Though the season doesn’t officially start for another two months, Duke’s basketball team’s growth is being negatively affected for the third season in a row by Mike Krzyzewski’s health.
The 70-year-old coach will have knee replacement surgery this weekend, his sixth surgical procedure in the last 15 months.
Because he needs time off to fully recover, Duke’s planned trip to the Dominican Republic from Aug. 17-24 was suddenly canceled on Thursday. The team had held four practices in preparation. The NCAA allows up to 10 in conjunction with a foreign trip, but the rest of the scheduled practices were canceled since the trip is off.
Krzyzewski declared himself fully healthy when meeting with reporters on May 31. Instead, his health will keep him away from the team once again.
Back in the 2015-16 season, he missed a game at February game Georgia Tech after falling ill the day the team was leaving for Atlanta. He had cardiac tests and returned to the team the following weekend.
He had four surgeries during the spring and summer of 2016 to address a hernia, an ankle issue and replace his left knee. He healed in time to coach the U.S. to a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
Last January, Krzyzewski needed back surgery to repair a herniated disc. He missed seven Duke games.
Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel led the team in Krzyzewski’s earlier absences. But instead of going that route again for the two exhibition games against the Dominican Republic national team later this month, Duke opted to call off the trip.
The Blue Devils have dramatically revamped their roster from last season’s 28-9 squad that won the ACC championship. With six incoming freshmen to offset the loss of four players who left early for the NBA and two transfers, the extra work with Krzyzewski and his staff was seen as a needed positive.
But, the staff decided, making the trip without Krzyzewski wouldn’t get the team off to the start it needed.
By addressing his knee pain now, Krzyzewski is confident he’ll be at full strength when the team starts practice in October and its regular-season games in November.
“The best course of action is to correct the problem now rather than later, when our team would be more profoundly impacted,” Krzyzewski said.
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