Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer has been named one of four finalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award. The other three coaches in the running for the honor are Rick Pitino (St. John's), Bruce Pearl (Auburn), and Kelvin Sampson (Houston).
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Scheyer's selection as one of the four finalists for the award for the best coach in college basketball makes his snub of ACC Coach of the Year that much more perplexing. Although not the most surprising move in the world, Louisville's Pat Kelsey was awarded ACC Coach of the Year over Scheyer.
Despite the Blue Devils coming in with high expectations on the season, including being ranked #8 in the preseason Associated Press Poll and bringing in the #1 2025 recruiting class, Scheyer has delivered as much success as he possibly could've this season.
Duke ended the season ranked #1 in the AP Poll, earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and is moving onto the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight season.
The Blue Devils are now 33-3 overall, went 19-1 in ACC play, won the ACC regular season title, and won the ACC Tournament without freshman superstar Cooper Flagg. Yet somehow, Scheyer was not seen as the best coach in the ACC.
Duke basketball took to social media after Scheyer didn't win ACC Coach of the Year, throwing shade at the ACC through a post on X.
"Haven't seen a coach snubbed for ACC COTY like this since Coach K didn't win it once over his final 22 seasons, which included 3 national titles, 10 ACC Tourney titles, 5 ACC RS (regular season) titles and 11 30-win seasons," the post said on X.
Now, even though Scheyer didn't win ACC Coach of the Year, Duke's continued dominance this season gives Scheyer a real case to win the National Coach of the Year award.
Here are some of the insane numbers that Duke has put up this season with Scheyer at the helm:
- 10 ACC wins by 25 or more points (most all-time)
- +434 point differential against ACC teams (most by power conference team in last 70 years)
- more 30-point ACC wins this season (5) than games in single digits (3)
- best adjusted offensive rating by an ACC team in 30+ years (129.1)
That's just to name a few. This year's Duke team has been one of the most impressive squads in a long time, and it looks like the clear favorite to win the national championship. Regardless of the talent that has been at Scheyer's disposal, the numbers speak for themselves, and few teams have been as consistently elite as the Blue Devils this season.
Scheyer has coached the best team in the country, and even while dealing with injuries to key guys such as Tyrese Proctor, Cooper Flagg, and Maliq Brown, the unstoppable nature of this Blue Devils team should give Scheyer the edge to win the Naismith National Coach of the Year award.