Duke Makes the Final Four in Coach K’s Last Season

When the Razorbacks surged in the second half, narrowing the gap to 53-48, Krzyzewski called timeout to calm his team. He made sure the offense ran through his best player, Banchero, and signaled “1-2” from the sideline, instructing his defense to switch to zone. Banchero, who would be named the regional’s most outstanding player, scored in the post, passed to A.J. Griffin who drove for another basket and made two free throws and in a flash Duke had a working margin at 59-48.

Arkansas never threatened the rest of the way.

A year ago, Krzyzewski had left the impression that he had lost his iron grip on the program that he had become synonymous with: an N.B.A. prospect quit at midseason, he snapped at a reporter from the school newspaper, and his team missed the N.C.A.A. tournament for the first time in more than a quarter century.

No coach has retired after winning a national championship 1977 when Al McGuire, who was 48, retired after Marquette won the 1977 title. Two years earlier, John Wooden told his team after a semifinal victory over Louisville that he would retire following the title game, which the Bruins won against Kentucky.

Krzyzewski, 75, gave himself a much longer runway. He took the rare step last June of announcing his retirement effective at the end of this season. He said he did not want to go out the way he did last season, when Duke was 13-11 and saw its chances of making the N.C.A.A. tournament vanish when it had to drop out of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament because of a coronavirus outbreak within the team.

The decision to announce it — and assistant Jon Scheyer as his replacement — was to avoid misleading recruits who might have asked how long he intended to coach, he said. Still, the whole season has been something of a last waltz tour.

“It wears on you a little bit because everywhere you walk, everyone is taking a picture of you they’re watching everything,” Krzyzewski said earlier this week. “Look, that gets old.”

He added: “But I feel for my guys. They’ve had pressure on them that we’re not putting on them. I tell them all the time, we’re playing for us — for you — but then it just works out. No one — it’s not a sinister plan against us or anything, but it just happens that way.”