Coach K Sidelined After Back Surgery

Mike Krzyzewski had several operations during the offseason.

Hall of Fame Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is stepping away from the team to have lower back surgery.

The school announced Monday that the procedure is scheduled for Friday, with an anticipated recovery time of four weeks.

Krzyzewski will coach Wednesday night's game against Georgia Tech before handing off to associate head coach Jeff Capel for Saturday's home game against Boston College.

Krzyzewski, 69, will have a fragment of a herniated disk removed at Duke University Hospital. The school said Krzyzewski tried several treatment options during the past month before deciding on surgery.

Krzyzewski said in a statement that he consulted with the university's medical team and "together, we have determined that surgery is the best course of action at this time." He said the Blue Devils will "be in the capable hands" of Capel and assistants Nate James and Jon Scheyer. The winningest men's coach in Division I history had four surgeries during the offseason to replace his left knee, repair his left ankle and fix a hernia. He squeezed those procedures into a busy summer in which he also led the U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.

Capel - a former Duke guard who went 175-110 in nine years coaching at Virginia Commonwealth and Oklahoma - previously took over for Krzyzewski when he missed a trip to Georgia Tech last February because of dehydration and high blood pressure.

That victory in Atlanta marked the first time Krzyzewski did not travel with his team since the 1994-95 season, when he missed the final 19 games due to back surgery and exhaustion. Those Blue Devils went 4-15 during that span and became the last Duke team to miss the NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina: Guard Sindarius Thornwell apologized to his teammates and fans after his reinstatement without shedding light on why he was suspended for six games for an unspecified violation of athletic department policy.

Thornwell, the team's top scorer and rebounder, will return when the Gamecocks (10-3) open Southeastern Conference play at Georgia on Wednesday night.

"I don't want to go into details about it," he said.

AP poll: Villanova's impressive win at No. 10 Creighton kept the Wildcats at No. 1 for a fifth straight week, while Baylor jumped from fourth to second.

The only new member of AP's Top 25 was Virginia Tech, which beat Duke 89-75. The Hokies (12-1) were No. 21, their first ranking since the opening week of the 2010-11 season.

Villanova (14-0) received 59 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday to easily outdistance the Bears (13-0), who got the other six votes for No. 1.

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