Ranking undervalues Duke basketball assistant Jon Scheyer

Understandably, ACC coaches are underselling one Duke basketball assistant.

To help advertise Jon Scheyer as a peerless recruiter would be a mistake for his ACC peers. After all, in recent years, the 32-year-old Duke basketball associate head coach has made so many of their five-star pursuits seem all but pointless.

So a recent ranking of the top seven assistants in the conference, which Stadium insider Jeff Goodman compiled by polling 20 or so ACC coaches, does make sense. Yes, Scheyer made the cut. No, No. 4 is not high enough.

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First, the top three consists of Virginia’s Jason Williford at No. 1 and then Florida State’s Stan Jones and Charlton Young, respectively. Louisville’s Dino Gaudio and Luke Murray are in a three-way tie at No. 5 with Miami’s Chris Caputo.

But back to Scheyer, who won a national title in 2010 as a do-anything guard and another in 2015 as a first-year member of the Duke staff. He’s been inside the top five on the 247Sports Recruiter Rankings three years running. And the Chicago-area native has also stayed among the top three in the ACC across the same span, putting to rest the notion that the Blue Devils wouldn’t overcome the loss of former top recruiter Jeff Capel to his current gig as Pitt head coach.

Using his charm, intellect, and honest demeanor, Scheyer came in at No. 1 in the country for 2020 after spearheading the recruitments of all four of the program’s incoming five-stars: Jeremy Roach, DJ Steward, Jalen Johnson, and Mark Williams.

The Duke basketball chief’s righthand man looks ready to lead

Now, there’s more to being an assistant than recruiting. That said, one could argue this aspect of the job is by far the most important. Regardless, Scheyer is no slouch when it comes to mentoring the young men he helps reel in every year. Judging from what Mike Krzyzewski told Goodman, his Hall of Fame boss agrees:

“Jon is ready to be a head coach at the highest level. He views and feels the game at a different level and has matured into someone who is essentially another head coach within our program. His innate ability to relate to coaches, players, and families will serve him well in his coaching journey, wherever that may take him. Simply, Jon is an outstanding basketball coach…we are fortunate he’s with us at Duke.”

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Though not reflected in the ranking quite to the degree it should be, an anonymous ACC coach weighed in with what he feels Jon Scheyer excels at best:

“Feel. He has a really good feel about the game, people — and especially young people. Very good evaluator of talent.”

Of course, whoever said that forgot to throw in “very good magnet of talent” as well. Is it possible that ageism is the reason for the slight? Nah, it reeks of sour grapes.

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