Sports · Basketball · 10 hrs ago
Duke coach Jon Scheyer uses painful losses to prepare for new season
Duke coach Jon Scheyer is using recent defeats to prepare for the new season as he begins his fifth year leading the team.
Duke lost to Houston in the Final Four the previous season after giving up a nine-point lead in the final two minutes.
Last season, Duke fell to UConn in the Elite Eight when Braylon Mullins made a 35-foot shot after a turnover, ending a game Duke had led by 19.
Scheyer said he rewatched both losses, including the UConn game for the first time during the offseason, because he did not want to skip lessons from them.
Four players who started at least 11 games are back, giving Duke more experience than the previous season, when no starters returned from the year before.
Duke also has the country's No.
2-ranked recruiting class, but it will not have a player like Cooper Flagg or Cameron Boozer, who each led the team in recent seasons before entering the NBA draft.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer rewatched the team’s Elite Eight loss to UConn during the offseason as part of his preparation for a new season.
Duke had led by 19 before losing on a 35-foot buzzer-beater by Braylon Mullins.
Scheyer said he did not want to skip the steps of examining the defeat.
The loss followed Duke’s Final Four defeat to Houston the previous year, when the team gave up a nine-point lead in the final two minutes.
Four players who started at least 11 games last season are returning, giving Scheyer players with experience of the recent losses.
- Who
- Duke head coach Jon Scheyer and the Duke men’s basketball team.
- What
- Scheyer is using painful season-ending defeats as material for reflection and preparation.
- When
- During the offseason before Scheyer’s fifth season at Duke.
- Where
- Durham, North Carolina.
- Why
- Scheyer said examining the losses was part of his offseason process and that he would have skipped steps if he had not watched the UConn game.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Duke lost to Houston in the Final Four after giving up a nine-point lead in the final two minutes.
Duke lost to UConn in the Elite Eight after leading by 19, on Braylon Mullins’s 35-foot buzzer-beater.
Scheyer rewatched the UConn game for the first time.
Scheyer told ESPN that he did not want to forget or diminish how Duke reached the loss.
Scheyer prepared to return with four players who started at least 11 games the previous season.
- Coach
- Jon Scheyer
- Season
- Scheyer was entering his fifth season at Duke
- UConn loss
- Elite Eight; Duke had led by 19
- Decisive shot
- Braylon Mullins hit a 35-footer at the buzzer
- Returning players
- Four had started at least 11 games the previous season
- Houston loss
- Final Four; Duke gave up a nine-point lead in the final two minutes
What people are saying
Losing sucks. And losing in a way you never think you're going to lose sucks.
But how you got there, you can't forget. You can't diminish that stuff, either. I was very cautious. If I didn't watch that game, I would've skipped steps.
If we keep putting ourselves in that position, you're going to tinker and learn.
And so I'm as hungry as ever.