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I heard I recently had another street named after me. A couple of friends told me. At Tropicana and 215, somewhere in that area.
I didn’t know anything about it and I don’t know what it’s called. I had that little street, Tarkanian Way, in front of the Thomas & Mack Center named after me in 1987.
We had just gone to the Final Four. That’s the street they ran me out on. But they left me there, so that was nice.
They also named a middle school after me and Lois, my wife. People in town have always been great to me and my family, and I appreciate that.
As far as free throws, which someone inquired about, I have seen where some of Lon Kruger’s players have been struggling a bit lately.
I think you can talk too much about it, make too much of an issue. It gets in their heads.
We generally were not a good free-throw-shooting team. Primarily, we had great athletes. I always think the good shooters will shoot free throws well.
They have to shoot them the same way every time. Get into a routine. You have to do it over and over. But we didn’t like talking too much about it.
We shot great from the line in 1977, but we had Robert Smith. I think he led the nation at something like 90 percent. It was very high. I would say we were always in the middle.
When Doug Moe coached the Denver Nuggets, his team was shooting free throws very well and one of our writers called him to find out why they shot so well.
He said, “Heck, we hardly ever practice free throws. We never say anything about them.” That convinced me that a lot of times, the less you say the better.
You are getting in their heads when you say something.
Last season, Memphis coach John Calipari said he wasn’t worried about his team’s free-throw shooting. He was definitely worried, but he didn’t want his players to think that. It’s hard to say what will work and what won’t.
I just had Mike Krzyzewski on my Fresno radio show and he was fantastic. I’m going to talk with Bobby Knight and Jim Calhoun, and Bill Self was on recently.
But it was a lot of fun talking with Mike. We have a great relationship. We talked about the season and we got into the old times.
He said his offense and defense is just like ours. He said his style of play is very much the same. He’s very complimentary.
He said he went to our offense about 12 years ago, when he had Jason Williams. He’d penetrate, drive and kick it out to open shooters, spot-up shooters.
He doesn’t run set plays anymore. That’s basically what we did. Our defense mirrored each other through the years. I’ve said for years that his defense is more similar to the ones we had than anybody else in the country.
They front the post, like we did, and they pressure the ball. Practice time is about guarding the ball and not getting beat off the dribble. We did that better than anyone in the country.
He talks all the time about how great our kids were. He says that all the time.
I love Duke. Always have. Mike’s been very, very good to me.
Roy Williams is another great friend. He took a day off when we were going good in 1991 just to fly out here and watch us practice. He wanted to see our defense.
Roy called me this summer. He was in Vegas but I was in San Diego. He called to tell me that when he comes to Vegas, he thinks of me and he calls. That’s so nice. I love Roy, too.
He’s a great coach. I was shocked when he got beat earlier this week. I had said on my radio show that I don’t think anyone will beat them, unless it’s a major upset.
Then Boston College goes and does it the next day.
Shows what I know.
Wow, there’s a lot more to get to. Thanks for all your interest and keep the questions coming.
I’ll get to Jimmy Valvano, Jimmy Caan, Raquel Welch and that 1977 game against North Carolina in the next column or two.
I'm sure coach did not mean when he said "I Love Duke, Always have". Must be the recent holiday season and Tark just felt being complimentary to Coach K. I burned that VHS tape of that 91 Final 4 game. But ESPN Classic seems to like replaying that damn game over and over.
Amen ro, It still depresses me just to think of that '91 title game. I'm not sure I'll ever really get over it. At least we got beat by a class act in Coach K.
Must be Ro, either that Tark's a whine collector and has recently taken a trip down to his whine cellar. Say it isn't so! If it was true,... "Tark loving duke"... would contribute to a world disintigrating around me. It would destroy all learned behavior and thought process after the age of 13 (1991). If you want to say that you respect coach K for what he did in the Olympics in 08 that's fine but Tark, you must take it back to prevent a mass total collapse of what appears to now be fragile minds! Hurry, make it right!
ha ha ha ha... Fast, I will run that by the Shark.
Whine collector? I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, Camron that you meant "wine".
I noticed six months ago that part of the eastbound frontage road from Trop to Russell was re-named Tarkanian Way. Surprised they didn't even let you know, coach.
Never drank the stuff, so it's not surprising that I'm ignorant to it's spelling. Lenny, you do know that people make mistakes right? Try letting it go sometime.:)
There are two schools you cannot (are not allowed to) like if you are a Runnin' Rebel: Arizona and Duke... PERIOD. I think it's written so in the Nevada constitution. Coach, please say you didn't say "I love Duke. Always have."
I have all the respect for caoch K and what he accomplishes year in and year out at Duke. But love the program? Yikes...
Rob, about a year or so ago, I ran into Larry Johnson at Bellagio. He gave me the impression he was back in town, and working on getting his degree. How is coach's relationship with the 1990 Chamionship team members?
That's a good one Stl ... Yeah, LJ finished his degree requirements about 13 months ago and went through ceremonies. Photos are pretty funny. You see this sea of black caps. In the middle, standing WAY above everyone else, is LJ. With a big smile. That day was a long time coming. I'll see what the Shark says about those '90 players.
One thing I've found odd, in all those reunions, golf tourneys, alumni games ... Stacey Augmon most always is a no-show. I'll see what coach says. Thanks
Friends, Tark is loving the player, hating the game! It's a compliment that Duke runs our old offense/defense, and Coach K has always gone out of his way to say nice things about those 1990/1991 teams... but/and I'm positively certain that Tark hated how the media at the time played up the "Good Guys" @ Duke and the "Bad Guys" here. I see no contradictions -- at least none worth getting worked up about.
You're ignorant to a lot of spelling, Camron. I hope you didn't actually go to UNLV. Ha ha. Take it easy, I'm just teasing!
Hitting free throws, while you are fresh and RELAXED during practice is one thing, but hitting them at the end of a physical game with the pressure of the game on your shoulders, and fatigue in your arms and legs is another. Hitting a free throw is a learned skill that needs to be fine tuned constantly. I agree with coach that a lot of times the players "head" gets in the way, but when an entire team struggles at the line for more than half the season (like our current team is doing now), then the psychology takes a back seat to physical action.
Let's make every player on the team shoot 200 free throws AT THE END OF EACH PRACTICE when they are a bit tired. That will fine tune their accuracy and I guarantee you, we will see the pathetic shooting % start going up ...
that's true jumpinjeff ... at the time, that paradox irked Tark to no end. Still does. But that doesn't mean he has to hate Coach K for eternity. Quite the contrary. In fact, readers will be very interested to read what Tark has to say about Maxson in his next column or two. Might be two down the line, because Raquel Welch and Jimmy Caan, and Tark's career in Hollywood, might take up the entirety of the column I write for him tomorrow, Monday. That will be a hit.
Stl, they HAVE been shooting more free throws at the end of practice. Thursday's was especially gruesome. Hopefully, we can detail that sometime soon. Anyway, it does happen at the end of practice. Media, however, is only allowed into practice an hour after it starts, soooo ... so what goes on during that hour, typically routine, mundane stretching and whatnot, isn't for public consumption. That's also when "punishment drills" are executed. Missing class, etc., requires ALL of them to run. If one screws up, they all do. Read into that what you want, but Thursday's practice had some interesting sidelights to it.
til next time ...
Friends close, enemies closer. Coach K loves Vegas, he parties here -- which I have witnessed first hand. There's always an antagonist in every great story, and Duke is ours. Can't have our glory without the Blue Devils!
When they interviewed Coach K after the upset in 91 he methodically explained how he shut down our kids, mentioning each one by name. He was so enamoured with it Pat O'Brien pretty much cut him off to continue on with the broadcast!
And him mirroring our teams? Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Stacey still loves us...His big speed boat is named Runnin' Rebel!
No,no ,no ,no Rob. If you are gonna tell us that Coach and Maxson are best friends, and play golf every weekend, PLEASE DON'T. You may cause a revolution in Vegas.
I can't take this anymore: Coach likes Lute, Coach K, Duke... and now Maxson????
What's next? Coach thinks BYU is the best team in the land?
Say it ain't so maaaan.
Lenny you sound like one of those socially inexperienced guys who take something personal and tease about it, give your disclaimer that you're teasing and then expect the other party to not be offended. I really hope for your sake Lenny that you're not one of those guys and that you don't still live in the basement with your mom, cuz that's what you sound like. I'm trying to stay cool with you and not attack back but dang man, stick to the pertinent facts.
Does anyone remember the song "Walk like a Tarkanian" from the 80's? I had it on vinyl. What did Tark think of that song? Kind of a ridiculous era if you ask me. The original "Runnin' Rebel Fever" song by George Dare was pretty ridiculous also. I came across it the other day and the song is just terrible. Good memories though.
Ya funny song.Theres Freddie Banks hanging out at the three point line with his pal Paddio Etc Etc.Great Memories