Tag: Jon Scheyer

The best and worst possible Duke basketball outcomes, according to EvanMiya

Check out the best-case scenario (and the worst) for the 2024-25 Duke basketball team according to popular analytics website EvanMiya.

EvanMiya, the popular college basketball analytics site, released a story on Friday breaking down the best and worst possible outcomes for each team in the country, and Duke (predictably) could be the top team in the country.

Evan Miyakawa, the site’s founder, explained in a blog post that he simulated the 2024-25 season 10,000 times for the calculations. He used the fifth and 95th percentile results to determine the best- and worst-case scenarios.

The Blue Devils, led by freshman superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], start the season as EvanMiya’s fourth-best team, but the ceiling projection included the No. 1 spot within their range of outcomes. In fact, Duke was the only team in the ACC with the ceiling to reach the first overall spot as the North Carolina Tar Heels could only climb up to No. 3.

However, as to be expected with a team reliant upon five-star freshmen, the floor in Durham is well outside the top 25. In fact, EvanMiya sees the worst possible version of the Blue Devils finishing as the No. 48 team in the country.

In fairness, however, that floor is not abnormally low among the top teams. The Houston Cougars, EvanMiya’s top preseason team, were the only team with a floor within the top 30 (26th). Only the Cougars, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Iowa State Cyclones, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Kansas Jayhawks finished with a higher floor than Duke in the preseason projections.

The median Duke result, according to EvanMiya’s calculations, was the tenth-best team in the nation. Only Houston (fifth) and Gonzaga (seventh) ended with a better number.

Duke Blue Devils picked to win the ACC in 2024-25 preseason men’s basketball poll

With top-ranked freshman Cooper Flagg at the helm, voters think the Duke Blue Devils will finish atop the ACC in 2024-25.

The ACC released the 2024-25 men’s basketball preseason poll on Tuesday, and the Duke Blue Devils look like the favorites to win the conference.

Head coach Jon Scheyer and his team received 42 of the 54 possible first-place votes, ending up with a conference-leading 956 points in the voting.

While Scheyer has made the Elite Eight, won 54 games, and taken home an ACC Tournament title over his first two seasons as the Duke head coach, he’s yet to win the conference’s regular-season title. After a 29-11 ACC record to start his tenure, the voters seem to think he’ll add that bullet point to his resume next spring.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, last season’s regular-season conference champion, received 11 of the other 12 votes to finish second with 924 points. No other team finished with more than 800 (Wake Forest).

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the top-ranked freshman and presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, plays a huge role in why the Blue Devils start the year as ACC favorites. He dominated the voting for ACC Rookie of the Year, earning all but one vote for the award, and made the All-ACC First Team with the second-most votes in the conference.

Flagg’s not the only reason why the Blue Devils look like national championship contenders, however. Classmates [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] and [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] both made ESPN’s top 10 NBA draft prospects, returning starters Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster bring a combined 73 starts to the lineup, and the three transfers look like instant-impact players.

Duke starts its 2024-25 season on November 4 with a home game against Maine, and the Blue Devils play their first conference game against Louisville on December 8.

Duke basketball starts fifth in Andy Katz’s preseason 2024-25 power rankings

Duke begins the year outside of the top five in the AP Poll, but one prominent national analyst thinks the Blue Devils are a top-five team.

The Duke Blue Devils failed to crack the top five of the preseason AP Poll, but one prominent national analyst thinks that top-ranked Cooper Flagg and his teammates are among the country’s upper echelon.

Andy Katz released his preseason power rankings on Monday, and he had the Blue Devils fifth behind only the Alabama Crimson Tide, Kansas Jayhawks, Gonzaga Bulldogs, and Connecticut Huskies.

All four teams also start the year above Duke in the AP Poll, but Katz isn’t as high on the Houston Cougars and Iowa State Cyclones. They start the year in sixth and seventh, respectively.

Katz does agree that the Blue Devils are the team to beat in the ACC. He put the North Carolina Tar Heels ninth, the same spot that UNC finished in the preseason AP Poll. Scheyer swept his in-state rival during his first season before losing both games last year, so 2024-25 will serve as a tiebreaker of sorts.

Katz didn’t include any other ACC teams in his top 25, but the Clemson Tigers (26th) and Wake Forest Demon Deacons (31st) make the complete list.

Duke basketball begins the 2024-25 season within the top 10 of the AP Poll

The Associated Press released its preseason men’s basketball rankings on Monday. See where the Blue Devils start the year here.

The Associated Press released its preseason men’s basketball rankings on Monday, and despite Duke head coach Jon Scheyer pulling in the best recruiting class in the country, the Blue Devils didn’t crack the top five.

The voters left Duke seventh, only three points behind the Gonzaga Bulldogs in sixth.

Top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and recent Olympian [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] lead a freshman class featuring four five-star talents, but Scheyer lost 10 players from last year’s roster. Even with veteran transfers like Tulane’s Sion James, Purdue’s Mason Gillis, and Syracuse’s Maliq Brown, there have been national questions about Duke’s reliance on first-year talent. The team’s spot in the rankings indicates that several voters buy into those concerns.

Despite Scheyer’s team coming in lower than expected, Duke still finished higher than any other team in the ACC. The North Carolina Tar Heels, last year’s conference champion, will start the year in ninth, and no other team from the conference made the top 25 (The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Miami Hurricanes, the Clemson Tigers, and Louisville Cardinals all received votes).

The Kansas Jayhawks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Connecticut Huskies, Houston Cougars, and Iowa State Cyclones took the top five spots in order.

Duke basketball jumps to fifth in the 2025 recruiting rankings after Boozer commitments

After Cameron and Cayden Boozer became Duke’s first 2025 commitments, the Blue Devils vaulted to fifth in the class rankings.

Duke basketball fans might be surprised that it took head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his staff until October for their first 2025 commitments, but the Blue Devils came through in a big way with the addition of Cameron and Cayden Boozer on Friday.

The twins from Miami, both ranked within the top 25 in 247Sports 2025 rankings, helped move the Blue Devils to fifth in the site’s team rankings with just two commitments.

As of Friday afternoon, Kentucky Wildcats are the only other school with multiple five-stars in the Class of 2025 (guard Jasper Johnson and center Malachi Moreno). The Notre Dame Fighting Irish sit atop the rankings with four commitments, but the Clemson Tigers (seventh) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (ninth) are the only other ACC programs within the top 10.

Including the Boozer twins, 13 five-star prospects have now committed to Scheyer and the Blue Devils since the Class of 2022. Duke also made the final three for five-star small forward Shelton Henderson earlier this week, so Scheyer and his staff might not be done yet.

Carlos Boozer, the father of Cameron and Cayden, won a national championship with the Blue Devils in 2001 before a lengthy NBA career.

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer has landed more than a dozen five-stars since 2022

With the addition of the Boozer twins, Jon Scheyer has landed multiple five-star prospects in each of his four recruiting classes.

Duke basketball coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] did something on Friday that’s become a frequent occurrence since he took over the Blue Devils: he reeled in a commitment from a five-star prospect.

Cameron and Cayden Boozer, two of the top 25 prospects in the Class of 2025 recruiting rankings, announced their commitments to the Blue Devils on Friday, making them the first two members of Scheyer’s 2025 recruiting class.

Both brothers are five-star talents according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, meaning that 13 such players have now committed to Scheyer since the Class of 2022.

The 2024 recruiting class has obviously been the talk of the school this summer with top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and 7-foot Olympian [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] leading a roster that looks like a preseason favorite to win the national championship.

Wisconsin native Kon Knueppel vaulted all the way to sixth on ESPN’s prospect ranking after analyst Jonathan Givony watched him in practice, and Isaiah Evans was named North Carolina Mr. Basketball in each of his last two seasons of high school.

[autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag], now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers after his impressive freshman season, was one of two five-star prospects in the Class of 2023, and Scheyer’s first recruiting class was almost as loaded as this year’s. Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II, two-time All-ACC forward Kyle Filipowski, and returning starter Tyrese Proctor highlighted a class with five five-star signees.

While the blue-chip talent hasn’t translated to a national championship yet, it’s still produced an ACC tournament title and a trip to the Elite Eight in Scheyer’s first two seasons. With Flagg and the Boozers both zeroed in on championships (and some 2024 signees likely to still be in Durham when the twins arrive in 2025), the odds of a sixth title only climb with each passing year.

Cameron and Cayden Boozer have their eyes set on a national championship with Duke

According to a Friday feature in Sports Illustrated, Cameron and Cayden Boozer don’t just want to play for Duke. They want to win at Duke.

Duke basketball fans already have a lot to look forward to with the 2024-25 Blue Devils, anchored by top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and three other five-star signees.

Head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] pulled in commitments from top 2025 talents Cameron and Cayden Boozer on Friday, however, and they want the Cameron Crazies to keep an eye on 2025-26.

According to a Friday feature from Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney, the twin brothers from Columbus High School don’t see why their goals should be anything less than a national championship.

“If that’s not our standard, we’re selling ourselves short,” Cameron said.

The twin’s father, Carlos Boozer, won a national championship with the Blue Devils back in 2001. He played three seasons for legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski before taking his talents to the NBA.

While the brothers, both top-25 prospects in the Class of 2025 rankings, can already call themselves some of the best players in the country, Sweeney wrote that the Boozers have their eyes on much loftier goals.

“There are a lot of players that plateau in high school,” Cameron says. “My biggest thing is not being one of those guys.”

Whether the Boozers are fighting for Duke’s sixth national championship or seventh, their Durham journey begins next fall.

Duke basketball surged past Miami late in the process for the Boozer twins, per reports

While Cameron and Cayden Boozer followed their father’s footsteps, reports indicate that Duke was not the favorite through the process.

Cameron and Cayden Boozer, the twin sons of former Duke basketball star Carlos Boozer, announced their commitment to the Blue Devils on Friday morning.

While fans around the country felt like this was a foregone conclusion because of their father’s collegiate career, multiple reports on Friday indicate that head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] and his staff actually began the process as underdogs.

The Athletic’s Brendan Marks and 247Sports’ Travis Branham both posted on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators started ahead of Duke in the race for the Boozer brothers.

“Miami and Florida led for much of the time but the recent unofficial visits proved to be critical with Duke grinding out the victory,” Branham wrote.

“Huge recruiting win for Jon Scheyer, who gets his centerpiece(s) for next season’s team,” Marks added.

The Columbus High School products are two of the top 25 players in the Class of 2025, with the 6-foot-9 Cameron being the fifth-best Duke basketball commit of the century according to 247Sports.

https://twitter.com/TravisBranham_/status/1844725607181017235

https://twitter.com/BrendanRMarks/status/1844729484865413233

The brothers become Scheyer’s first commitments in the Class of 2025.

The Boozer twins joining Duke is a bigger win than getting Cooper Flagg

Cameron Boozer and Cayden Boozer announced their collegiate decision and they will play men’s college basketball at Duke. 

Cameron Boozer and Cayden Boozer announced their collegiate decision and they will play men’s college basketball at Duke.

This is a major win for Duke men’s head basketball coach Jon Scheyer, who officially landed a commitment from one of the top recruits in the nation for the second year in a row. Cameron Boozer is currently the No. 2 player in the class of 2025 and his brother, Cayden, is No. 21 in the class.

It is not exactly shocking that the twin brothers will attend the same school as their father, Carlos Boozer, who won an NCAA title at the university in 2001. But it is majorly impactful for Scheyer.

Plus, t was reportedly not a lock that these incredible basketball players would go to Duke. So for the program to land them both over Miami and Florida was a major win in an era post coach Mike Krzyzewski.

COOPER FLAGG: Every NBA franchise should be praying to the basketball gods for after he cooked Team USA

This news comes one year after the coach also received a commitment from Cooper Flagg, who is the No. 1 player in the class of 2024.

We project that Flagg will also hear his name called as the first pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, though, so his stay in the NCAA will likely not be long.

Flagg is an elite prospect and joins Wembanyama as one of the best we have evaluated in recent years. But he is just one player who will only be on Duke campus for a few months.

The Boozer twins will headline a Duke recruiting class as two top-tier NCAA prospects. Even though Cameron is almost certainly a one-and-done prospect like Flagg, perhaps Cayden decides to stay an extra year in college. It isn’t an impossible thought!

Plus, it should inspire more highly-touted recruits to play alongside them.

That means Scheyer may have just landed more than two seasons of college basketball in one fell swoop, which is impressive work from the third-year coach.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=462925]

Former NFL star shares excitement for upcoming Duke basketball season on social media

The upcoming Duke basketball season is one of the most anticipated in recent memory, and one former NFL star can’t wait any longer.

The 2024-25 Duke basketball season begins in less than a month, and the Cameron Crazies have to be absolutely buzzing with excitement. One former NFL star can’t handle the anticipation either.

“I’m ready to watch (Duke men’s basketball),” former Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley posted on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday. “I can’t wait any longer!!!”

Gurley, who was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the Offensive Player of the Year in 2017, ran for 6,082 yards and 67 touchdowns in his six-year career. He added 2,254 yards and 12 touchdowns as a receiver, peaking with his 2,093-yard 2017 campaign.

The star running back reached the Super Bowl with the Rams in 2018, finishing with 34 total yards in a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots before an ACL tear and arthritis in his knee brought his career to an early end.

Duke can match Gurley’s star power on the court in 2024-25. Top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, leads a class of four five-star freshmen into Cameron Indoor Stadium. Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, two other first-year Blue Devils, both made the top 10 of ESPN’s NBA draft prospect rankings.

Duke’s first regular-season game takes place at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 4 against Maine.