The he-said-he-said between Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Oregon star Dillon Brooks has gone on too long. When Brooks gave his side of their interaction in the postgame handshake line to reporters and it didn't match up with Coach K's, the conflict became a way bigger deal than anyone intended.
With the shot clock winding down in the final seconds of Oregon's convincing win, Brooks pulled up for a 3-pointer and it went in the basket. After the clock ran out, Brooks tried to apparently embrace Grayson Allen and the Duke sophomore brushed off the gesture.
"You're too good of a player to do that. You're too good of a player," Krzyzewski said to Brooks after the game, while Brooks apologized immediately and said it was his bad.
Krzyzewski issued a statement on Saturday, indicating that he had contacted Oregon coach Dana Altman to apologize for the whole ordeal.
"It is not my place to talk to another team's player and doing so took the focus away from the terrific game that Dillon played," Krzyzewski said. "In the postgame press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter's question about my comment to Dillon.
"Clearly, the story that night was about Oregon advancing to the Elite Eight, and the outstanding game they played. I sincerely hope I did not create a distraction for Coach Altman and his team at this critical time of year.”
Here's the entire statement:
“Today, I spoke with Oregon head coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game. It is not my place to talk to another team's player and doing so took the focus away from the terrific game that Dillon played. In the postgame press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter's question about my comment to Dillon. Clearly, the story that night was about Oregon advancing to the Elite Eight, and the outstanding game they played. I sincerely hope I did not create a distraction for Coach Altman and his team at this critical time of year. Certainly, I have the utmost respect for the Oregon program and their tremendous accomplishments.”
-- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University Head Coach and United States National Team Coach
So to review: Dana Altman told Dillon Brooks to shoot the 3-pointer that contributed to all the disgruntled responses, including Grayson Allen's, and Brooks apologized for the behavior that led to Coach K's comments. But now Oregon is in the Elite Eight, facing Oklahoma, so let's all move on to that awesome Saturday night matchup and past this silly incident.
