Jeff Teague certainly has no love lost for Duke. Teague played his college basketball down Tobacco Road at Wake Forest before playing 12 seasons in the NBA. Teague has been retired since 2021, but has stayed in basketball coaching at Pike High School in Indianapolis as well as being active in basketball media.
Despite his collegiate allegiance, Teague can't help but marvel at what Jon Scheyer is doing at Duke, picking up right where Mike Krzyzewski left off. Most everyone, including some Duke fans, expected a drop-off once Coach K retired and handed the reins to Scheyer. There's been none.
Duke has remained the biggest brand in college basketball, and Scheyer has consistently built contenders. He hasn't broken through with a national championship yet, but it feels like just a matter of time.
Teague believes he's identified why Scheyer has found so much success.
"He just has a really good rapport with the guys," Teague said on the Club 520 Podcast, courtesy of Blue Devil Voices on X. "Speaking to guys that played at Duke, they enjoy being around him. He’s easy to work with. But he also has that new youth kind of coaching. Like, I can relate to you. I can get on the court, play with you. I can teach you things, and then you can see the things I’ve learned cause I can actually still show you when I get on the court.
"And I think that matters for kids these days. If they can see you did it before, they will believe it. If you just talk about it, I think those days are kind of out the window. I think they want to see you on the floor and be able to prove some of the stuff that you’re talking about.”
Jeff Teague believes Jon Scheyer's youth is his greatest strength
Youth can be used against coaches as an anti-recruiting message. Young coaches don't have the experience. They haven't been there; they haven't done that.
But it can also be a real asset. Scheyer, at just 38, has a way of relating to these recruits that other coaches do not. And as Teague states, Scheyer can still get on the court and physically show players how it's done. He's played at the highest level, played in the same environments and the same gyms while wearing the same uniform as them, just 20 years earlier.
And he achieved the collegiate goal they are all chasing of winning a national title.
He doesn't have the aura that Coach K had. Not many do. But that era of legendary coaches is mostly over with K, Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim, Jay Wright, etc. all retiring. There's been a youth movement in college basketball, and Scheyer has been at the forefront.
It's a new era for Duke, but the success on the court doesn't look much different from what it did before.
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