Jon Scheyer avoided Cedric Coward 2.0 with smart Transfer Portal strategy

When things don't go the way you planned, all you can do is learn from it and not make the same mistake twice.

That's exactly what Jon Scheyer did this offseason.

A year ago, Duke only landed one impactful player in the Transfer Portal - Washington State's Cedric Coward - and he blew up during the pre-draft process and elected to stay in the NBA Draft instead of reporting to Durham. Coward was vindicated by being selected by the Memphis Grizzlies, but it left Scheyer and the Blue Devils thinner on the wing than they would have liked.

There's no way Scheyer was going to let that happen again.

That's why, while Santa Clara's Allen Graves was undeniably one of the most talented players available in the Transfer Portal, Scheyer was never going to place all his eggs in that one single basket, just in case Graves elected to stay in the draft. That's just what he did on Tuesday, just one day before the withdrawal deadline:

Jon Scheyer was right not to prioritize Santa Clara's Allen Graves in the Transfer Portal

It became obvious when Duke pushed for and landed international big man Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje that the Blue Devils were probably out on Graves. They still had a roster spot - or maybe two, depending on a potential waiver for Ifeanyi Ufochukwu - but likely didn't leave enough money available to make a serious push for Graves if he elected to return to college.

That didn't stop some fans from dreaming, though. You can blame them: adding Graves to Duke's current roster would have made the Blue Devils the runaway favorites to win the national championship next season.

Even without him, Duke will be in contention with Florida to be the preseason No. 1 team.

Even with Graves sticking to the draft, Scheyer found impactful players in the Transfer Portal to supplement the nation's top recruiting class. Duke landed Wisconsin's John Blackwell, arguably the top available guard, and added Belmont big man Drew Scharnowski, along with Loyola's Jacob Theodosiou.

Blackwell was going through the draft process, too, but there never seemed to be much danger in him sticking in the draft. He was never projected higher than the middle of the 2nd round range, with many experts projecting him to go undrafted due to size concerns. He was never the risk that Graves would have been, and that Coward was a year ago.

Thanks to the new roster-building strategy by Scheyer and his adaptation from last season's portal swing-and-miss, Duke will once again be on the shortlist of national title contenders.

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