USA Basketball honcho Jerry Colangelo says he plied Mike Krzyzewski with late-night pizza and wine in a Chicago restaurant to coax him into coaching the Olympic team one more time.

“I’m a cheap date,” Krzyzewski quipped.

A cheap date for a potentially costly assignment. For the second and final time, Krzyzewski is willing to accept the high-risk, low-reward job of coaching a team that must win gold or be ripped from sea to shining sea.

Specifically, the coach who loses would be the first guy ripped.

Right or wrong, that guy places himself in a position to reap little glory and a lot of grief. To many people, the only thing Krzyzewski could do is screw up. He sure isn’t going to get the credit for coaching them up if the Americans win the gold medal

“No question, you put your career a little bit on the line coaching the international team.”

via Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports