Birthday Spotlight: Jon Scheyer

Arguably one of Duke’s best point guards to set foot on the Coack K Court in the past 10 years turns 27 today. Jon Scheyer, now one of Duke’s assistant coaches, is now three years away from being the age of his college basketball number.

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Back in high school, Scheyer played shooting guard and in 2005, led his team to the Illinois state basketball championship, taking home the gold. He’s the fourth-leading scorer in Illinois state basketball history, with 3,034 points. Only five players in the history of Illinois high school basketball scored more than 3,000 points in their careers. He also is second all time in the most field goals made category with 966. He was ranked first eight years, until this season. He also is second on the charts for most free throws made in a career with 814.

Once he graduated, he played for Duke, where he switched positions, moving to point guard, at the end of his junior year in 2009. The switch paid off, as Scheyer was named the Most Valuable Player that season in the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

His success at point guard didn’t stop there. The next season, awards and accolades piled up for Scheyer. He was Duke’s captain. He was a consensus All-American at the end of the season. He earned unanimous ACC First Team Selection honors. For? He helped lead Duke to victory over Butler in the NCAA Championship Game. The team comprised of some people such as, Andre Dawkins, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Brian Zoubek. He also was the team leader in points per game (18.2), assists per game (4.9), free throw percentage (.878) and steals per game (1.6).

Scheyer’s professional playing career was short lived. Even after his successful senior season, he wasn’t drafted in the NBA Draft that year. He ended up switching back to shooting guard and played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA D-League. After that, he went to the Middle East, to play for the Maccabi Tel Aviv for one season (2011-2012). After that, he went to Spain to play for Gran Canaria. That was the last team he played for, before being granted a job back at his alma mater coaching this spring.

“It is such an honor to be back at Duke as an assistant coach,” Scheyer said back when he was hired. “To think that I have not only had the opportunity to play here, but also come back to be a coach and help the guys go through the same process I went through is an honor for me and I am excited. I am going to approach it the same way I did as a player and give it everything I have.”

It’s exciting to see Scheyer back… Happy Birthday.