Brandon Staley Shared His Love Of Hoops And Herbert With Coach K

The Coach K retirement tour isn’t scheduled to launch for another week, leaving the basketball Hall of Famer with extra down time to discuss non-Blue Devils topics like NFL quarterbacks. And Duke’s living legend did just that late last week, yapping it up with Chargers coach Brandon Staley.

It didn’t take long for Krzyzewski and Staley to display all the chemistry of a Bobby Hurley – Christian Laettner pick and roll.

"It was my first love," Staley said of basketball, while visiting with Coach K on SiriusXM radio. "It's the game that I probably know the best.”

 

Staley went on to tell the three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year that hoops is a big part of the Chargers’ locker room and an equally sizable part of his coaching technique.

"That's probably why I reference it the most. I think that our guys gravitate towards the sport, too. It's the sport that, I would say, in the locker room, that they talk about the most. I just like making those comparisons,” Staley said via SiriusXM. “It's always fun to go back through different eras of basketball for player comparisons and different styles of play."

Before Staley could continue heaping praise on the hardwood, Krzyzewski gave him an assist and pivoted the conversation towards another Staley favorite -- second-year Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert.

"He has all the intangibles, all that character that you would want from your best player. He's a fierce competitor,” Staley told SiriusXM. “When his teammates talk about him, they do not talk about his physical gifts first and as you can see watching the game, he's got amazing physical gifts."

Had Coach K had been able to land a few more recruits recently with the same characteristics displayed by Herbert, the retirement tour may have been put on pause.

This cross-sport bro-mance between K and Staley will soon have to part ways though. The Blue Devils open the season next Tuesday vs. Winthrop, and Herbert and the Chargers visit the City of BrotherIy Love next Thursday.

 

 

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