HOUSTON - Coach K vs. Coach K.
When Utah's Larry Krystkowiak sat down on the podium Thursday, he introduced himself before taking questions. Then he was asked why he didn't just say Coach K, as his players refer to him.
"Could be confusing in this situation," Krystkowiak said.
Yes, it could with this NCAA Sweet 16 matchup.
Krystkowiak's fifth-seeded Utes (26-8) play tonight against the more well-known Coach K, four-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski and top-seeded Duke (31-4) in the South Regional.
This is Duke's 22nd Sweet 16 appearance under Krzyzewski, the only men's Division I coach who has won more than 1,000 games.
Krystkowiak has 110 career wins, 68 in four seasons at Utah, which is in Sweet 16 for the first time in 10 years.
The longest conversation between the coaches with Polish heritage has been the 20 minutes Krystkowiak spent as a guest on the Duke coach's weekly satellite radio show earlier this year.
Krzyzewski doesn't even recall meeting Krystkowiak in a 7-Eleven in Las Vegas last summer, when the Utah coach proclaimed, "There's the real Coach K" and gave him a high-five. But the Duke coach hopes that isn't viewed as a slight.
"I would never dis another Polish-American. We'd probably give our secret handshake," Krzyzewski said. "I admire what Larry's done. ... He took over a program where it had to rebuilt, but has had great tradition."
Utah's only NCAA national title came seven decades ago, in 1944. But the Utes have been to the Sweet 16 at least once every decade since.
The Blue Devils have won four national titles since 1991, the last coming five years ago - when they were also the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, and the Sweet 16 and regional final games were played at NRG Stadium, the home of the NFL's Houston Texans.
Krystkowiak, a former NBA player and coach, coached for two seasons at Montana, where he was a three-time Big Sky Conference MVP as a player, before taking the Utah job in 2011. With a decimated roster his first season, the Utes went 6-25 and had a losing record at home for the first time in 39 years.
With 11 new players the next year, they improved to 15-18, then 21-12 last year. Now they are the No. 5 seed with an at-large bid out of the Pac-12 and NCAA wins against Stephen F. Austin and Georgetown.