March Madness 2022 - What life was like the last time Coach K wasn't coaching college basketball

Coach K's career is officially over. The Duke Blue Devils' season ended with a loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Final Four of the 2022 NCAA tournament. With that, the legendary career of Mike Krzyzewski, who announced in June that he would retire following the season, comes to a close.

Krzyzewski was a fixture in college basketball, winning over 1,000 games including five national championships with the Blue Devils and reaching 12 Final Fours. He produced legendary teams and coached players, including Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Jay Williams and JJ Redick. As an assistant and head coach with Team USA basketball, he was part of five gold-medal-winning teams (1984, 1992, 2008, 2012, 2016).

As a West Point cadet, Krzyzewski played point guard with the Army Black Knights under Bobby Knight from 1966 to 1969. After serving active duty as an Army officer, Krzyzewski was discharged in 1974. He then joined Knight's Indiana Hoosiers staff as an assistant for the 1974-75 season.

It has been 49 years since Coach K wasn't roaming a sideline as a coach.

Even without Krzyzewski, the 1973-74 season had some similarities to the current sport:

— An ACC team ruled the NCAA tournament: NC State won it all, defeating Marquette in the national title game.

— Kansas won its conference.

— UCLA, which earlier in the campaign saw its record 88-game winning streak end, still made the Final Four in Bill Walton's final season with the Bruins.

That was, of course, a long time ago. Here's a look at what happened and what life was like in 1973, the last year college basketball didn't have Coach K.

The 1972-73 college hoops season ended in a familiar place — with UCLA winning it all. It was the Bruins' seventh consecutive national