In the afterglow of a 20-point victory in Elite eight, before his players poured blue and white confetti over him, Jon Scheyer shared a moment on the track with his wife, Marcelle, and one of their children, equipped with noise-reducing headphones.
In just three years he had done so. Scheyer trained Duke back to the Final Four – the program is first since any guy named Mike Krzyzewski still patrolled the side line.
The overwhelming product in New Jersey celebrated not only a team with three NBA lottery picks but also a coach that has successfully expanded the school’s basketball gray to the current zero and portal-driven era.
Rarely does a succession plan go as seamlessly as Krzyzewski to Scheyer.
“Look, as I went through the interview process, I did my homework,” Scheyer said Saturday night after Duke defeated Alabama 85-65. “When you look at success, very rarely … manage to follow – coach K is one of one, but after a legendary or a good coach.”
I recently criticized the practice of legendary coaches who hand -picked their successors, but Scheyer is the exception that proves the rule. Here is the difference: Coach K appointed him head coach in anticipation of a full year in advance when he entered his farewell tour.
Scheyer, a Krzyzewski student who was Blue Devils’ associated head coach for four years, credited that year of preparation and his manager’s “Vision” to plan the future.
“So obviously there is a responsibility you feel and a pride,” Scheyer said. “But this has not been about sound outside for me because it is just – I don’t know if you can ever win. So my energy has gone into everyone who is in our building, our team, what we can control.”
Is Duke’s Cooper flag a generation star? No doubt. But Flagg shot 6-for-16 on Saturday night, at one point, eight shots were missing from nine. He would not have a mediocre team forward on his own.
It was a major improvement from returning players like Tyrese Proctor, who got 17 points, and Caleb Foster, who had five points and three assists in key reserve minutes. Both were part of Duke’s Elite Eight loss to North Carolina State in March last year.
“We have gone through so much together, and I don’t think I could put words into the feelings we had together,” Proctor said about his coach. “Last year obviously how it ended was not how we wanted. And just to have confidence in him and him to put all his confidence in me, just being able to lead these guys has been enormous.”
The last point is the most obvious: The Blue Devils took an Alabama team that made an NCAA tournament record 25 3-points in the previous round versus Byu and neutralized that attack, which allowed only 8 of 32. They kept Alabama speechless for 5:16 in the route. Such a strict defense strength all year-round-reflects a well-coached team.
There is no weakness here. We throw that assessment a lot in the media, but it is rarely justified. To get this dominant, the coaching must be elite, regardless of your blue blood status or how many NBA stars you have.
Scheyer reached a Final Four as a player on Duke. He did it again when he was at Krzyzewski’s staff. And next week he will be there as a head coach and deserves every minute of it.
