‘Nothing like Cameron.’ What Winthrop’s basketball game at Duke means to coach Pat Kelsey.
“We are playing Duke.”
There’s something simultaneously flippant and reverent about that simple sentence from Winthrop basketball coach Pat Kelsey.
As the Eagles (4-3) head into their Friday game at the No. 1 Blue Devils (6-0), Kelsey said he’s preparing his team like he would for any other opponent. However, this isn’t just any game for Winthrop.
The Herald’s sports writer Alex Zietlow sat down with Kelsey for a one-on-one interview to talk about his memories of coaching against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium as a Wake Forest assistant, the travails of finding teams to schedule as a good mid-major team and his love for the movie, “Hoosiers.”
The ultimate takeaway, in Kelsey’s words, ahead of a game that has been pinned on Eagles’ fans’ calendars for months? “We are playing Duke.”
Here’s the interview, edited for brevity.
‘We hadn’t even uttered that word’
Zietlow: Where does (the game at Duke) rank in terms of big games for your team this season?
Kelsey: When our schedule came out, I think it was the most talked about game. That’s for sure. We had a tidal wave of ticket requests the moment it was announced, or really when the rumor got out when we were playing them.
And we never start talking about opponents. We’ve never talked about away game ticket lists months before a game until this one. A lot of times, we go on the road, and it’s a few parents or players, usually my dad. As (former Wake Forest coach Skip) Prosser used to call him, “America’s Guest.” He’s like, everywhere. He was always in the locker room, always on the airplane, always on the bus.
And that is one really special thing about my dad and my mom — just how passionate they are about their children. My dad is one of the busiest businessmen executives I know, but he figures out a way to get to almost all of my games, and almost all of the 20 grandchildren’s games, which is remarkable. So he’s a fixture; you can just ink his name on the pass list.
But then, when this one came up, everybody wanted to figure out a way. We obviously had to prioritize: Our seniors came first. Then our juniors, then our underclassmen, people that are very influential and important to our program from a fundraising standpoint and things like that.
It was obvious from the very beginning what this was going to be.
But to be honest with you, Alex, and this is going to sound like coach-speak: I won’t approach this game any different than I did the Pfeiffer game. I’ve just always been that way. Every game needs to be compartmentalized, I think, in my mind...
‘When you see it up close’
Kelsey: But put all that aside, we are playing Duke. The thing I thought about the other day, and it was before the Pfeiffer game was over — so this was the human nature part of me — but I remember I was in my car, and I’m driving, and I said, ‘You know, my children’s children’s children are going to tell their children that their great-great grandfather coached against Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.’
That will be probably something that will be uttered in the Kelsey lineage some day down the road. I think that’s important to take a step back, have perspective and realize that that’s a pretty cool thing...
It’s more than just sports. (Krzyzewski’s) reputation and his success and his principles that he’s used and taught as a leader and things like that are utilized in business and obviously in sports as well, so I have an unbelievable amount of respect for him.
I was at Wake Forest for eight years, and was on the staff with Coach Prosser and Coach (Chris) Mack and Coach (Dino) Gaudio and Coach (Jeff) Battle when we competed against (Krzyzewski) for eight years. We had some battles, some knockdown drag-outs. When you see it up close, you just have such a respect...
I had the (job to) scout when I was at Wake Forest after Coach Prosser passed away, and Coach Gaudio took over as head coach at Wake. And that’s the thing I would always say. Their staff’s ability, Coach K’s ability, to get those guys to buy in and taking charges and eating loose balls and playing hungry is what I have so much respect for.
When you drive, it’s like landmines. There are like nine guys in there trying to take charges. Their managers with towels on their shoulders and the people in the concession stands pop out of the concourse and try to take charges when people walk up the aisleways. That’s really cool.
It’s one of the greatest settings, I think, in American sports: Cameron Indoor Stadium. For sure in terms of college basketball... I could go on and on about the places I’ve coached at, but there’s nothing like Cameron.
‘It’s because we stunk’
Zietlow: You said there were rumors you would schedule Duke, or Duke was going appear on the schedule. Can you take me through that process? What’s that like?
Kelsey: Well, scheduling is hard. I mean, people say in college basketball the two most important things are recruiting and scheduling. And scheduling so many times is like putting a square peg in a round hole because, you know, you’re trying to work out what dates work, what dates don’t, what teams are interested.
In coaching-speak, we say this all the time: We’re not sure where people lie more. Do they lie more in recruiting, or do they lie more in scheduling? It’s a daunting task every single year. And then you throw on top of it, at the mid-major level, a lot of times there’s a revenue generating component as well where you’re playing a high-major team on the road in a game that they’re not going to return, so because they’re not going to return, they’ll pay a guarantee and that helps generate revenue for the athletic department and the program. That’s part of it as well and that’s just a reality that everybody has to deal with.
You know, and when you get really good, scheduling becomes harder. ...
We weren’t very good when I first got the job here, and everyone was telling me, “Ah, scheduling is tough.” I was like, “Dude, that was the easiest thing ever. Everyone was calling us and wanting to play.” And then I realized it’s because we stunk.
So there were a bunch of calls coming in. And then that very first year, to the credit of my staff: We weren’t very good, but we beat Auburn at Auburn; we beat Ohio University at OU, and they had a Sweet 16 team returning. ... The very next year we beat Clemson at Clemson. And then all of a sudden, those calls stopped coming in, and it became a little bit more difficult to schedule.
Duke is sure as heck not afraid of anybody. (Laughs.) You’re afraid to call them. ... After the contract came in I said, “Here we go.” (Laughs.)
(I’ll tell them to) walk in, look around. OK, it’s great. Now we have a stinking game to play. Put blinders on and let’s go. I might be like Norman Dale in Hoosiers. I might get measuring tape out and measure the rims 10 feet, measure the free throw line 15. I’ll say, “Boys, this is just like our gym back in Rock Hill.”
It’s my favorite movie by the way, Hoosiers.
Zietlow: That doesn’t surprise me.
Kelsey: This is how much I love Hoosiers and how many times I’ve watched it. My friend and I, Kevin Whitmire, who was on my state championship team at Elder in 1993 — who actually married my wife’s sister, so he’s like my brother-in-law — our whole season during the state tournament, we’d come to my house every day and my mom would make us a pre-practice meal, and we’d watch Hoosiers from the town meeting on, when we made their state tournament run.
But anyway, we watched it so many times that we charted Jimmy Chitwood’s shot — he was 44-for-49 in the entire movie. That’s even shooting in his backyard. We actually charted how many times he shot. Anyway, that’s a sidebar to tell you how few dates I had in high school.
(Cameron is) a special, magical venue, and it’s unbelievably difficult to win a game there. Like I said, I think I have a young team that doesn’t know any better, and hopefully they just look at it like a 94-by-45 foot rectangle with 10-foot rims, 15-foot free throws and a 20-foot, 6-inch 3-point line.
And we’ll go and play as hard as we can.
Winthrop at No. 1 Duke
When: 7 p.m., Friday
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
Watch: ACC Network
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 7:19 PM.
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