Former Duke player Jay Bilas shared Coach K’s small bracket strategy for March Madness
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Looking at the 68 teams in the March Madness bracket can be overwhelming, especially for those who play in the tournament.
However, former Duke player, Jay Bilas, said that his old coach, Mike Krzyzewski, had a logical way of exposing it to take the pressure off the Blue Devils.
“I played for Coach K at Duke and in 1986, my senior year, that was the second year of the 64-team bracket,” Bilas told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “And he broke the tournament into a four-team tournament the first weekend. He talked on the other side of our bracket, 32 teams against our team and he said, ‘Look at all those teams over there,’ and he started talking about how good some of them were. And he said, ‘Who cares? Only one team gets out of there. Only one team gets out of there. Only one team gets out of there. It doesn’t matter what happens in that tournament at night.
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Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski reacts during the first half of the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal at Caesars Superdome on April 2, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“And so he gave us a bracket. It was a four-team bracket, and we were playing in Greensboro in the first and second rounds. I think he called it the Greensboro Invitational and said, ‘This is all we have to worry about.’ And we’re like, ‘Geez, we can process that.’ He made it easy. And then the second week, same thing. We played at the Meadowlands – Meadowlands Invitational. We played DePaul, and then David Robinson and Navy were on the other side of that. So we had to face a competition of only four teams. Then we come to the Final Four tournament, which has four teams. And it really made it a lot easier. “
Now, like the rest of us, Bilas watches the tournament as a fan. And this year, you’ll enjoy it with a cold Garage beer, founded by Travis and Jason Kelce.
Jay Bilas will be enjoying March Madness with Garage Beer. (Garage Beer)
“I like beer, I also like garages,” Bilas joked, adding that the Kelce brothers are the main reason why he wants to be the spokesperson for this drink this March Madness. “I probably shouldn’t talk about how much I love beer, but I love beer and I love Garage Beer. And there’s nothing better than tournament time, and those two things go together really well. I try to avoid it when I’m on the air, but I’m like everybody else – if there’s a good game, I like to open it.”
And while there may be a few Garage beers in the mix, there’s a good chance Bilas, a self-proclaimed March Madness “nerd,” can remember almost everything about the tournament.
However, thanks to Coach K’s practice, that encyclopedia in Bilas’ brain doesn’t have many pages in 1986.
“I can talk to you about the games that happened in almost any tournament and remember them. I don’t remember what happened in that 1986 tournament,” said Bilas. “Because all I cared about was what we did. I mean, it’s really kind of remarkable. I don’t remember anything else because of the way Coach K introduced us and the way we approached it. And I know a lot of teams are doing that now, and I, at least speaking for myself, I thought that was incredibly helpful for us.”
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski shouts during the first half of a college basketball game against Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday, March 18, 2022, in Greenville, SC. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
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The Blue Devils are the No. 1 seed this year and are looking for their first title since 2015.
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