Sweet Redemption

Coach K also bristles at the suggestion that the '06 team took things lightly, insisting that it just wasn't up to the task. "It's perfectly fine to say you're not good enough," he says. "The question is, What do you do to be good enough?" At practice the day before the gold medal game Krzyzewski was asked if he thought his team was now good enough to win the gold. "I think we're humble enough to do it," he replied.

Which brought up another question. What if, despite the overhauled culture and three-year effort, some country had thrown up a barricade along the U.S.'s ballyhooed Road to Redemption? What if it hadn't been enough to have Old Glory stand in for Old Siwash? What would Plan B have been? On the eve of the medal round Colangelo considered the question. "I guess if the worst scenario were to transpire," he said, "you'd do the same things, only better."

If that's indeed true, the Redeem Team didn't just earn its degree in Beijing. It graduated summa cum laude.