Some losses stick with you forever and that likely what will happen to Jon Scheyer after the Duke basketball team squandered away an opportunity to play for a National Championship in the Final Four against Houston.
The Blue Devils looked like it was going to cruise to the finish line, even when the Cougars made multiple late charges in the second half – Duke always looked like a winner until they weren’t.
Despite the heartbreaking end to the season, Scheyer wasted no time in trying to find out what really went wrong in the final minutes and watched the film the next day.
Still, it took a lot more time for the Duke head coach to fully process what transpired.
“I had to see it. There are lessons from that game that I’ll share with our team at the right time. For me, it took a couple months to really understand, process, feel it, live it, and feel everything that’s associated with it,” he said during his summer press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“You don’t get that moment back.”
Today's full Coach @JonScheyer presser w/ our great local media pic.twitter.com/ceFjwc3WIA
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) July 8, 2025
Scheyer added that since he knew the entire starting five was leaving for the NBA and the fact that other teams around the country were weeks into its offseason program, he had no time to sulk in the loss and was having meetings with players on Monday morning.
“You have to make sure you do your job to have the best team possible for the following season,” he explained. “At the same time, I think it’s natural to shy away from it or to make an excuse or rationalize, and for me I only know one way and that’s to dive deeper into it.”
“I watched the game countless times…Before I ever won a National Championship or state championship, I’ve lost in heartbreaking ways along the way that sometimes you feel like you can’t overcome. It’s just what I’ve always had to do, and this is no exception.”
Duke brings in another star-studded freshman class led by Cameron Boozer, who is expected to fill the shoes of Cooper Flagg. He is joined by his twin brother, Cayden Boozer, as well as Dame Sarr, Nik Khamenia, and Sebastian Wilkins as rookies on the roster.
Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, and Pat Ngongba headlined the group of returning players for Jon Scheyer with hopes of getting back to the Final Four.