Kenny Dennard

And he was giving me a bunch of grief and I was laughing.

I was,

but the point is coach K built something that, that, you know, the natural, I've said this, I think in the past that the natural progression of John taking over because John did so much of the recruiting, so much of the, the, the scouting report, all the nitty gritty coaching work under coach K for many years that he was the right guy for the job.

And I think that's being proved out by his stellar start in this first few years.

And,

when you look at how the recruiting process and the NIL and the, this trading free agency trade was not trading, but it's, it's kind of like trading, but it's, you got this in and out of players going different places every year.

It's, it's such a different game, but we are lucky and we're lucky because what coach K built, you know, we built something that coach K could build on what we put, we stood on the,

the shoulders of giants in the seventies with the sixties teams, the final fours, people forget in black and white TV that Duke was in the final four many years in the sixties.

And Vic Buvas was great, great builder.

And then coach Foster, we had about 12 years down as a program.

Then our 78 team brought it back.

And then coach K had a couple of years to get his feet under him.

And then he, you know, the rest is history, but what John's done is,

is what no other coach after a legend like Coach K, what he's done in the recruiting and getting men to play for him.

You know, the respect that they have for him and the desire to go out and give it all every game, no matter what the circumstances or who's playing, is just, it's on brand, that Duke basketball, that we think, you know, Gene and me and Jaminsky and Spinarco and Benderin,

We all think, you know, we were part of the founding fathers, if you wish, of Duke basketball, but what this has become in today's age is just amazing.

And not to sound sappy, you know, we should be very, very thankful that that continuity and Coach K's wisdom to choose John and John has just shown so much.

It's just such a,

a great guy, such a nice guy's parents.

I love his parents.