Like so many of us, Max Kellerman grew up hating Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils. On Monday’s edition of Keyshawn, JWill and Max, the host said that his feelings on the team have changed and he will be rooting for Coach K and Duke in the Final Four. He says his co-host is the reason why.
“It’s JWill. It’s Mr. Duke here,” he said on ESPN Radio. “I actually am in a room with Jay more than I spend time in a room with just about anybody in my life. It’s five hours a day. And this is not some dude who roots for Duke. His jersey is hanging in the rafters, right? So I root for Duke because of that.”
At most, Coach K has two games left as the head coach of the Blue Devils. The team takes on hated rival North Carolina on Saturday night in the Final Four. A win would send them to the national championship game on Monday against either Villanova or Kansas. Two wins would secure the 6th national championship in Duke history, all won under Krzyzewski’s leadership.
Max Kellerman told Chris Canty, who was filling in for Keyshawn Johnson on Monday morning that the history doesn’t mean anything to him.
“I wouldn’t care it’s Krzyzewski’s last season. If it weren’t for my relationship with Jay, I’d be rooting against Duke still, Chris.”
Canty agreed that Williams is a good guy, but said he still plans to root against Duke on Saturday. He said that the program has always carried itself in a way that suggests it doesn’t think other ACC schools are on its level. That can be annoying for fans of rival teams.
Whether or not it was evidence of Canty’s point, Williams embraced the idea that his alma mater’s games matter more. Forget Magic vs. Bird in 1979. Jay Williams said that Saturday night’s game between Duke and UNC will be “the biggest game in college basketball history.”
