The expectation around the Duke basketball program is to win a National Championship every year – for better or for worse.
While the goal never changes, to win a title every single season is unrealistic, it still puts an immense amount of pressure on Jon Scheyer, who is entering his fourth season as the head coach. It’s like the college basketball version of coaching the New York Yankees, everyone expects you to win, and anything less than yet is considered a failure.
Scheyer has broken records to start his Duke head coaching career by being the fastest head coach to reach a variety of different milestones and he has landed two ACC Tournament Championships in his first three years as well as appearances in the Elite 8 and Final Four.
However, his best chance yet as a head coach to win a National Championship might have slipped through his fingers at the Final Four last season when Duke collapsed in the final minute against Houston and missed its spot in the title game.
Jon Scheyer might never coach a player as talented as Cooper Flagg again, but he will have another loaded roster headlined by yet again a superstar freshman – Cameron Boozer.
Boozer, one of the twin sons of Blue Devil legend Carlos Boozer, is projected to be a Top 3 pick in June’s NBA Draft. He figures to be one of the best players in college basketball this season and the fact that he’s on Duke’s roster this season is the biggest reason why the team is one of the favorites to win the National Championship.
Surely it’ll take major contributions from other players on the Blue Devil roster like Isaiah Evans, Pat Ngongba, Dame Sarr, and Caleb Foster to truly make a championship caliber contender but if Cameron Boozer is anything like he showed in high school, Duke will be in the mix for a title in March.