It was the sixth annual K Academy, and the tents recognized three-year attendees, the ball was bouncing during games between eight teams coached by 26 former Duke players, the retired jerseys and banners honored past K Academy players and championship teams, the media room was occupied by attendees after their games, and the stats helped summarize every K Academy contest.
Also present was the trademark Duke intensity, with coaches working hard on the sidelines drawing up plays, encouraging their players (all at least 35 years old) and battling to bring home the coveted K Academy Cup. Stated Matt Hancock, a two-time K Academy attendee and the all-time single-season scoring leader according to the in-depth K Academy Media Guide, “You can’t fake intensity, right? It’s either there or it’s not. I think it extends through everything they do, whether it’s coaching a bunch of misfits like us for a week or trying to win a national championship. There’s no line drawn there.”
K Academy VI got started officially on Wednesday with around 80 attendees (the players) registering at the Washington Duke Inn in the morning. Also checking in were former Blue Devil players of all ages, from Coach K’s first Duke team (Kenny Dennard, Gene Banks, Vince Taylor) all the way to almost his entire Class of 2006 (Shelden Williams, J.J. Redick, Sean Dockery, Shavlik Randolph), merging three decades of championship basketball with friendship, good times and shared experiences.
After evaluation games on Wednesday afternoon at the brand-new K Center, the K Academy VI teams and coaching staffs were revealed at a draft on Coach K Court in the evening complete with video highlights and personalized graphics of each returning player as his name was called.
After an in-depth Thursday morning lecture by Coach K discussing USA Basketball, the eight K Academy teams opened play with two games. Former Duke players and attendees alike were excited to reunite and continue to build friendships fostered during the previous five K Academies. The day closed with a meal at Duke Gardens where each four-year player was recognized with a personalized highlight video cut to their favorite songs similar to the videos Duke seniors receive at the season-ending team banquet.
“It was a lot of fun to win it and see all of the guys,” said champion coach Nate James. Although Duke’s newest assistant coach had nearly lost his voice from all of his passionate coaching (eight games in four days), he added with his trademark smile and a hoarse tone, “It is cool to earn bragging rights in the office for a while too.”
At the auction the evening before Nate and his squad cut the nets down, Coach K encouraged Academy attendees to take that open shot and attempt the plays they dream of inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. By annually bringing in around 25 of his former players and assembling a talented and creative staff, the Hall of Fame coach sets the stage for highly successful men from all over the nation (20 states and three countries this year) to bring their basketball fantasies to life.
However, Coach K also recognized that the camp has allowed his family and basketball program to bring fantasies to life. In addition to serving as a reunion of sorts that has helped to grow and cultivate the Duke Basketball family, the event has helped raise several million dollars with proceeds assisting the development of Duke Basketball and the Emily K Center.
When K Academy made its debut in 2003, Coach K remarked that the Duke Basketball program did not have a practice facility and Durham did not have one of the finest community centers in the nation. Now, the Duke team has arguably the best basketball training center in all of college hoops complete with two courts, a massive weight room, cardio room, theater, video room, study areas, and a locker room for former players. Down the road, the state-of-the-art Emily K Center currently serves the Durham community and helps economically-disadvantaged local youth engage in a life-changing cycle of dreaming, doing, and achieving.
The K Academy has become a high-level fantasy facilitator and this year’s most memorable stat was not the number of Duke jersey retirees in the house (five) or the number of consecutive games decided in overtime during a string of thrilling games on Saturday (three). It was the amount of money raised for the Emily K Center during Saturday’s auction night alone — An eye-opening total of $464,640.
