Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki greeted this year’s NCAA national champion Duke Blue Devils in his Pentagon office Monday.

Mike "K" Krzyzewski, Duke’s head basketball coach and a USMA ‘69 graduate, said he arranged the meeting with Shinseki after being invited to meet President Bush at the White House because he wanted his players to understand his deep roots in the Army.

"West Point and service in the Army instilled in me many things I try to develop in my players -- leadership, teamwork, discipline and (meeting) high standards," Krzyzewski said. "The military is the basis of what I do."

The Pentagon visit was not the first time Coach "K" and Shinseki have meet. After leaving the Army as an artillery officer, Krzyzewski coached the West Point men’s basketball team from 1975-1980. Shinseki, a 1965 West Point graduate, attended Duke Univeristy as a graduate student majoring in English and got a master’s degree in 1976. The two met shortly thereafter and developed a friendship when Shinseki joined the academy’s faculty as an English professor.

Shinseki told the Duke players that his job was much like Krzyzewski’s because they both recruit bright young people with a lot of talent and then coach and teach them to develop their skills into a successful team.

"Like the Duke Blue Devils, the Army is a winning team," Shinseki said. "Every time we have to go out, we have to win. To do otherwise is unthinkable. Like your team, we believe in discipline, team play and picking each other up when we fall down."