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On Thursday, the Oregon Ducks put a whooping on the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16, and moved on to the Elite Eight with a 82-68 victory.
As the game was ending, Oregon small forward Dillon Brooks nailed a long distance three that many felt was unnecessary and added insult to injury since the game was well out of reach.
Not to be outdone, Oregon’s Dillon Brooks also puts the final touch on his team’s win #MarchMadness https://t.co/6cWGpStwcf
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2016
But Oregon’s shot clock was going to expire, so it’s not like Brooks went out of his way to embarrass Duke. However, for whatever reason, the shot didn’t sit well with Coach K.
When the two met to shake hands after the game, everyone noticed that Coach K had a message of some sort for Brooks. When talking to the media afterward, Brooks informed reporters that Coach K told him,
“I’m too good of a player to be showing off at the end.”
Dillon Brooks said Coach K told him in handshake line, “I’m too good of a player to be showing off at the end.” Brooks: “He’s right.”
— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) March 25, 2016
When asked about what he said to Brooks during their exchange, Coach K claimed he did nothing but congratulate him on the win.
Coach K, on what he said to Brooks: “I just congratulated him.”
— Austin Meek (@austinmeekRG) March 25, 2016
Someone pressed K specifically on whether he said something to Brooks about celebrating. “I didn’t say that.”
— Austin Meek (@austinmeekRG) March 25, 2016
Well, as it turns out, Coach K was lying through his teeth. Recently released CBS audio proves this to be the case.
As a result, Coach K released an official apology.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski apologizes for Dillon Brooks postgame handshake line chat. pic.twitter.com/WUQ4FJfhfF
— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) March 26, 2016
The statement:
“Today, I spoke with Oregon head coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game. It is not my place to talk to another team’s player and doing so took the focus away from the terrific game that Dillon played. In the postgame press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter’s question about my comment to Dillon. Clearly, the story that night was about Oregon advancing to the Elite Eight, and the outstanding game they played. I sincerely hope I did not create a distraction for Coach Altman and his team at this critical time of year. Certainly, I have the utmost respect for the Oregon program and their tremendous accomplishments.”
You have to figure Coach K would never have said another word about the incident had the audio not surfaced. His statement is clearly an effort to control the damage, but everyone has a bad day once in a while. And if anyone deserves to be cut some slack, it’s Coach K.
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