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The Duke University basketball team was down by one point to Kentucky in a game in 1992 in which a trip to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament was on the line. In his new book, "Beyond Basketball: Coach K's Keywords for Success," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski cites the ending of that game as a shining example of what the term "crisis management" means for him.

Krzyzewski asked Grant Hill if he could throw the ball 75 feet to Christian Laettner, who would be positioned at the free-throw line. When Hill said he could, Krzyzewski turned to Laettner and asked him if he could catch the ball and get a shot off before the buzzer would sound.

Laettner said he could if Hill could.

"It all went according to plan," Krzyzewski writes. "Grant threw the ball to Christian, as promised, and Christian caught the ball, dribbled once, turned around, and took our team's collective shot. The ball left his hand and, while it seemed to hang in the air forever, the clock expired. It went in. Pandemonium."

Coach K, as Krzyzewski is frequently called, says that the game ended in Duke's favor because his team had been well prepared for such an eventuality, even though the players could not have envisioned facing that particular predicament.

"For me, every team meeting, every practice, every individual conversation that occurs throughout the season establishes who we will collectively be when a crisis occurs," the coach writes. "If you plan to manage a crisis when the time comes, it is already too late to establish the communication and trust that should already exist among the members of your team."

Of course, Coach K is not just talking about basketball or other team sports when he makes that point.

The same practical wisdom applies to business and other organizational efforts.

"I say, 'Luck favors those who have spent their preparation time building effective systems of communication and trust in one another,' " he writes. "That way, when a crisis occurs for you, within your family, your team, or your business, it can turn into an opportunity to shine."

Crisis management is one of the key words and phrases Krzyzewski uses as chapter titles in this follow-up to his New York Times best-seller "Leading With the Heart: Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business and Life." The chapter heading "Crisis Management," of course, is more than just one word, as are "Collective Responsibility," "Giving Back" and "Next Play."

The other headings, however, are concepts expressed in one word: adaptability, adversity, balance, belief, care, challenges, commitment, communication, courage, culture, dependability, empathy, enthusiasm, excellence, failure, family, friendship, fundamentals, guidance, imagination, integrity, learning, love, motivation, ownership, passion, poise, pressure, pride, respect, selflessness, standards, talent, trust, will and work.

The conclusion is titled "The Fist." Krzyzewski explains that for his teams the five fingers of the fist represent communication, trust, collective responsibility, care and pride, attributes that, when brought together, bring victory.

"Instead of giving high fives or patting one another on the back, my teams put their fists together," he writes. "When I show them my fist and they show me theirs, we remind one another of the five words that will bring us together and allow us to be the strongest we can be."

Coach K goes beyond the dictionary definitions of the words he spotlights in this book and illustrates his meanings with inspiring episodes from his life both on and off the basketball court.