Tag: Jon Scheyer

Five-star 2026 basketball prospect reportedly set for unofficial Duke visit

According to a Wednesday report from League Ready, 2026 five-star Jordan Smith Jr. will take an unofficial visit to Duke in September.

Duke basketball head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] remains years ahead on the recruiting trail.

According to a Wednesday report from League Ready’s Sam Kayser, five-star prospect Jordan Smith Jr. from the Class of 2026 will take an unofficial visit to Durham on September 28th.

Smith, who is currently 247Sports’ eighth-ranked player in the class, plays for Paul VI Catholic High School in Virginia. Duke basketball fans who keep a keen eye on incoming talent should recognize the school as home to four-star forward Patrick Ngongba II and four-star guard Darren Harris, two members of the Blue Devils’ 2024 recruiting class.

Harris, Ngongba, and Smith led Paul VI to the championship game at Chipotle Nationals this year, falling to fellow Blue Devil [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and Montverde Academy.

Smith averaged 10.0 points per game over the final three rounds of the tournament, including a 15-point performance in the quarterfinals against IMG Academy. Harris, notably, scored 36 points in that same game.

Only time will tell if Scheyer can land a third Paul VI star in three cycles, but the Blue Devils remain key players in Smith’s recruitment.

Duke basketball shares photos of Blue Devils legend Grayson Allen back on campus

The Duke basketball team shared some photos of Grayson Allen on the court with coach Jon Scheyer in Durham on Monday.

Duke basketball legend [autotag]Grayson Allen[/autotag] took a short trip down memory lane on Monday.

The Blue Devils’ social media team shared some photos of the Phoenix Suns star on the court with current Duke head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag], who was an assistant with the program when Allen played in Durham from 2014-18.

No Blue Devil has scored more points since 2010 than Allen’s 1,996. He came off the bench as a freshman for 16 points in the 2015 national championship game against Wisconsin, the last of Duke’s five titles. He averaged 21.6 points per game as a sophomore and a career-high 4.6 assists as a senior in 2017-18.

At the professional level, Allen had a career year with the Suns in 2023-24. He led the NBA in 3-point percentage at 46.1%, his fifth consecutive season above 39% from distance. He averaged a personal-best 13.5 points per game, his fourth straight season in double-digits, and earned a four-year contract thanks to his play.

Allen will have a small Duke reunion in Phoenix next season. Point guard Tyus Jones, one of his 2015 teammates in the national title game, signed with the team this offseason. Duke center Mason Plumlee also signed a contract with the Suns.

Duke basketball takes top spot in The Athletic’s early ACC power rankings

The Athletic’s Brendan Marks released early 2024-25 ACC men’s basketball power rankings on Thursday with the Blue Devils in pole position.

The 2024-25 ACC basketball season keeps growing closer on the horizon, and the conference should run through the Duke Blue Devils once again.

The Athletic’s Brendan Marks released his early power rankings for the conference on Thursday, and he put Jon Scheyer’s squad in the very top spot.

It’s rare to see a fanbase that lost 10 players as optimistic as the Cameron Crazies, but there’s only one [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] in the country. The top-ranked freshman has been raising his stock higher and higher over the last 12 months, from Montverde Academy’s undefeated season to his breakout weekend at Team USA’s Olympic training camp.

Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor, who combined to start more than 40 games last season, are the only two returning names from last year’s rotation. Marks thinks they are key to Duke’s ceiling.

“Proctor and Foster need to stay healthy after missing time last season,” he wrote. “If they do? Duke has the experience, top-end talent and role definition necessary to make a national championship run.”

North Carolina, naturally, came in second on Marks’ list. Louisville, Miami, and Wake Forest rounded out his top five with NC State, last year’s Cinderella, sliding all the way to 10th.

Cooper Flagg explains why he picked Duke and talks about schools talking down Blue Devils

Cooper Flagg said he felt a connection to Duke on his visit, but he added that other schools kept doing this one thing that drove him to Durham.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the top-ranked prospect in the Class of 2024, sent shock waves through the college basketball world when he picked the Duke Blue Devils.

His commitment heralded one of the best recruiting classes in recent college basketball history as head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] pulled in three other five-star prospects and two additional four-star players. All in all, the Blue Devils finished with six top-50 recruits when the dust settled.

During a Tuesday episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, Flagg talked to sophomore teammate Caleb Foster about why he picked the program.

“It was something that coach Scheyer had stressed to me a lot going through the whole process was about the feel,” Flagg said. “Like I would know when I got the feeling of where I wanted to be.”

“I think it really came down to when I came on my visit and I was just able to meet all of the guys on your team last year, interact with the coaches a bunch more, and just kind of had that feeling of being on campus and really just imagining myself being here,” he continued. “Once I kind of felt that, I kind of had the feeling of, like, this was where I want to be.”

Foster, a four-star recruit in his own right, and Flagg agreed on one thing other schools tried that didn’t work for them.

“When we were going and talking to other schools, just kind of like, ‘Oh, Duke doesn’t have this,’ ‘This is why you shouldn’t go to Duke,'” Foster said. “Everybody recruiting against Duke, it’s like, bro, what do you have to offer? Why are you worried about Duke?”

“I think most players out there do not like when coaches will do that type of stuff,” Flagg added.

Flagg confirmed earlier in the video that his decision came down to the Blue Devils and two-time defending champion Connecticut.

Joe Lunardi puts Duke and North Carolina on 2-seed line in ESPN’s latest 2025 Bracketology

Duke opened as early favorites for the 2025 national championship, but ESPN’s Joe Lunardi now thinks the Tar Heels are on their same tier.

When ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi released his first projections for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, he listed Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils as the top overall seed.

In almost every successive update since, Duke has dropped a little lower.

After dropping them from the top spot in May, Lunardi slid the Blue Devils down to a No. 2 seed in June. Now, in another update on Tuesday, the ESPN analyst thinks North Carolina might be on Duke’s same footing in the ACC thanks to two big transfers and a few incoming freshmen.

“It might be that North Carolina is the favorite when the ACC conducts its preseason poll in October,” Lunardi wrote.

In his latest full-field projection, both the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels finished on the 2-seed line. Lunardi paired Duke with No. 1 Alabama in the East Region, and UNC paired with No. 1 Kansas (the top overall seed in the tournament) in the Midwest Region.

Four other ACC teams made the bracket in Lunardi’s way-too-early Bracketology; Clemson (No. 8, South), Wake Forest (No. 9, Midwest), and Miami (No. 10, West). Pittsburgh finished in the First Four, battling Maryland for the No. 11 seed in the East.

The best photos from Jon Scheyer’s playing career with Duke basketball

Before he succeeded Coach K, Jon Scheyer led the Blue Devils to a national title on the court. Here are some photos from his playing days.

The [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] era is off to a promising start in Durham.

The Blue Devils made the NCAA Tournament in both of Scheyer’s first two seasons, reaching the Elite Eight in year two after a second-round exit in 2023. The ascension looks destined to continue in year three with [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], and the best recruiting class in the country headed his way.

However, before Scheyer took the clipboard from Mike Krzyzewski, he played for Coach K from 2006-10. He even won a national championship with the Blue Devils as a senior, and he averaged double-digit points in all four of his college basketball seasons.

We ranked the 10 best Duke basketball players from the 2000s this weekend, and Scheyer ultimately ended up just on the outside looking in as an honorable mention. However, his playing career still defined an era of hoops at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Here are some of the best photos from his playing days.

Duke basketball makes the top 10 for top-100 shooting guard Braylon Mullins

Duke basketball made the top 10 for newly offered four-star Braylon Mullins, a talented Class of 2025 sharpshooter from Indiana who keeps rising in the rankings.

Despite being the most recent team to offer four-star shooting guard Braylon Mullins, Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils clearly made a strong enough impression. Mullins released his top 10 schools on Monday and included Duke as he prepares to meticulously wrap up his recruitment.

Duke has watched Mullins play on multiple occasions over the spring and summer circuit, but the offer didn’t come until this past weekend. Mullins has been electric on the Adidas circuit, eviscerating defenders on the court with some electrifying performances. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound four-star sits at No. 73 overall on the 247Sports 2025 Composite Rankings, but the late riser very well may finish within the top 50 or higher when the rankings get updated. He’s already catapulted up to No. 23 on the 247Sports Rankings.

Alongside Duke, the caliber of schools recruiting Mullins is as impressive as it gets. The Connecticut Huskies, winners of the last two national championships, remain in hot pursuit. UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, and others have all put themselves into the running for Mullins.

Duke has yet to coordinate an official visit with Mullins but his father told On3’s Joe Tipton that plans were being made to schedule one. Mullins has scheduled official visits with the Tar Heels, the Wildcats, the Hoosiers, Michigan, and Tennessee.

Mullins would be a terrific shooting guard fit on Duke because of his ability to shoot the ball at an extremely efficient clip.

 

Bleacher Report includes four Duke basketball players in new 2025 NBA mock draft

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman released an updated 2025 NBA mock draft on Thursday with four members of Duke’s 2024 recruiting class.

It makes sense when you consider that Duke basketball coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] landed four five-star prospects and two more four-star players in the 2024 recruiting class, but the 2025 NBA draft could shape up as a day for the Blue Devils.

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman released a new mock draft for next year’s cycle on Thursday, and he thinks four Duke freshmen end up in the first round.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the top-ranked player in the class and the most anticipated college basketball player in years, of course went first overall. The USA Select Team member only solidified his status as a generational player with his performance at Olympic training camp, earning praise from NBA stars like Kevin Durant.

“He continues to show improvement working on the ball with his ball-handling, playmaking and self-created shotmaking,” Wasserman wrote. “While his skill level continues to rise, Flagg’s speed, hops and IQ will instantly translate to easy baskets, assists and defensive activity.”

Wasserman gave the Portland Trail Blazers the top pick in the draft, winning the Flagg sweepstakes.

While South Sudanese 7-footer Khaman Maluach typically gets hailed as the second-best NBA prospect on the 2024-25 roster, Wasserman actually turned to Kon Knueppel as the second Blue Devil off the board. He paired him with the Miami Heat with the 12th overall pick.

Knueppel, a prospect many basketball writers have praised during the offseason, will need to answer questions about his athletic ceiling, but Wasserman said his scoring instincts should alleviate any concerns.

Maluach followed as the third Blue Devil chosen when Wasserman let him go 17th overall to the Utah Jazz, meaning he’d play alongside [autotag]Kyle Filipowski[/autotag]. Isaiah Evans, the final four-star signee in the recruiting class, went to the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 25th pick for the final Duke player off the board.

ESPN shares feature on Duke basketball fan who attended UNC game for Make-A-Wish Foundation

ESPN released a feature on Tuesday showing Duke basketball fan Bradee Vance meeting the team and attending a rivalry game against UNC.

Countless people across the United States consider themselves die-hard Duke basketball fans, but few can measure up to West Virginia teenager Bradee Vance. Earlier this year, Vance experienced a one-of-a-kind Blue Devils journey to commemorate that fandom.

ESPN released a feature on Tuesday about Vance, a high schooler who was diagnosed with Alport syndrome at age 13. The disease, which attacks blood vessels in the kidney, required a transplant back in 2022. His aunt provided one of her kidneys for the replacement.

After the successful operation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation took Vance and his family to see the Blue Devils play North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier this spring. Vance and his family got to walk onto the court and sit in the team meeting rooms the night before the rivalry game, and head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] embraced Vance and talked with him.

During a meeting with the team, senior captain Jeremy Roach presented Vance with a custom-made Blue Devils jersey bearing his last name.

He and his family also spent some time with five-time national champion [autotag]Mike Krzyzewski[/autotag] during the day of the game.

Duke fans can watch the full feature down below, an incredibly well-made tribute to his family and their journey.

Jon Scheyer talks about toughness and leadership on 2024-25 Duke basketball team

Jon Scheyer’s talked a lot this offseason about his Duke basketball team competing and showing toughness, but what does that mean?

Duke basketball coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] keeps using the words “compete” and “tough” to talk about his vision for the 2024-25 Blue Devils. He praised [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the top prospect in the country, for how hard he plays. But what exactly does Scheyer mean when he says stuff like that?

During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, Scheyer broke down what he looks for in a basketball player and how he defines a competitor behind the scenes.

“For me, when I think about competitiveness or toughness, I think about somebody who wants to do it every single day,” Scheyer said. “Not just depending on the game, not just when the lights come on, but does somebody show up every single day.”

Scheyer brought up [autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag]’s work ethic a lot during the Philadelphia guard’s freshman season, so it’s safe to assume he’s been a shining recent example of this work ethic. The third-year Duke coach also thinks his older players, from returners Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor to his new transfers, show those same qualities.

“They’ve been incredible,” Scheyer said about his two returning guards. “They’ve been great with looking themselves in the mirror, things they can do better…they’re hungry, ready to go, but I think those three guys from the portal really provide that as well, Mason (Purdue transfer Mason Gillis) in particular.”