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Nate James and Jon Scheyer have been handed the keys to the Tesla. Theyre not about to go joyriding.We dont want anything to happen on our watch while hes away, James said.Can you blame them?He would be Duke Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski; he of the five national championships and more than 1,000 wins; he of the Basketball Hall of Fame; and he of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a graduate whose steely-eyed stare could leave a grown man weak in his knees. And he currently is in Rio where hes leading the U.S. mens basketball team, the best basketball players in the world, in his final go-round as Olympic head coach.Meantime, back in Durham, North Carolina, sits his Duke mens basketball team, which will arguably be one of the best college basketball teams in the country this coming season, winding up its critical offseason conditioning.Essentially, James and Scheyer, two of Krzyzewskis two assistants, have been given one charge: Dont mess it up.Theres no question you feel a huge responsibility to make sure youre holding up what he would want, Scheyer said. The big thing we tell our guys is, how do you want this team to look when he gets back? The first chance he gets back to watch us again, how do you want to be?That, indeed, might seem like good fuel to get the old motor running.The good news is the coaches know their boss pretty well. James and Scheyer both played under Krzyzewski and have been on staff for a few seasons. James came on board in 2007-08, just as Krzyzewski was prepping to head to Beijing for that Olympic run. With Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski manning things on campus, he often found himself as the lone man on the recruiting trail, tying up loose ends. He repeated that role in 2012, when Krzyzewski headed to the London Games.Now, with associate head coach Jeff Capel in Rio, James is the old veteran on staff. He and Scheyer, who has been on staff since 2013, are the guys in charge while Nolan Smith is the low man on the totem pole as the newly hired special assistant.The staff got through July relatively easily. The coaches were fairly certain about who they were interested in -- and those players already knew of Dukes interest -- so there was no need to explain why Krzyzewski wasnt around. It got a little tricky when they spied someone who hadnt initially been on their radar.Whenever theres a new recruit thrown into the mix, it creates a slight problem, James said. We were gym-hopping a lot to begin with, so we were limited in the number of guys we could see and we also had to think, Ok, how can we make this work without him feeling like we dont have any interest?But as vital as planning for the future is, handling the present is really critical this year for Duke. With Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum, the anchors of the nations No. 2 recruiting class, joining Grayson Allen, Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones and Luke Kennard, the Blue Devils will be among the heavy favorites to win it all next season. All of the players already are on campus, working on conditioning drills and individual workouts. Thats the easy part. Most high-caliber athletes are accustomed to training and weight lifting.The harder part of the winning formula is combining the old with the new. That worked exceptionally well two years ago, when Justise Winslow, Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones mixed seamlessly with veteran players on the roster, the lack of friction as much the reason for the 2015 national championship as the talent on the roster.Krzyzewski used that offseason -- in particular the month of August, when the freshmen were on campus -- to foster team building. That year, the Blue Devils participated in a program called Dear World, in which people write meaningful phrases on their bodies and then share the stories behind them.Now its up to James and Scheyer to ensure this critical early time goes smoothly. Though Krzyzewski is in frequent contact -- usually via text, or through Capel -- hes surprisingly not a micro manager. The Army man in him has left his soldiers to figure things out on their own, entrusting them to do what they think will work best with the players.He gives us complete freedom, letting us follow our instincts, Scheyer said. Of course hes keeping tabs, but he really leaves it up to us.Realizing that the dog days of August arent exactly fun for anyone, the coaches decided to try to use the reason for Krzyzewskis absence as their tool. Lets call it the Blue Devil Heptathlon.The coaches have divided the team up into three groups of four -- the gold, black and white teams -- and created their own pseudo-Olympic games. There are no individual event medals, just points assigned to each with an overall gold awaiting the group that scores highest.Weve got the medicine ball throw, like a shot put, the mile run, a bunch of relays, James said.At last update, Jones, Giles, Frank Jackson and Chase Jeter had the early lead for the overall gold medal. This week as the U.S. enters the quarterfinals and medal rounds, the Blue Devils will gather to watch and celebrate their own, as yet still to be determined, gold medalists.Were trying to be as creative as possible, without getting anyone hurt, James said with a laugh.Thats probably not a bad idea. If youve been handed the keys to the Tesla, the last thing you want to do is crash it. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Martin Flores birdied five of the last seven holes for a 5-under 66 and a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web.com Tour Finals Nationwide Childrens Hospital Championship.Already guaranteed a PGA Tour card with a fifth-place finish on the Web.com Tours regular-season money list, the 34-year-old Flores rebounded from a bogey on No. 11 with birdies on the next four holes and closed with a birdie on 18. He had a 13-under 20 total on Ohio States Scarlet Course.Im not going to change anything, Flores said. I respect every individual out here, and I know that anybody can put together a hot round, so Ive got to keep doing what Im doing. I know the golf course is very, very difficult and its going to be a challenge.Flores won the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in July for his first Web.com Tour title.I struggled early with lag putting, Flores said. I was leaving everything short. Just struggled with the speed. Then as the round went on I started to hit the ball close quite a few times, but I started getting the speed a lot better. So I was very happy with that.Tag Ridings, tied with Flores for the second-round lead, was second after a 69. The 42-year-old Ridings was 52nd on the Web.com money list and entered the third of four series events 36th in the race for 25 PGA Tour cards with $9,493.It feels great always, Ridings said. It feels really good on this golf course to actually beat it three days in a row. So Im going to try to just stay focused on doing that.dddddddddddd Youve got to beat it off the tee and then you can play in from there.The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tours FedEx Cup standings and non-members with enough PGA Tour money to have placed in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup had they been eligible.Flores and the other top-25 finishers on the Web.com money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals.The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings . The last PGA Tour card went at $33,650 in 2013, $36,312 in 2014 and $32,206 last year.Grayson Murray was third at 9 under after a 68. He earned a PGA Tour card with by finishing 18th on the Web.com money list.Mexicos Carlos Ortiz (66) and Australias Cameron Smith (67) were 8 under. Ortiz was 172nd in the FedEx Cups standings and missed the cuts in the first two series events. Smith was 157th in the FedEx Cups standings and is 48th in the card chase with $6,910.Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton was tied for sixth at 7 under after a 70. He was 173rd in the FedEx Cup standings and is 63rd among the players vying for the 25 cards with $4,000. ' ' '