'Best friends in coaching': Duke's Coach K and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim could meet for the final time Saturday

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim received a phone call on his radio weekly show Thursday night that was not from one of his regulars.

The name of the caller?

"Mike from Durham."

"I’ve been a fan of Coach Boeheim’s for almost five decades,” the caller said as Boeheim laughed in the background. “I’m going to have a chance to watch the Syracuse-Duke game this weekend. I was wondering if there was an opportunity to meet him and maybe get an autograph or picture.”

Boeheim, of course, knew the caller was Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"I’m going to meet you, but I’m not going to give you an autograph or a picture,” Boeheim responded. “I’d have to charge you my rate, and I don’t know if you can afford that.”

They giggled like mischievous school children as they reminisced about their days together at USA Basketball and how Krzyzewski's grandchildren and Boeheim's children grew up together and now play on their respective teams.

It was the perfect encapsulation of a relationship that has moved far past basketball and into a lasting friendship as they move closer to what could be their last time coaching against the other.

Duke (24-4, 14-3 ACC) will travel to the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 6 p.m. to face Syracuse (15-13, 9-8) as the 75-year-old Krzyzewski continues his farewell tour before retiring at the end of the season after 47 years of coaching at the end of the season.

"We are the closest of friends," Coach K said Monday before Duke's 65-61 win over Virginia Wednesday. "We've been in it for a long time and we both got into coaching for the love of the game, and shared experiences. Our families are intertwined. My wife Mickie and Juli Boeheim are really close friends and so are my grandkids and his kids. So you know, we're about as close as you can be in this profession."

More: 'Loyalty is love': The story behind Coach K's final recruit, Theo John

More: Duke routs Florida State in Coach K's penultimate game at Cameron Indoor

USA Basketball cemented their friendship

Saturday could be the final battle between the two longest-tenured coaches in Division I basketball with Boeheim starting at Syracuse in 1976 and Coach K at Duke in 1980.

Krzyzewski has the most career wins in NCAA history with 1,193. Boeheim, 77, is second almost 200 wins behind. He'd have to coach well into his 80s to pass Coach K.

This, however, will only be the 17th time the two have faced each other, including the Blue Devils' 20-point win over the Orange on Jan. 22. Syracuse did not leave the Big East for the ACC until the 2014 season.

Coach K owns an 11-5 record against Boeheim, winning the last five and their only NCAA Tournament game in 1998.

They've still had some classic moments: Rasheed Sulaimon's half-court shot to force overtime in the teams’ first meeting as ACC foes. C.J. Fair's block/charge call that resulted in the first — and still only — ejection of Boeheim’s coaching career. And most recently, Zion Williamson’s steam-rolling of Marek Dolezaj.

But their relationship grew outside of college basketball after Krzyzewski became head coach of the U.S. Olympic basketball team and invited Boeheim to join his staff. Boeheim served as Coach K’s assistant on the United States’ gold medal-winning teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

“We’re really good friends and that’s separate from basketball. When we come here, we want to win," Boeheim said after the Jan. 22 loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "But those memories are all in a different category. They’re not in a basketball category. We spent over 300 days together in the summertime over a period of maybe 10 years and that friendship, the basketball experience during that time was special. We have a bond over being able to be together for 300 days and never having an argument.’’

'Best friends in coaching'

Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey remembers watching the Krzyzewski and Boeheim relationship develop at its infancy.

The former Duke assistant from 1987 to 1995 was on the sideline during their first meeting in Greensboro on Dec. 6, 1989, in the ACC/Big East Challenge in Greensboro, N.C.

Syracuse won 78-76.

"I watched them become really close," Brey said. "They are best friends in coaching. I see it now at league meetings, you know, the two of them are thick as thieves. They gang up on you sometimes in league meetings, sometimes they gang up on the commissioner, and that's a good thing for us coaches."

Brey said the two coaches, and their endurance for coaching may never be seen again.

"It's neat when you think about guys being able to stay in one place and coach in one place for that long, it'll never be heard of again, because I darn sure don't have 20 years left in me," Brey said. "These guys are in their mid-70s and still want to wake up and fight and compete every day and beat your butt. I tip my cap to that."

Jon Scheyer considers himself among the lucky few to be seated between Krzyzewski and Boeheim during numerous dinners on the recruiting trail.

Scheyer, who was named Coach K's successor after the retirement announcement last June, said he'd spend most of those evenings just listening to the two.

"Talk about feeling like a third wheel," Scheyer said, laughing. "I tried to always soak it all up. You know, there's not anybody like those guys anymore, there is just not. I've cherished those moments, I can tell you that."

It's possible that Duke and Syracuse could meet again during next month's ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, but the Orange will have to fight for their chance to face the likely No. 1 seed Blue Devils.

If Saturday is the end, it's only the end for us, the viewer. For Boeheim and Krzyzewski, it's merely the beginning of another chapter between two of the greatest college basketball coaches in modern history.

"It’s been an unbelievable relationship since 1990, really,’’ Boeheim said. “There’s just so many good memories, so many memories on the court, but as many off the court."

David Thompson is an award-winning reporter for the USA Today Network covering NC State and Duke athletics. He can be reached at dthompson1@gannett.com, at 828-231-1747, or on Twitter at @daveth89.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Coach K and Jim Boeheim could meet for the final time Saturday