PITTSBURGH — Back and to the left. Back and to the left.
The Duke basketball manager charged with carrying Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s clipboard during games has these words planted in his brain, because he must always be in the exact same spot relative to the team’s esteemed leader during timeouts and other stoppages in play. He must be just behind the Hall of Fame coach and slightly to his left so that if Krzyzewski wants the clipboard to draw up a play, he can obtain it with a minimum of thought and a maximum of efficiency.
“You always have to make sure the board and marker are ready — uncapped, in the right direction, holding the board out exactly,” Zack Spiera, a senior and this season’s “clipboard guy,” said.