Duke players spanning 42 years, media swarm expected for Coach K’s final home game
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Coach K’s final game at Cameron
Complete coverage leading up to Saturday’s game between Duke and North Carolina. The March 5 rivalry matchup will be Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium before he retires at the end of the 2021-22 college basketball season.
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On-site SportsCenter broadcasts for days, multiple game viewing options on alternate channels and hundreds of employees working to present it all.
While common for an event like The Masters or a national championship game, ESPN has unleashed this level of coverage for a regular-season college basketball game this weekend.
Of course, it’s not just any other game. It’s Mike Krzyzewski’s final game coaching Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. And it happens to be against rival North Carolina.
“When you combine all those things,” said Mike Shiffman, ESPN’s senior vice president of production, “the amount of coverage, the amount of resources in terms of cameras and technology for both game and supporting studio and digital shows. It’s up there as one of the largest regular season events we’ve ever done.”
Of course there’s a game to broadcast on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when the No. 4 Blue Devils and Tar Heels tangle.
But the historic nature of the weekend, triggered by Krzyzewski’s decision last spring to retire following this season after 42 years at Duke, elevates this game to a far different level.
It’s why Duke invited every living former player who played for Krzyzewski to return for the game. Thus far, around 80 have indicated they will, and they cover the many decades — from Kenny Dennard and Gene Banks (early 80s), to Christian Laettner and Grant Hill (early 90s), to Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick (2000s), and more recent players like Andre Dawkins and Grayson Allen.
It’s also why tickets are selling at unprecedented levels. Officials at secondary ticket seller StubHub said the average price of Duke-UNC tickets it has sold thus far is $4,955.
With around 170 tickets still for sale, the lowest price was $3,890. One seller is asking $99,998 a ticket for two floor seats.
“The average ticket price is more than double the price we’ve seen for any prior matchup between the two rivals in StubHub history,” StubHub spokesman Mike Silveira said.
Blanketing Cameron in cameras
ESPN will have around 100 employees working the game alone, with 34 cameras capturing the action during the game and the surrounding pageantry.
“I think we’re all interested, being around Coach K for a lot of years, if there’s an emotional response to all of this,” ESPN senior coordinating producer for college basketball Dave Ceisler said. “I’m interested to see how he reacts.”
In addition to the main feed on ESPN, an ACC Network alternate broadcast will display a Coach K cam to catch every moment of his Cameron finale. Familiar ACC voices Wes Durham, Mark Packer and Debbie Antonelli will handle that broadcast, dubbed the “Coach K Curtain Call.”
Using the ESPN app, viewers can see the surround and supracam feeds, utilizing robotic cameras attached to both baskets and an aerial view of the game and all that’s happening inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
ESPN has broadcast games from exotic locations before, like the 2011 Carrier Classic between Michigan State and North Carolina played on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier docked off San Diego. In those games, cameras were used to capture the surrounding scenery as well as the game.
That makes Saturday’s broadcast from Cameron unique because of so much focus on the playing area.
“I don’t remember us doing a game with this amount of resources pointed on the court,” Ceisler said. “You know, there’s other games we’ve got aircraft carriers, and cool locations and things where you may have a lot of other cameras doing other things. But, for this game, the amount of coverage in the building on the floor is the most that I’ve been a part of planning.”
Opened in January 1940, and updated numerous times since then, Cameron’s age and coziness create technological challenges. ESPN has broadcast hundreds of games there over the years, of course. But it has planned since last summer for Saturday’s game.
“It’s a creative plan,” Ceisler said. “You know, where does Coach K walk in from? How long does it take him to walk? How can we cover that?”
Ambitious broadcast schedule
ESPN began its live coverage from Durham on Thursday, with appearances by Rece Davis, LaPhonso Ellis and Seth Greenberg during its live studio shows, including halftime of its Michigan State-Ohio State basketball coverage. That continues Friday and Saturday.
Coverage on Saturday begins with the 7 a.m. SportsCenter and continues with GameDay, which runs from 10 a.m.-noon both inside and outside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
ACC Network, in addition to the alternate coverage during the game, will telecast its Nothing But Net show from a set outside Cameron beginning at 4:30 p.m. as a pregame run-up to the game. A postgame edition will also air. Host Kelsey Riggs will be joined by former Duke player Carlos Boozer, in addition to former North Carolina player Joel Berry and former Louisville player Luke Hancock on those shows.
As part of its game coverage, ESPN plans to show the pregame ceremonies involving Krzyzewski, his family and the former players, as well as postgame events, including Krzyzewski’s planned speech to Duke’s fans.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 5:15 AM with the headline "Duke players spanning 42 years, media swarm expected for Coach K’s final home game."
