Why Duke basketball’s Jon Scheyer says he’s ‘really proud of the state of our program’

A private plane parked at RDU Airport’s general aviation terminal awaited Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s arrival Wednesday.

He had a recruit to meet with later in the day, part of his quest to put together a 2024 recruiting class that matches the highly-rated talent he’s brought in the last two years.

But first, Scheyer provided an update on where the Blue Devils basketball program stands 17 months into his tenure as head coach.

Without a doubt, he’s bullish on what he and his staff have going in the Bull City.

“I’m really proud of the state of our program,” Scheyer said Wednesday, during an address to the Raleigh Sports Club.

Scheyer led Duke basketball to an ACC championship last season and didn’t have a single player leave via the transfer portal during the offseason.

While his first season as the Blue Devils head coach, following Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement, included the team falling out of the AP Top 25 rankings and an NCAA Tournament second-round loss to Tennessee, it’s those previous facts that have he and the school’s administration confident he’s succeeding in maintaining Duke as a perennial NCAA championship contender.

When Duke begins practice on Monday, the team will do so with four starters returning from the 59-49 ACC Tournament championship game win over Virginia in March.

Two freshmen from that team, center Dereck Lively and forward Dariq Whitehead, left and were first-round picks in June’s NBA Draft.

But Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell and Tyrese Proctor declined to pursue NBA careers and have returned for their sophomore seasons at Duke.

“I think that speaks to the character of our players,” Scheyer said. “We have three of our guys that would have been drafted. They decided to come back to school despite the fact they would have been potentially first round picks, definitely second round picks. I want you all to think about it. Who else in the country has done that?”

Those three sophomores, along with senior guard Jeremy Roach, give Duke an experienced core to build around. Graduate student center Ryan Young gives Duke another player who played in every game of the 27-9 season a year ago.

Three other deeper reserves, guards Jaylen Blakes and Jaden Schutt and center Christian Reeves, are also back.

“And you bring in a freshman class that’s, to me, the best class in the country,” Scheyer said, “with a really good freshman that all have versatile and translatable games.”

Those four are guards Caleb Foster and Jared McCain along with forwards Sean Stewart and TJ Power.

With Filipowski cleared for full activities after off-season surgery on his hips and Mitchell having been cleared three months ago following his off-season knee surgery, the Blue Devils will be working at full speed next week with the highest of expectations surrounding them.

Many of the off-season projections have Duke ranked as either the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country entering the new season. It’s a safe bet the Blue Devils will be in the top five when the first AP poll comes out prior to the games beginning on Nov. 6.

Now in his 15th year at Duke, including his playing career and years on Krzyzewski’s staff prior to becoming head coach, Scheyer knows such expectations are the norm. Still, he called it “poison” his team must block out.

“You know, just because you’re saying nice things about you in the offseason,” Scheyer said, “that doesn’t mean I’d say nice things about you during the season. That’s not how it goes.”

Scheyer and the Blue Devils found that out last season when they absorbed lopsided losses — unusual by Duke’s standards — to Purdue (75-56), N.C. State (84-60) and Miami (81-59).

But the Blue Devils won 10 games in a row over late February and early March, including three ACC Tournament wins.

They were knocked sideways during the season but regained their swagger to add another championship banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium’s rafters.

“For our team, we’ve been incredibly together,” Scheyer said. “I’m lucky to be able to coach these guys. It’s a hard working group.”

Now, Scheyer and his team seek more. This season, it’s because of all the talent coming back from last season. In future seasons, it’s because Duke’s in the running to add top 2024 talent like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and Kon Knueppel to current committed recruits Isaiah Evans and Darren Harris.

One of those potential future Blue Devils had Scheyer heading to RDU to board that private plane Wednesday.

He did so confident everything was fine back in Durham.