Jon Scheyer has started a remarkable run with the Duke basketball program but the excruciating pain of the Final Four collapse is truly the first time he didn’t get the most out of his team in his career.
In Scheyer’s debut season, he navigated the waters of being a first-year head coach and still found a way to lead the Blue Devils to an ACC Tournament Championship and win an NCAA Tournament game.
He caught a bad break in the Round of 32 playing a veteran and physical Tennessee team without Mark Mitchell who missed the game due to injury, but it was a positive start to his career with a squad who was, at best, a second weekend team.
Last year was an up-and-down season that hit a rough patch in the postseason, losing to NC State in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament but found its stride in the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a couple of breaks.
After a victory over Vermont, Duke got to face No. 12 James Madison in the Round of 32 after its upset against Wisconsin. It’s victory over No. 1 Houston came with an asterisk after Cougar guard Jamal Shead suffered an ankle injury in the first half and could not return.
If he plays, Duke likely loses and has its season end, but it allowed the Blue Devils to pull the upset while the Wolfpack, the Cinderella story, somehow advanced to the Elite 8 after making the NCAA Tournament by winning the NCAA Tournament.
NC State had more magic in the second half against the Blue Devils, outscoring them by 18 points in the second half to advance to the Final Four.
In retrospect, it was very clear that the 2023-24 version of the Blue Devils weren’t a Final Four caliber team and likely would have lost to Purdue in the National Semifinals if they had beaten the Wolfpack. It was a team that advanced as far as it did because of good fortune along the way but ended the season in disappointing fashion because it had more talent than NC State.
Then comes the disaster against Houston this season and it’s the first time that people can truly say Scheyer underachieved with one of his teams.
Duke had the game won against the Cougars until they didn’t. They were the favorite entering the NCAA Tournament to win the title and even more so in the Final Four.
Jon Scheyer let an opportunity slip through his fingertips and he knows it. His team knows it. The college basketball world knows it.
His postgame interview with CBS and subsequent press conference had it written all over his face and in his response. The chance was there to win the National Championship, and it didn’t happen.
"This is part of it. You've got handle the wins, and you've got to handle the losses too."
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 6, 2025
Jon Scheyer joins @tracywolfson after the loss to Houston. pic.twitter.com/K2UJLAGFhB
It could have been the most talent he will ever coach at Duke, and that’s not to say he won’t return to a Final Four or win a National Championship, but it’s hard to currently envision a better collection of talent, led by Cooper Flagg, in Durham.
Yet, while this team felt like it had one more game to play and fully maximize its potential, it doesn’t mean that Jon Scheyer is a bad coach or wasn’t the right pick to succeed Mike Krzyzewski, he just had a bad night at the worst time.
This loss will follow Jon Scheyer throughout the offseason and into next season until he gets back to the biggest stage in the sport and wins, that’s just how things go, but he will do everything in his power not to let Saturday night’s debacle define him.