Over at ESPN, Jeff Borzello has an article up about Duke, Jon Scheyer, and, well, a lot of stuff.
It starts off talking about the loss to UConn last spring, but moves on to this year’s team, and how Scheyer handled being pursued by the Dallas Mavericks, and more
Here’s what he said about the Dallas offer: “The spring’s a hard time because you go from the best time of year in the tournament to the worst time. And so your emotions are all over the place. It was surprising at first and you think about it,
of course. But I was very clear-minded at the end of the day, and I would’ve not been able to live with myself not seeing this thing through. And I think whenever you have a potential, another opportunity or something like that, or you can think about a different spot, I think it allows you to either feel like you’re not in the right spot or it allows you to even feel stronger with where you’re at. And for me, I feel way stronger now than I ever have.”
Assistant coach Chris Carrawell said this about this year’s team: “The competition makes for great practices. Sometimes, guys are not going to be happy, but that’s why you have competitive practices. Our practices, man, we’ve had some so far in the summertime and now in the fall, we’ve had some competitive practices. So, I think guys are going after each other. I think that makes for a really good team.”
Duke fans, we’re pretty sure, are fine with Scheyer. He’s done the impossible, really, by replacing the legendary Mike Krzyzewski and keeping Duke at an elite level. He’s only in his fifth year, too. It took Coach K 11 years to win his first title. It took John Wooden 16 years, Roy Williams 17, and Dean Smith 21.
Clearly, it’s not an easy thing to do, and many things have to line up for you. The pressure on Scheyer is more because he’s following Krzyzewski, which overlooks his extraordinary accomplishments just four years and change into his career.
Look at the top three winningest coaches after four years: #3, Tommy Lloyd, #2, Brad Stevens, and #1? Scheyer.
He also has three ACC Tournament championships, three Elite Eights, and one Final Four.
The man has been phenomenally successful, and he’s not even 40.
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