After losing to Duke in the NCAA basketball championship game on Monday, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan spoke to the media, saying, “We don’t do rent-a-player,” referring to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, as well as other coaches, bringing in the top talent that may not stick around in the NCAA for more than a year.
On Wednesday’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on ESPNU, Krzyzewski appeared as a guest on the show and responded to Ryan’s comments.
“Number one, I love Bo, and I know as a coach that you’re the first guy up there and you lose. Look, I’ve lost national championship games and I’ve been the loser and it’s not easy. Sometimes they can take one line or a couple lines out without hearing the whole context of what you’re talking about. The line ‘rent-a-player’ is not a good line because we use ‘one-and-done.’ It could mean that you’re doing something illegal with “rent.” I think there’s a better choice of words for that.”
He also added, “But to say, ‘Hey, we don’t do the one-and-done in our program,’ hey, that’s your right. But also understand that everybody is doing it a little bit differently. Guys are accepting transfers more. A lot of guys are going after fifth year transfers. There’s more than one way to run a business.”
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