There has been one person noticeably missing from the historic Duke basketball postseason – Mike Krzyzewski – and Jon Scheyer is hoping he will make the trip to San Antonio for the Final Four.
Krzyzewski has been around the Blue Devils this year, attending more games than in the prior two seasons that Scheyer has been the head coach and interacted with the players behind closed doors.
Still, he’s hopeful Coach K will be at the Final Four when Duke plays Houston on Saturday night.
“The thing I have loved is he's come around more this year,” Scheyer said on Thursday during his media availability of Krzyzewski. “He's come to some home games. He hasn't come to a tournament game yet. I hope we can see him in San Antonio.”
The last game Krzyzewski attended was Duke’s blowout victory against Florida State when the program honored Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton prior to tipoff as he announced this season would be his final year in coaching.
However, Scheyer knows the importance of this moment for his team and the presence of Coach K at the game could take away the spotlight from the players.
“I think he understands when he's around just the gravity and the people looking at him and all that,” Scheyer added, but admits that it has been fun to see how he has interacted with this year’s squad.
“He's crossing paths with our guys. I love when he all of a sudden has a conversation with Cooper [Flagg] in the hallway or saying something to Khaman [Maluach] because I want them to know the guy that I was coached by,” he explained.
“I think it's been a beautiful thing, very organic and natural with Coach K and I, the fact that we're still tight as could be. I've wanted this. I want him to be proud when he watches.”
Mike Krzyzewski visited the Blue Devils this summer, watching practice and speaking to the team afterwards. It was documented and published on YouTube by the team.
“Not many coaches truly want the program to succeed once they're done,” Scheyer said. “I think part of his legacy forever will be the fact that he set our program up for such success, and we're able to be in a Final Four in year three. It's a credit to him and how the succession has gone down.”
Saturday night will be the first Final Four that Duke plays in without Coach K as the head coach since 1978 and Jon Scheyer will try and be the first person not named Krzyzewski to win a National Championship for the Blue Devils.