’s recruiting prowess during his season as coach-in-waiting has done the same to Davis. But this game is an inflection point in even bigger ways.
