“We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud
And b*tch about the weekend crowd
And try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow”
— Jason Isbell
Jon has a tough job. With one and dones, the current transfer situation, NIL, etc etc the college basketball world is in a state of flux. KY, UNC, Villanova and Duke are not in the top 25 as of last week. Top teams lose on a regular basis.
This team, like many of K's last teams, has frosh in prominent roles. Basketball is a team game and you need good teamwork to win. While it is hard to build that with prominent frosh, it is doubly difficult to do so and deal with significant injuries that cause players to adopt to different roles during the season.
I personally think Jon will do just fine. Impressed by his work in recent weeks and looking forward to seeing him grow.
SoCal
I am buying Coach Jon Scheyer’s stock. Last night showed he can win when Duke isn’t playing their A game offensively and Duke is undermanned.
With that said, if he can beat one of the next two coaches he coaches against (Larrañaga and Bennett) on the road and likely still undermanned, I think that’ll be among the most impressive wins for a team in our league this season. Larrañaga is one of the better coaches in the league and their offense is elite this year (10th in the country on Kenpom currently). He had K’s number frequently and especially at Miami, FL when they hosted Duke. Bennett is the best coach in the conference hands down. If Duke can win there at UVa I’ll be very surprised. But it is possible. If Coach Jon Scheyer gets this team to focus and they look prepared tomorrow after the emotional win last night, it will be impressive in and of itself.
Shane Ryan, occasional DBR poster, goes in on Scheyer after last night's win.
@ShaneRyanHere
It was always a kind of malpractice to give the reins of a program like Duke to a guy who had never been a head coach before, but because it was Coach K's call, Duke fans en masse would never point out how idiotic it was. Too much groupthink. There's a reason Duke wanted Amaker. Buckle up, we're in for 3-5 years of the same one-and-done we've had with K for the last decade, but with worse coaching and probably worse recruiting with time. Only mystery is how long Duke waits to go against the guru and send Scheyer packing.
Is he anything more than an occasional DBR poster? Is he a journalist or something?
I'm a lot more comfortable with Scheyer than I am with any other of our former players who have had experience head coaching because none of them has excelled, especially at major programs. I think I still pick Scheyer, but my one gripe with the selection process was not considering anyone outside of Duke.
Ryan is a bright dude but he tends to be a bit reactionary.
Scheyer’s doing just fine. He’s not K. Tommy Amaker also is not K.
I made this thread for the purpose of just discussing Scheyer not b/c I believed he was doing a bad job or should be worried about his job security.
While Jon has had his fair share of first-time HC mistakes, I have a hard time seeing how Tommy would have been a slam-dunk better choice. It's not like Tommy has had a stellar coaching career. As for the OAD shot, K left the cupboard pretty bare. What did Shane expect Jon to do in year 1?
Oh I forgot all about that guy.
“Always…malpractice” - how many other times has the reins of a program like Duke been passed to a first time coach? Don’t think he’d find much evidence to draw any sort of real conclusion.
Shane apparently expects us to believe it’s “malpractice” to hire a first time coach at Duke, and Coach K didn’t see that but the University did. He’s implying that the University cared more about the success of the Hoops program than K. And their solution was… Tommy Amaker? IF this was such an obvious thing and these were the dynamics, wouldn’t the administration push for the best possible outside hire?
I am guessing Shane doesn’t follow recruiting either. He’s just assuming it’s going to be 3-5 years of One and Done with no changes. Never mind Scheyer’s obvious attempt to get older through the Transfer Portal, and the profile of the guys he has signed over the next couple years.
Finally, he’s making some pretty big assumptions on a small sample size about Scheyer’s competence and approach. And this is in a year where Jon *inherited K’s approach to roster building*. Maybe let’s give the guy some time and see what happens?