Former Duke player describes Coach K’s way of dumbing down March Madness bracket into micro tournaments

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Looking at 68 teams in aMarch Madness bracketcan be pretty overwhelming, especially for those playing in the tournament.

However, former Duke player Jay Bilas said his legendary former head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, had a brilliant way of dumbing it down to take the pressure off theBlue Devils.

“I played for Coach K at Duke and in 1986, my senior year, that was the second year of the 64-team bracket,�“And he broke the tournament down to basically a four-team tournament the first weekend.He talked about the opposite side of our bracket, the 32 teams opposite our side and said, ‘Look at all those teams in there,’ and started talking about how good some of them were.And then he goes, ‘Who cares?Only one team is coming out of there.Only one team comes out of there.Whatever happens, fine.We’ll play that one team on Monday night for the championship.’

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts in 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 at Greensboro in the first and second rounds.I think he called it the Greensboro Invitational and said, ‘This is all we got to worry about.’ And we’re like, ‘Geez, we can process that.’ He made it easier.And then the second week, same thing.We played at the Meadowlands – Meadowlands Invitational.We played DePaul, and then David Robinson and Navy was on the other side of that.So we only had to deal with a four-team tournament.Then we get to the Final Four, four-team tournament.And it really made it a lot easier.”

Now, like the rest of us, Bilas watches the tournament as a fan.And this year, he will be enjoying it with some ice-cold Garage Beer, founded byTravis and Jason Kelce.

Jay Bilas will be enjoying March Madness with Garage Beer.(Garage Beer)

“Ilike beer, and I like garages,” Bilas joked, adding that the Kelce brothers are a key reason why he wanted to be a spokesperson for the beverage this March Madness.“I probably shouldn’t be talking about how much I like beer, but I like beer and I like 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 just like everybody else — when there’s a good game on, I like to crack one open.”

And despite likely beingseveral Garage Beers deepthroughout the tournament, there is a good chance that Bilas, a self-proclaimed March Madness “nerd,” will be able to remember just about everything from this tournament.

However, because of Coach K’s bracket practice, that encyclopedia in Bilas’ brain doesn’t have many pages on 1986.

“I can talk to you about games that happened at just about any tournament and remember it.I don’t remember what happened in that 1986 tournament,” Bilas said.“Because all I cared about was what we did.I mean, it’s really kind of remarkable.I don’t really remember anything else because of the way Coach K presented it to us and the way we approached it.And I know a lot of teams do that now, and I, at least speaking for me, I thought that was extraordinarily helpful to us.”

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski yells during the first half of a college basketball game against Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday, March 18, 2022, in Greenville, S.C.(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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The Blue Devils are the No.1 overall seed this year and are aiming for their first title since 2015.

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