"He was brilliant in those minutes": When former Duke star Christian Laettner spoke on Coach K's confidence in him before "The Shot"

Christian Laettner once reflected on his fondest memories with former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, commonly referred to as Coach K. On "The Rich Eisen Show" in March 2024, the former Blue Devils center discussed the coach's confidence in him.

"My favorite Coach K times were when he barged into the locker room, he slammed the door behind him and he kicked everyone out of the locker room," Laettner recalled. "He said 'coaches and players only,' and then he would lay into us and drill into us about how he's gonna demand for us to play a certain way."

Although these locker room talks may seem intimidating, Laettner remembers them fondly.

"Whenever we had those types of closed-door locker room meetings with him yelling at us, I always loved it, because I knew we were going to play basketball great for, like, the next four or five games," Laettner said. "Then, he might need to do it again, like, a month later, but whenever he did that, it seemed like we played our best basketball."

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Laettner talked about one particularly impactful locker room talk in the 1992 East regional final against Kentucky.

That game brought about the most iconic moment of Laettner's career. Only 2.1 seconds remained in overtime, and Duke was down by a single point. Laettner caught a pass from three-quarters of the court length and faked right before dribbling once, turning, and hitting a jumper for the 104-103 win.

The jumper has come to be known as "The Shot." Top-seeded Duke went on to win a second consecutive national title that season.

"Coach K was so positive and so composed, and he said, 'We can do this,'" Laettner said. "He was brilliant in those minutes."

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Christian Laettner's historic career under Coach K

Christian Laettner became a back-to-back national champion at Duke in the 1991 and 1992 seasons, a feat that may not have been possible without The Shot. He is the NCAA Tournament's all-time leader in points, free throws made, free throws attempted and games planned.

The center was a three-time All-American, the 1992 National Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year, and the 1991 NCAA Final Four MVP, among many other accolades. To this day, Laettner remains one of the most decorated student-athletes in NCAA history.

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Laettner went on to be the third pick in the 1992 NBA draft and was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. Coach K instilled in him a sense of confidence that allowed for his famous shot and successful career.