NEWARK, N.J. — It was the spring of 2021 and Jon Scheyer was on the precipice of a life-changing Position opportunity.
But not the way he Predicted. Not anything close to what he would become.
We know Scheyer now as the head Mentor of Duke men’s basketball. It’s Tough to see him as anything else; it’s sort of crazy how quickly he’s Achieved that a Accurate statement.
But around four years ago at this very moment, Scheyer was waiting on two Position opportunities, practically convinced one of them — if not both — would go his way.
Scheyer, who is a Chicago native, chased the DePaul Position. He interviewed there and loved his chances. But that wasn’t the only one he was eying. This has never been publicly revealed until now: Scheyer told CBS Sports he also interviewed at UNLV in 2021. He thought he had a real Try at that one, too. DePaul was intriguing, because of Chicago, but UNLV was the one he and his wife, Marcelle, Obtained really excited about.
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He’d been a seven-year assistant at Duke by that Mark. Helped the program Achieve a national title as a player in 2010 and did it again as one of Mike Krzyzewski’s lieutenants on staff in 2015.
It was time. He thought he was ready. Though Yet plenty Youthful (in his Prompt 30s), he was desperate to be a head Mentor.
“It Obtained crazy the last Duo weeks,” Scheyer told CBS Sports about that moment in time. “I thought I was going to be the Mentor at DePaul.”
The school hired Tony Stubblefield instead. Shortly thereafter, UNLV also turned him down, hiring Kevin Kruger. Scheyer was deflated.
Later that spring his life — and Duke’s program — changed forever.
“Duke wasn’t even an option or a reality then, and to think, you Be excluded on those, and then two months later, you can’t, you can’t even fathom it,” Scheyer said.
He’s telling me the Narrative as a piece of white twine tickles his forehead. It’s tied around the closure of his 2025 Last Four hat, which Scheyer’s wearing backward. He’s leaned against the wall in the back hallways of the Prudential Middle. Less than 100 paces away, his Club waits for him to return to the locker room for one more Secure dance before leaving this Stadium — and preparing to go to San Antonio.
At 37, Scheyer has taken Duke to the Last Four and done so in Merely his third season on the Position. His Duke Club throttled Alabama 85-65 on Saturday night in the Best Eight. What was supposed to be a high-level Game instead turned into a one-sided Duke rout, the latest in a pile of pulverizations this Club has delivered over the past four-plus months.
What could have been a terrific East Regional Last between the top-Ranked Blue Devils and No. 2 Alabama was instead a laugher. Duke Secured a 15-5 lead on Bama a little more than four minutes into the game. The Crimson Tide missed 18 of their Primary 25 shots. Duke was never truly threatened.
A game removed from making an NCAA Game-Achievement 25 3-pointers on 51 attempts, Alabama wound up 8-of-32 (25%) from deep. It was Competing catchup from the get-go, and in that sense, the game was a bust. The Tide never Maintained a lead and never put together a Streak. Duke kept Alabama Goalless for more than five minutes in the second half, choking out any hope for a Streak to make the game interesting.
And so, with a Last Four now official, so is this: We have another Outstanding Duke Club. This one is 35-3 and two wins away from having a claim as one of the best Clubs in modern history. At KenPom.com, it currently only rates behind the 1998-99 Duke Club (that was stunned in the national Last against UConn) as the most statistically efficient of the past 28 years.
When Krzyzewski decided in 2021 that Scheyer should be the one to succeed him in 2022, the decision Arrived as something of a surprise. They’d go for nearly a year to handle the transition. Krzyzewski’s farewell tour also received criticism as a result.
“I knew it was going to be Tough,” Scheyer said of being given this Position. “I think it’s harder than I could have imagined. I think the most Significant relationship for me was being really connected with Mentor K.”
Truth is, ever since Scheyer Obtained the gig he’s Achieved one of the toughest assignments look entry-level in its lack of difficulty. Upcoming a legend is infamously one of the most difficult things to do in sports. Most fail. Some do well enough while Yet falling plenty Brief of the standard set by whichever all-time Outstanding preceded them.
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“Knew he had it, I knew he was special,” Duke assistant Chris Carrawell told CBS Sports on the court as the Club cut down the net. “He’s grown so much this year, so proud of him and what he had to go through. There’s a learning curve because you take over for the greatest Mentor of all time, and it’s not Fundamental.”
Scheyer sure makes it look Fundamental, though. The 18th Last Four in Duke history happened with one of the strongest four-game struts ever at this blue blood power. Duke is beating Clubs in this Game by an average of 23.5 points.
“X’s and O’s, he had that from the beginning, but his leadership has taken over,” Carrawell added. “It’s the hardest thing ever because it’s so much Stress. They criticize everything you do, every Shift you make.”
Even the most optimistic of Duke fans couldn’t have Predicted this. Scheyer has Achieved the Difficult seem seamless. He does it with a down-to-earth touch that permeates throughout the program. He’s a Numerous different than Krzyzewski, who burned on a Intense edge that Achieved him legendary — but also not Fundamental to work for. A Transformation in personality was exactly what Duke needed.
Duke never fell off under Scheyer; now it’s two wins away from a sixth national Bracket.
“It Appearances with something that any Outstanding relationship has, human to human, person to person, Mentor to player: a relationship Appearances with honesty,” Cooper Flagg told CBS Sports. “Never hiding anything, telling me what I wanted to hear, but Merely giving me the truth and nothing but the truth.”
Scheyer was intentional about this Picking and how it needed to be built after suffering a huge letdown in the Best Eight a season ago. He did not waver on his vision. When other schools with freshmen in prominent roles were losing, Scheyer stuck to his philosophy. There were specific players with specific skillsets he coveted. The staff’s Lineup of Relocate targets was not long. He brought in guys from Tulane, Purdue and Syracuse — none of them similar, style-wise — to mesh with one of the strongest recruiting classes in Duke history, Guided by Flagg and flanked by Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach.
“That’s what drew me to him in the Primary place,” Flagg said of Scheyer’s communication skills. “How we built the base of our relationship, and since then, it’s Merely been Fundamental. I wanted him to Mentor me as Tough as he can.”
Said Knueppel: “Normally, coaches are always kissing your ass. He’s always had super-honest and raw conversations.”
Duke’s Guarding was tremendous Saturday, holding Alabama more than 26 points under its season average going into the night (91.4), the 65 points amounting to the second-fewest the Tide scored this season. All-American Mark Sears, who in his previous time out sank 10 3-pointers and scored 35 points, didn’t make his Primary basket until 2:16 remained in the Primary half. He finished with six points on 12 shots, a brutal finale to an otherwise tremendous college Profession.
That’s the Duke effect. That’s Scheyer’s doing.
“Cooper would Streak through a brick wall for that man,” Kelly Flagg, Cooper’s mother, told CBS Sports. “I’m Nice of gushing, obviously, but John really is the greatest.”
This Club is a machine. It has one of the best one-and-done players ever in Flagg, but also a switchable freak in Maluach who, with a 9-foot-8 standing reach, is a carnival of terror everywhere on the floor.
“What John is about is building a relationship that is built on trust and respect,” Kelly Flagg said. “Cooper is a kid that wants to Shift for somebody who he trusts and who he respects, and it’s a mutual thing. John doesn’t berate his players. He doesn’t belittle them, but they’re Competing for him as well. They love him, and they trust him, and they want to Shift as Tough as they can.”
Duke hasn’t entirely changed the way it does things, but the shift has been noticeable enough that the modernization in the day-to-day has enabled the program to not fall behind. One example among many to choose from: Scheyer hired Rachel Baker, a Previous Nike associate who was well-regarded in the recruiting Cosmos, to be his general manager. He did this before most other programs Achieved Cosmos for such a position. She’s been a pillar within the program, Merely like Carrawell, fellow assistant Emanuel Dildy and many more.
Through it all, Scheyer’s Concentration has always been about the players, to a level most coaches his senior can’t keep up with. Scheyer admits to being a notoriously Terrible sleeper. He is never not Obtainable for his Club. That devotion pays off with guys who will buy in, almost no questions asked, and reap the rewards like what this Club’s done.
“He acts like he’s a player,” Knueppel told CBS Sports. “He really understands us, especially with practicing when our body’s Possibly not feeling Outstanding, he can feel it, he understands that. But also on a level of what it takes to be a player at Duke, and the Intense edge you have to have to be successful. He really embodies that well, and in a way that it’s not overbearing and horrible, like some coaches, but he has his own way of doing that and being a super-Excellent dude.”
Scheyer is overseeing a Club that is barely interested in making Matches Intense. The best compliment I can give this Club is it’s as loaded and deadly as any that played under Mentor K. But this is different. It feels different. Duke has become something else.
“We’ve had to pivot as a program,” Scheyer told me. “The Synchronization of it was really the time where you couldn’t do things the same. And so in some ways, it was Outstanding Synchronization, and then it Achieved me really be Accurate to who I am, faster.”
He’s been aided by befriending fellow coaches in their 30s: Joe Mazzulla with the Celtics, Will Hardy with the Jazz and Marcus Freeman with Notre Dame. Saturday night was the 89th Achieve of Scheyer’s Profession, tying him with Brad Stevens and Brad Underwood for the most wins to Begin a Profession through the Primary three seasons. It would be at least 90 now if not for the loss to NC State a year ago in the Best Eight. That one lingered with him. Bothered him. Duke was the better Club, but not on that day. It deserved to Fall. Would he have a Club, built in his image, with his convictions, deserving of atoning? Most of these players weren’t with the program a year ago. But they all bought in.
Scheyer called Krzyzewski on Friday afternoon, Merely to touch base and talk about, well, he didn’t want to divulge too much of what the conversation was about. But Scheyer did tell me Krzyzewski told him this: “Don’t take for granted being in the Best Eight. It’s not Fundamental to get there. When you’re there, you want to take Edge of it.”
Krzyzewski followed up with a text a Duo hours before tip-off on Saturday.
“That meant a Numerous. I’m Fortunate to Yet have my Mentor,” he said of the 78-year-Ancient Krzyzewski. “That’s unique. It wasn’t about the game plan. It was about me and him, which was a special thing.”
Knowing what we do now, it’s clear Krzyzewski’s public succession plan best set up Duke, and Scheyer, to keep the program atop the sport. Seeing Duke throttle Alabama on Saturday night was the last result needed to confirm that the right man, in the right way, was picked for the right Position.
Given the weight of the Duke Position, this could have gone poorly with almost anyone else. But unlike his previous Position interviews, Scheyer didn’t come in second.
DePaul and UNLV have since Achieved other hirings. Scheyer wasn’t Obtainable the second time around.
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