Krzyzewski: Attention to detail will be key vs. UNC

From the state of his current Duke team to the Blue Devils' rivalry with Maryland, Mike Krzyzewski touched on a couple of different topics on Monday’s ACC teleconference.

Here are some of the highlights of what he had to say.

On his team: “Overall, our team has done a good job, being 19-4. In our league, we’re two possessions from being undefeated and we’re two possessions from being 4-4, on the other side. These games, especially in conference, turn out to be attention to detail where you have to make a play. Yesterday’s game still boiled down to you have to hit a free throw. When you win a number of games, sometimes your attention to detail is not where it needs to be. The games where we’re involved in now it will be for the rest of the year.”

On the ACC’s new plan for basketball schedules: “I’m in full agreement with what the league is doing. I think it was a mistake that we made when we added three teams in that we didn’t brand the whole conference. We made up rivalries during that time by having two different partners. I think it showed that two teams were more important than the rest of the other conference. I think that hurt us. I think this way, we keep one traditional rivalry. But there has to be rivalry established with Syracuse and Pitt. I don’t think that was done as well. I think the way they’re going to do it is better for the entire conference. I applaud them for making that decision.”

On the fact Duke and Maryland will only play once: “Every team that plays against us has a rivalry. I respect the heck out of Maryland and Gary (Williams) and what he did there and what Mark (Turgeon) is trying to do in building his own program. But we can’t look at that game as the end-all. We have to look at every game in the conference equally because everyone looks at us that way. That’s the way I felt the entire time.”

On what he’s going to stress to his team about UNC: “The main thing is just to be prepared for playing the most talented team in our conference and maybe the most talented team in the country. … They can be an offensive juggernaut, especially at home. We have to play really good defense in order to have an opportunity to beat them.”

Krzyzewski will speak with the local media this afternoon, and we'll update the blog with what he has to say.

-- Jack Daly