Back-to-back otherwise incredible Duke seasons have ended in absolute heartbreak. Two years, two meltdowns, and two of arguably the best teams in program history were left ring-less.
A year ago, it didn't seem like it could get worse than the Duke late-game meltdown that cost them a game that was all but won against Houston in the Final Four. This year's Duke team said "hold my beer" and delivered an even worse collapse to fall to UConn in the Elite Eight.
Both losses totally inexplicable and under the guidance of Jon Scheyer.
And the Duke head coach has had different reactions to both, so much so that it's obvious how much more the UConn loss stung.
Joining the Josh Graham show, Scheyer talked about the differences between the two games. Last year, he flushed the loss to Houston right away and dug straight into the game tape to learn and decipher how exactly things went wrong down the stretch.
This year, four days after the loss to the Huskies, Scheyer hasn't rewatched the game. He can't bring himself to.
"It's been a different approach," Scheyer said. "I'm still digesting. I'm still feeling it. I haven't gone there yet."
When asked in a follow-up if he had rewatched any of it yet, Scheyer gave a simple answer:
"No."
Jon Scheyer hasn't rewatched the UConn game yet
Eventually, Scheyer will have to rip the bandaid of and watch the game. The only way to get better in those situations is to identify what you did wrong and work to change it.
As much as everyone has wanted to point fingers at Scheyer or freshman guard Cayden Boozer for the end-of-game turnover that led to the Braylon Mullins 35-foot dagger, the truth is simple, if dissatisfying.
It was plain bad luck for Duke. 99% of the time that pass by Boozer ends up in the inviting arms of Isaiah Evans or Patrick Ngongba, one of them dunks it, the game is over, and Duke punches its ticket to the Final Four.
The real question for Scheyer to answer is how Duke ended up in that situation to begin with. That's where the game was lost, not in a fluky late-game situation.
Duke led by as many as 19 points with under two minutes to play in the first half. They should have won the game going away. Instead, they found themselves in a situation where they had just left the door cracked enough for UConn to kick it down and end their season.