Tag: Jon Scheyer

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer talks about managing deep roster for 2024-25 season

“If you want something, earn it now.”: Jon Scheyer spoke about how he’s managing his stacked 2024-25 roster during the offseason on a new podcast.

Few college basketball coaches will have a harder job managing their roster in 2024-25 than Duke’s Jon Scheyer.

The Blue Devils return two starting guards from the 2023-24 squad that reached the Elite Eight. They also bring in a star-studded freshman class with four five-star prospects and two other top-40 players in the country. If that wasn’t enough, Scheyer also landed four transfers, including three of the biggest names on the market.

So how does a coach with more than 10 possible starters decide who gets to start and end games on the court? During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, Scheyer expanded upon his process this offseason.

“I think the only way to attack it is brutal honesty,” Scheyer said. “Just to be completely transparent…I’ve done things a little bit different this year. I’ve wanted to give these guys an opportunity to show even earlier, if you want something, earn it now.”

“We’ve done more as a team and less individual (work), I’ve felt it was important to get time this summer to not just get to know one another but also to carve out whatever you want…instead of me saying you should play a certain way.”

Scheyer said he and the coaching staff will provide feedback for the players (“If you’re not being successful at it, I’ll tell you”), but he ultimately wants every member of the rotation to earn a spot in the lineup.

The third-year coach started the offseason with similar sentiments early on in the summer, saying that no player on the team entered the season with guaranteed minutes and praising how competitive his newest locker room is.

College Sports Wire puts Duke atop early ACC men’s basketball power rankings

College Sports Wire’s Andy Patton released an early ACC men’s basketball power rankings, and he thinks the Blue Devils are the team to beat.

College Sports Wire’s Andy Patton released an early power ranking for the 2024-25 ACC basketball teams on Monday, and he thinks no team is better suited to run the conference than the Blue Devils.

North Carolina swept the Blue Devils last season en route to a conference title, but Patton moved them down to second after Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, and Harrison Ingram headed to the NBA.

The Tar Heels added two big recruits in Ian Jackson and Drake Powell and Belmont transfer Cade Tyson, as well as retaining All-American RJ Davis. Compared to Duke adding [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], [autotag]Sion James[/autotag], Mason Gillis, Maliq Brown, and multiple other elite freshmen, however, UNC’s additions feel less important to maintain a grip on the conference.

The Blue Devils opened the offseason as national championship favorites, so their position atop the ACC makes sense. But some recent power rankings dropped Duke from the top five due to their reliance on freshmen and moved UNC back above them.

Patton rounded out his top five with Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, and Miami. Some historical powers finished lower in his top 10 with Virginia in sixth, Syracuse in eighth, and Louisville in ninth.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer praises Cooper Flagg’s fit in the Blue Devils locker room

Jon Scheyer said top-ranked recruit Cooper Flagg came to Duke “with a chip on his shoulder” and praised his fit with the team in new podcast

The Duke Blue Devils never fly under the radar in the college basketball world. A program with five national championships in the last 35 years can’t be anonymous. However, a prospect like [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] only makes the microscope focus a little harder.

The runaway hype for the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft would also be easy to reach a 17-year-old’s head. According to the Duke program, however, that hasn’t been an issue for Flagg.

During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] talked about how easily Flagg fit into the program despite the added weight of his recruiting status.

“The thing I love about him is he wants to be coached, he wants to be pushed,” Scheyer said. “He’s added to our environment, he’s added to the culture we’re trying to build because he’s come in with a chip on his shoulder. No entitlement, he’s been just hungry to work.”

When asked if he and his staff felt any pressure to perform given Flagg’s status as the best prospect in the country, Scheyer gave an important nugget of perspective about recruiting rankings for high schoolers.

“He’s 17,” Scheyer said. “We’ve got to help him.”

Flagg’s already gaining valuable pre-college experience with the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team, including a notable dunk during Sunday’s scrimmage against the Olympic team,

Jon Scheyer explains why he wanted Duke basketball to get bigger in new podcast appearance

Every Duke basketball player will stand at least 6-foot-5 next season. Head coach Jon Scheyer explained the commitment to size in a recent podcast.

The Duke basketball team is going to be huge in 2024-25, and head coach Jon Scheyer explained that the size of the Blue Devils roster is no accident.

During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, Scheyer said the team consciously targeted height to maximize the team’s athletic ability on defense.

“I want us to create more turnovers,” Scheyer said. “In order to be more aggressive like the teams that I’ve been a part of here, the more athletic you are, the more you’re able to do that because you can cover ground, (you have) the length to make up for it.”

“So that’s why we’ve gone bigger…and that’s my style for how I’ve been taught here under Coach (Mike Krzyzewski) but also how I want to play for us going forward.”

Scheyer also highlighted Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown, who averaged 2.2 steals per game last season as a 6-foot-8 forward, as someone he immediately targeted because of his ability to create chaos. [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], two standout freshmen and presumed 2025 lottery picks, fit the same bill at 6-foot-9 and 7-foot-2, respectively.

Sophomore guard Caleb Foster, at 6-foot-5, will be the shortest player in the rotation next season. Check out every player on the 2024-25 roster ranked from tallest to shortest here.

Jon Scheyer throws out first pitch at a Durham Bulls game on Fourth of July

Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer spent the Fourth of July throwing out the first pitch at a Durham Bulls game.

Few American pastimes hold the history that baseball does, and the Fourth of July brings more reason than any day of the year to sit in a ballpark and enjoy nine innings with your closest friends and family.

Duke men’s basketball coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] got a little closer to the action in 2024, however. Ahead of a Durham Bulls game against the Norfolk Tides on Thursday, the third-year Blue Devils coach trotted out to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch.

The team released a video of Scheyer on the mound as he tossed the ball toward home plate. He brought his three young children out to celebrate the moment with him, and Durham’s Rob Brantly waited behind the plate for the pitch.

The former Blue Devils star would undoubtedly be more comfortable with a basketball in his hands instead of a baseball, but based on the video of the pitch, the ball seemed to find the strike zone in our eyes.

Despite the festivities of summer, and despite their being months before the first Duke basketball game of the season, Scheyer remains deep in preparation for the 2024-25 schedule. The team’s social media accounts have already released footage from the team’s first scrimmages, and star freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] is already one of the most popular players in the country.

247Sports’ Way Too Early 2025 NBA mock draft features five Duke basketball players

Duke places five first rounders in way-too-early mock draft from 247Sports.

With the first round of the 2024 NBA draft having come and gone, 247Sports and many other outlets are already turning their attention to next year. Many NBA franchises are also doing the same thing since the 2025 NBA draft is shaping to be one of the most star-studded drafts in recent memory.

Duke’s Jared McCain went 16th overall to Philadelphia on Wednesday night and ended up being Duke’s only first-round selection for the 2024 draft. Kyle Filipowski fell out of the first round entirely.

Even with one round left in this year’s draft, 247Sports believes Duke will have more than one first-rounder next year if their way-too-early 2025 mock draft is any indication.

There’s a plethora of legit franchise-changing options, and it has the potential to be one of the best crops of draft talent in many years. Where the 2024 draft lacked the high-end superstar type of talent, 2025 makes up for that abundance.

At number one to the Brooklyn Nets, [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] still stands tall. He’s as generational a prospect as Duke has had in the one-and-done era, and the hype will need to be realized this fall when Duke takes the court. His blend of size, athleticism, defensive prowess, and competitiveness has carried him through the prep ranks, but now he’ll have to show he can be the guy on college basketball’s biggest brand in an attempt to lead Duke to its sixth national title.

[autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] is slated to go fifth overall to the Utah Jazz. The 7-footer’s blend of size, length, rim protection, and evolving offensive game, which sees him consistently shooting from a distance, makes him an incredibly enticing center prospect.

[autotag]Caleb Foster[/autotag] received major love in this mock draft. After not being on NBA radars last season as a freshman, there seems to be some major momentum to Foster’s stock, and some in the NBA community are taking notice. Foster has terrific size for a guard prospect, standing at 6-foot-5, and he can play on and off the ball while shooting 40% from 3-point range. His home at Duke this year will be more off the ball as a potent scoring option for Duke while Tyrese Proctor continues to handle the point guard role primarily.

He can shoot and handle the ball and showed how much of a slasher he can be with Duke. Because of the shooting they brought in during the offseason, they will likely spread the court much better, opening up driving lanes galore. This mock has him going to New Orleans with the 14th pick and joining former Blue Devils Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.

[autotag]Isaiah Evans[/autotag] was picked to land with the Memphis Grizzlies at the 16th pick in this exercise. His length is a problem for defenders at 6-foot-7, and while many compare him to the previously mentioned Ingram, they only share an ability to score and similar collegiate body shapes. Duke has slim players who need to add mass, but Evans is as fiery as they come on the court. He’s a confident player with a dazzling offensive package. He will be asked to be a sparkplug off the bench for Jon Scheyer’s team this year.

The final first-rounder for Duke in this mock draft is [autotag]Kon Kneuppel[/autotag], and he may be the most unknown to Duke fans. While he probably won’t start this year, Knueppel feels like an important player off the bench for the Blue Devils. He is not the most athletic player Duke will play this year, but he’s tough, understands basketball at a high level, and does everything well, especially on the court. He can shoot at a high clip and pass, and at 6-foot-6, he has the size and physicality to bang down low and rebound, too. He was mocked to the current defending champion, Boston Celtics, with the 30th and final pick of the fist round and would play alongside [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag].

Noticeably, Proctor was not named in this mock draft. Proctor’s stock has taken a hit since his freshman year. Still, there’s reason to believe that the Australian can resuscitate his draft stock with a Wendell Moore-like jump as a junior and potentially sneak himself back into consideration.

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis.

2025 will be a massive year for Jon Scheyer, no matter what happens for him and his program in 2024. The hope is that, by this time next year, the Blue Devils will be figuring out how to repeat as national champions if we work under the assumption that their efforts to surround generational prospect Cooper Flagg with a championship-caliber team were indeed successful.

Even without that assumption, we know a few almost undoubtedly true things. Duke will lose at least four players from this year’s roster. Five, considering this will likely be junior Tyrese Proctor’s last year as a Duke Blue Devil.

With the departure of key players, Duke will again face a significant challenge in rebuilding the team to maintain its competitive edge next year.

Assuming Proctor leaves alongside Sion James, who only has one year of eligibility remaining, Duke will need actual ball handlers on next year’s team. It’s too far out to know who will be available via the transfer portal, so it makes sense why Duke recently offered 2025 combo guard Acaden Lewis.

Lewis is ranked as the 34th-best prospect in 247Sports player rankings for the class of 2025. He’s ranked nationally as the sixth-best combo guard and the number-one player from Washington, D.C.

 

In the film, you see a 6-foot-3 guard who thrives on using ball screens to get downhill, where he can finish with either hand. He is quite proficient in using mid-range jump shots or floaters to score. He uses pace to make defenders uneasy.

He has an effortless release and range. He also showcased the ability to be a proficient spot-up shooter. He has the versatility that Scheyer covets and could be a fit either playing on or off the ball in Durham.

He is being recruited heavily by UNC, Maryland, Georgetown, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.

Kyle Filipowski shares hilarious Jon Scheyer tidbit in new The Athletic article

Kyle Filipowski sat down with The Athletic ahead of the NBA draft and shared a funny practice memory with Duke coach Jon Scheyer.

Kyle Filipowski sat down with The Athletic’s Brendan Marks for a Q&A ahead of Wednesday’s NBA draft and provided some fun insights on his Duke career.

He broke down his workout schedule ahead of the draft and shared his favorite memory as a Blue Devil, the ACC Tournament run in 2023, but the best moment of the interview came from his [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] story.

Filipowski said his favorite memories with the Duke head coach came from practice. Scheyer would, as every coach does, get upset if players didn’t execute correctly on the court, but his response didn’t always go as planned.

“There are times where it’s a very serious moment in practice, and we’ve messed up — like, we messed something up in practice, so he’s mad at us, yelling at us,” Filipowski said. “Then he takes the ball to show us what we need to do, and it ends with a layup — but then he missed the layup.”

Filipowski said the team would try to hold back laughter if the mood was truly serious but not always succeed.

Filipowski finds out what NBA team he’ll begin his career with on Wednesday night.

2025 Duke basketball target Shelton Henderson schedules Duke official visit, per report

Shelton Henderson, a top-30 prospect in the Class of 2025, will reportedly take a visit with the Duke basketball program in September.

The Duke basketball program will host one of its 2025 targets this fall.

According to a Thursday report from League Ready’s Sam Kayser, Shelton Henderson will take an official visit with the Blue Devils from September 27-29.

Henderson, the 19th-ranked recruit in the class in 247Sports’ rankings and a top-five small forward in his year, posted through social media that the Blue Devils offered him on June 11. The 6-foot-6 Texas native has earned praise for his athleticism and ceiling, and 247Sports recruiting analyst Brandon Jenkins wrote that he “arguably has the best long-term tools in the national class” in his scouting report.

Henderson will also take a visit with Louisville, another ACC power that is undergoing a coaching change after a disastrous 2023-24 season, about a month earlier. His offer list also includes LSU, Texas, Houston, Texas A&M, and DePaul.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer just welcomed his six freshmen from the 2024 recruiting class to Durham earlier this week, but the Blue Devils don’t have a 2025 commit on the board yet.

Duke basketball reportedly reaches out to 2026 Paul VI star

After landing two commitments from Paul VI in the 2024 recruiting class, Jon Scheyer is reportedly talking to a 2026 star from the school.

Duke basketball might pursue yet another basketball star from Paul VI Catholic High School in Virginia.

According to a Saturday report from Colby Giacubeno, the Blue Devils reached out to Jordan Smith Jr. from the Class of 2026.

Smith, a shooting guard, is a five-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite Ranking. One of the top 15 players in his year, the 6-foot-3 guard is the third-ranked player at his position in the class.

Duke coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] already has roots at Paul VI in just a few short years. Duke’s vaunted 2024 recruiting class features two of Smith’s former teammates, center [autotag]Patrick Ngongba II[/autotag] and guard [autotag]Darren Harris[/autotag].

The trio helped lead Paul VI to the national final against Montverde Academy (the school of [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], another Duke signee and the top-ranked player in the country).

Smith also told Giacubeno he’d heard from schools like Georgetown, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Old Dominion, and Syracuse since the recruiting window opened up.

Scheyer has his eyes on the future with the news coming days after Duke offered Shelton Henderson from the Class of 2025.