PHILADELPHIA — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski reached out to Oregon coach Dana Altman on Saturday to apologize for calling out Dillon Brooks in the handshake line following Duke’s 82-62 loss to Oregon in the Sweet 16.
“Today, I spoke with Oregon head coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game,” Krzyzewski said in his statement first obtained by The Sporting News. “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.”
Sean Gentille of The Sporting News earlier on Saturday wrote a column saying Coach K should “acknowledge he lied and apologize” to Brooks.
CBS on Friday released audio of the post-game interaction in which Coach K told Brooks following his 22-point, 6-assist performance in Oregon’s win: “You’re too good of a player to do that. You’re too good of a player.”
Coach K had initially denied in the post-game presser that he called Brooks out. Here’s the transcript:
Reporter: Apparently after the game Dillon said that you told him that he was too good of a player to be showing off at the end like that.
Krzyzewski: I didn’t say that.
Reporter: He said of you that you were right.
Krzyzewski: You can say whatever you want. Dillon Brooks is a hell of a player. I said, “You’re a terrific player.” And you can take whatever he said and then go with it, all right?
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