Mike Krzyzewski has seemingly spent his entire adult life in the middle of March Madness, which is why he has a chance Thursday night to claim his 100th NCAA Tournament victory, 23 more than the next guy on the all-time list, Roy Williams. That separate tournament career merits its own examination before Coach K stops coaching and starts working as a full-time Duke ambassador and part-time home gardener. (Yes, he does love gardening.)

So as his Blue Devils face Texas Tech in his final Sweet 16, here are 16 things you might not have known about Krzyzewski’s NCAA trials, tribulations, and triumphs:

His first in 1986, against Navy. Coach K told his players they would be dead to him if they allowed a West Point man to lose his first Final Four berth to the Midshipmen. “Please God, not Navy,” Krzyzewski prayed on the bench during the pregame. Duke won by 21.

Up four on Louisville in the 1986 national title game, Coach K had his team work the clock with just under seven minutes to go. CBS analyst Billy Packer called it a mistake on air (“I think it takes away your momentum”) and was proven right as Duke’s offense unraveled and Louisville prevailed.

Duke’s 1996 first-round loss to Eastern Michigan and 5-foot-5 dynamo Earl Boykins. Krzyzewski had suffered a physical and emotional breakdown the previous season, missing the final 19 games and offered his resignation to his AD, Tom Butters, who declined it. Coach K returned to an 18-13 team that lost by 15 to Eastern Michigan, but he was just happy to be back in The Dance.

Easiest answer — either the 2012 loss to 15th-seeded Lehigh, or the 2014 loss to 14th-seeded Mercer. But in the 1989 Final Four, Coach K’s third unfulfilling trip to the national semis in four years, Duke turned an 18-point lead over Seton Hall into a 17-point defeat, notarizing its reputation as the school that couldn’t win the big one.

Kyrie Irving’s toe injury that reduced his one-and-done season in 2010-11 to 11 games. Coming off a national title the year before, Coach K thought Irving’s arrival could make Duke the first undefeated champ since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. Irving’s tournament re-entry after a three-month absence knocked the Blue Devils off balance and out of the field.

When Kentucky’s Rick Pitino decided not to guard the inbound passer, Grant Hill, in the 1992 Elite Eight epic in Philly, giving Hill a clear look at Christian Laettner down the floor. Runner-up: Pitino’s decision to tell his Kentucky defenders not to foul Laettner, making them passive observers on his catch and release.

Bobby Hurley’s 3-pointer against UNLV late in the 1991 Final Four. Laettner’s shot against Kentucky might be the most memorable in the sport’s history, but Hurley’s 3 — with Duke down five late to an unbeaten juggernaut — allowed for the breakthrough that dramatically changed Coach K’s career.

After Laettner tormented Hurley in big-brother, little-brother fashion for three years, Krzyzewski stood back at halftime of the 1992 national title game against Michigan and turned over his locker room to Hurley, who, out of character, profanely berated the center for playing horribly in the first half. Hurley started the second half by getting Laettner a layup on the fast break and Duke dusted the Fab Five.

Jim Calhoun. Though Coach K broke his heart in 1990 and eliminated him again in ’91, the UConn coach delivered a devastating counterpunch in 1999, beating one of Krzyzewski’s greatest teams in the final. “To me,” Calhoun said, “Mike was a great coach but he wasn’t unbeatable.” UConn proved that again with a dramatic comeback to beat Duke at the 2004 Final Four.

Indiana’s Bob Knight, Krzyzewski’s former coach at Army, wearing a “Go Duke” button at the 1986 Final Four. Their relationship would start imploding after the Blue Devils beat the Hoosiers in the national semis six years later.

During a timeout at the 2001 Final Four, with Maryland blowing out Duke in the first half, everyone expected Coach K to go wild in the huddle. Instead he calmly told his players to relax, just play ball and don’t worry about a possible 40-point defeat. The Blue Devils won by 11.

Telling Brian Zoubek to intentionally miss his second foul shot in the final seconds of the 2010 national title game, with Duke up two, giving Butler’s Gordon Hayward a chance to win it with a midcourt 3 that barely missed. Chris Collins was among the Duke assistants who thought his boss’ decision was nuts.

Grant Hill. After visiting North Carolina’s Dean Smith, Hill’s father, Calvin, a former NFL running back, wanted to cancel the scheduled Duke visit and sign with the Tar Heels. Grant told his dad that canceling on Coach K would be rude. The rest is back-to-back national championship history in 1991 and ’92.

Not getting Zion Williamson the ball in the 2019 regional final loss to Michigan State. It was too much RJ Barrett in the deciding sequences, not enough Zion.

The last five minutes against Michigan State last Sunday. Coach K was clearly blown away by his young players’ resilience, something they hadn’t shown in previous moments of truth.

More than the back-to-back titles, winning it all with a traditional upperclassmen (though not very talented) team in 2010, then doing it again five years later with an explosively talented one-and-done team. Coach K always adapted better than the rest.