Duke men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski advanced to his record-setting 13th Final Four appearance Saturday after the No. 2 seed Blue Devils defeated No. 4 seed Arkansas 78-69 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA men’s tournament.
With the win, Krzyzewski passes Hall of Famer and former UCLA head coach John Wooden for the most Final Four appearances in NCAA history.
The 75-year-old Krzyzewski now has 101 career NCAA tournament wins.
“So happy,” Krzyzewski said after the game on the TBS broadcast. “We call it crossing the bridge. There’s nothing like being a regional champ and going to Final Four and playing on Saturday with three other champions. It’s an amazing day.”
Last year, Krzyzewski announced he would retire at the end of the 2021-2022 college basketball season. Duke associate coach and former Blue Devils player Jon Scheyer will take over as head coach next season.
“Coach K,” as he is affectionately known, has coached at Duke for 42 seasons and is the NCAA’s all-time winningest head coach. He led the Duke men’s program to five national championships in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and the last one came in 2015.
Duke will next face the winner of Sunday’s No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s and No. 8 seed North Carolina Elite Eight game in the Final Four. The Saint Peter’s team made history Friday night by becoming the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight.
No. 1 seed Kansas will face No. 10 seed Miami in the other Elite Eight game Sunday afternoon.
Earlier Saturday, No. 2 seed Villanova defeated No. 5 seed Houston 50-44 to advance to the Final Four.
The Final Four is scheduled for April 2 and the national championship is slated for April 4 from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.