Five Banners: Inside the Duke Basketball Dynasty

by John Feinstein

Overview

On an early morning in 1983, after the worst loss of his career (109-66 against Virginia) and amid the cries of powerful athletics boosters calling for him to be fired, Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski went to breakfast at 2:00 a.m. to vent with friends. Sports journalist and Duke alumnus John Feinstein was at the table. For Coach K, "the night at Denny’s” would mark a turning point in his career and for the team, and eight years later, the Blue Devils would win their first NCAA national championship.

In Five Banners, Feinstein tells the inside history of Coach K’s forty-two-year career at Duke and its five NCAA championships, from the first, against Kansas in 1991, to the most recent, in 2015 against Wisconsin. With unparalleled access to Coach K, the team, and its staff, Feinstein takes readers on a mesmerizing ride into the locker room and onto the court. Full of intimate details, personal memories, and previously untold on- and off-court stories, it is a book that only Feinstein could write.

Feinstein explores a basketball legacy that begins with his days as an undergrad Duke Chronicle reporter covering coaches Bucky Waters and Neill McGeachy (who went 10-16 in one year as head coach), includes the “drought years” of the 1980s and the glory of the teams of the 1990s, and moves into the present day with Jon Scheyer’s succession. Drawing on new interviews, Feinstein highlights the voices of Grant Hill, Nolan Smith, Christian Laettner, Tommy Amaker, and Bobby Hurley, who each bring new insights on the championship years. 

Throughout, Feinstein unveils the momentous force of college basketball as a game of intense relationships and intimate conversations. Candid, revelatory, and engrossing, Five Banners is an essential book for all Duke fans and anyone who loves the college game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478026716
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

John Feinstein (1956-2025) was the award-winning author of forty-nine books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled. He contributed to the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest, ESPN, SiriusXM Radio, National Public Radio, and the Golf Channel, among many other publications and media outlets. A member of six halls of fame, including the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, Feinstein also did color commentary for Virginia Commonwealth Universitybasketball, George Mason basketball, and the Navy Radio Network.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction  1
1. The Long and Winding Road to the First Banner  5
2. Banner One  31
3. Banner Two  57
4. The First Drought  83
5. Banner Three . . . Finally  107
6. The Second Drought  123
7. Banner Four: Reality and Redemption  131
8. Banner Five: Eight is Enough  153
Epilogue  177
Index  183

Editorial Reviews

"The stories Feinstein shares in his book do more than retell the history of Duke basketball. Through his unparalleled access to one of the most impressive leaders of all time in Krzyzewski, Feinstein gives a blueprint into what leadership looks like and how greatness is made."

Duke Chronicle - Dom Fenoglio

"Feinstein’s prose is a river of basketball minutiae, toggling between a particular game and all the complicated history between these coaches and these teams, before getting into a brief summary of the game and then the culminating events, the last-second shots made or missed. There are so many names of players and coaches, so many dates of epochal matchups, so many games recounted, so many brief synopsis of a coach’s record at a particular school. These details are tossed off in such a way as to make the reader feel as though they were driving by the open door of a cathedral that is adjacent to the main cathedral, and are able to glimpse just enough of the interior to understand that it, too, is a world worthy of entire books."

The Assembly - Thomas Beller

Feinstein was on the scene for so much and seems to have forgotten nothing. Telling stories that will be a revelation to even the most devoted followers of Duke basketball and college sports in general, Five Banners is the definitive book by the definitive chronicler.

Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure - Alexander Wolff

"It’s a look at Duke Basketball’s epic run under Mike Krzyzewski and it’s not a good read. It’s a great read."

Duke Basketball Report - J. D. King

"A fresh look at the historic program that has hovered near the apex of the college basketball world for nearly four decades. . . . Five Banners reads more like a journal than a history book, with anecdotes from players, coaches, and other important figures throughout the program."

Indy Week - Justin Laidlaw

"There is nobody better to chronicle Duke’s championship culture than John Feinstein. John has been close to Coach K and his program from Day One and takes us all behind the scenes for each of Duke’s quintet of titles in Five Banners. Nobody captures the essence of sport better than John Feinstein, and he’s written another great one."

ESPN - Jay Bilas

"A shrewd reader can fast-break through the game accounts, the way readers breeze through battle descriptions in a Civil War history, and get to the good Coach K vignettes. There are many."

Wall Street Journal - David M. Shribman

"There is some fun information revealed along the way. . . . [T]his easy read is certainly a well-done assignment on Feinstein's part, and certainly those in Durham will love revisiting those times."

Buffalo Sports Page - Budd Bailey

2024-06-21
A veteran author and sportswriter chronicles the success of the Duke men’s basketball program, coached by one of the sport's all-time greats.

Feinstein, author of many bestselling sports books, includingA Good Walk Spoiled andThe Legends Club, has been a Duke insider since his days covering the Blue Devils for the student newspaper in the 1970s. He uses that long-held access to chronologically document the story of head coach Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski's four-decade career in Durham, which included five national championships and 12 appearances in the Final Four and ended with Krzyzewski as the winningest head coach in men's college basketball history. As is often mentioned in the book, Feinstein was present at a program-changing meal at a Denny's restaurant following a season-ending loss relatively early in his tenure that had boosters, fans, and local media calling for Krzyzewski's job. He examines Krzyzewski's approach and strategy in building a powerhouse amid the changing landscape of college basketball; the intense rivalry between Duke and the University of North Carolina, particularly with then–head coach Dean Smith; and Krzyzewski's tumultuous relationship with his collegiate coach and mentor, Bob Knight. Throughout, the author presents Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils in angelic light, and the axe he has to grind with Knight (the subject of the author’sA Season on the Brink) is petty. Furthermore, his snarky attitude toward other programs, coaches, and some fellow media members does nothing to disabuse stereotypes about Duke graduates and fans. While it is understandable that Feinstein has essentially written a love letter to the program he has adored since late adolescence, it's a shame that a book about such a compelling and complex American sports figure as Krzyzewski is a one-note bore. For a more balanced treatment, check out Ian O’Connor’sCoach K.

A hagiography of Coach K.

Kirkus Reviews