Duke basketball's Mike Krzyzewski sounds off on upcoming NCAA Tournament

Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski held a press conference Tuesday before his team plays its first NCAA Tournament game Friday at 12:15 p.m. Duke is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region and will square off with 15th-seeded Albany at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Here are some highlights from the 30-minute question and answer session:

Krzyzewski on the injury statuses of Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry:

"Everybody right now is ready to play Friday. Ryan is still good, Seth is doing well and it's nice to have everybody. We have been practicing since the tournament and had a little bit of a slower day today with meetings, weight room and walk-through to give Seth and Ryan a day to do their rehab."

Krzyzewski on whether Tyler Thornton or Rasheed Sulaimon will start Friday against Albany:

"Rasheed will start... breaking news."

Krzyzewski on his team's loss to Maryland in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal:

"With our program, the story for the last 25 years has not been about the times we are ready to play, it's been about the few times that we haven't been. Every human being fights a little thing called human nature. It's a hell of a thing to fight, and the really good people win most of the time. That's what our program has been about. In the last 17 years, our program has been a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed [15 times]. It's more than our conference if you combine all the teams in our conference. So I knew how I was preparing our team.... Maryland is really good and human nature was really rampant that night."

Krzyzewski on his team's mindset entering the NCAA Tournament:

"We were in tough situations. We played the toughest schedule. Our guys did a great job, so they're prepared. We just didn't have the luxury of continuity in doing that. Having Ryan out for two months and not having Seth on a repeated basis in practice, the Seth thing was something we kind of adjusted to and the Ryan thing was a new thing. For the team to get hit with two unusual situations like that, they handled that well. So I think my team is going to play well and I love my seniors and what they've done. I think we're going to be ready to go."

Krzyzewski on how he addresses last year's NCAA Tournament loss to Lehigh:

"You can't focus on that. You talk about it and say 'we weren't ready' or 'we weren't as together' or whatever the heck happened. But I think the main thing that happened was C.J. McCollum and an outstanding Lehigh team. For the seniors I'd like for them to focus a little bit more on when they were freshmen. That was pretty good—they won a national championship."

Krzyzewski on how he approaches the NCAA Tournament:

"I remember talking to Coach [Bob] Knight about it because you're always trying to figure out psychologically how to be better. And he said 'Each game is a championship game. And if you make it to the sixth championship game, you're a veteran of winning championships.'"

Krzyzewski on Quinn Cook's relationship with Nolan Smith:

"They're from the same area and same AAU program, and Nolan is really one of the great kids of all-time.... They've really become brothers through one of the worst adversities of losing a father too early."

Krzyzewski on Seth Curry's ability to play through his injury:

"It's been one of the most unique years. And you tend to forget because you watch him perform, and his year is absolutely incredible. In mid-September, a couple of the medical views on him were to operate right away and he would be out the whole year. So it's not like a sprained ankle or anything like that, he's managed a very serious injury. And his leg has actually gotten better, but it's still not quite 100 percent."