YouTube Gold: Coach K’s Only International Loss

Greece beat the U.S. in 2006 for Mike Krzyzewksi’s only international loss.

On Wednesday, we featured a game from the first Olympics with Mike Krzyzewski as Team USA’s head coach, a win over Australia in 2008.

However, when he was named the head coach in 2005, there was a lot of skepticism. Why would the Director of USA Basketball turn to a college guy to coach pros? Was that a big mistake? The late John Feinstein wrote an article for the Washington Post suggesting that K’s Duke program would necessarily suffer and he had no guarantees of winning with pros in international competition.

Coach K ended up running up an astonishing 88-1 record with various U.S. teams in the Olympics and FIBA competition. That one loss though...that didn't go over well.

In 2006, the US was playing in the FIBA Basketball World Cup with much of the core of what would be the 2008 team - LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Chris Bosh, along with Shane Battier, Elton Brand and Antawn Jamison.

The U.S. faced Greece in the semifinals with a 7-0 record but K’s system was not fully understood by the team.

The Greeks countered the superior athleticism from Team USA with three guards to control the offense and limit transition baskets.

The Greeks, with no NBA players but a lot more chemistry, just killed the U.S. on the pick-and-roll, ultimately winning 101-95.

With Coach K running the team, the U.S. never lost again, racking up that 88-1 record between 2006 and 2016. It was a brilliant run that convinced the world that the U.S. probably could not be beat.