This is the time of the year where legacies are built. Although Jon Scheyer is still relatively green into his tenure leading the Duke Blue Devils, he has his alma mater in a fantastic spot entering this NCAA Tournament. Duke is the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, as the East Region will run through them. However, there are a boat load of hall-of-fame-level head coaches also competing in the East.
For those who need more proof of that, just look at these elite coaches who all lead teams in the East.
- Dan Hurley: No. 2 UConn Huskies
- Tom Izzo: No. 3 Michigan State Spartans
- Bill Self: No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks
- Rick Pitino: No. 5 St. John's Red Storm
The earliest Duke can face a team led by one of these coaches would be in the Sweet 16. That is where either Bill Self's No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks or Rick Pitino's No. 5 St. John's Red Storm come into play. Only one of them can reach the Sweet 16, so Duke lucks out with that. Over in the Elite Eight, Duke may face either Dan Hurley's No. 2 UConn Huskies or Tom Izzo's No. 3 Michigan State Spartans.
Scheyer would only have to assert his dominance over two elite head coaches to reach the Final Four.
Jon Scheyer puts his players into advantageous positions to succeed
If we want to pick apart the four other head coaches in question to help elevate Scheyer's status in the tournament, then let's have at it! Pitino's Red Storm presents a challenging potential Sweet 16 matchup. However, we would be lying to ourselves to think that St. John's has the necessary star power at the top of its roster to get the best of Duke whenever the Blue Devils are at their very best.
If it is Kansas over St. John's for the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16, there are two things to keep in mind. No, this is not one of the best Kansas teams Self has ever coached. Plus, we have seen plenty of his teams stumble well short of the goal line in March Madness. He is an excellent head coach, but Self will paint a Matt Painter masterpiece of catastrophe from time to time. So what about the Elite Eight?
UConn had been in conversations of being a No. 1 seed for much of conference play. However, the Huskies came up short of the end goal in the Big East Tournament. Moreover, Hurley tends to run hot with his one-of-a-kind temper. Scheyer is more cool, calm, and collected by default, mostly because he is not Hurley... Of the four most formidable challengers for Duke in the East, UConn is the scariest.
And for Izzo and his Spartans, the month of March may belong to him, but he has to make sure his team's best player in guard Jeremy Fears Jr. does not run hot either. He has unraveled emotionally at times in big spots, namely vs. Rutgers and definitely vs. Michigan. While this may be one of the better Michigan State teams Izzo has led in quite some time, the Spartans are not playing their best ball now.
Overall, Scheyer is in the midst of building up his reputation as a star men's basketball coach, while his other elite counterparts in the East Region already have cemented incredible legacies. Because Scheyer is still a bit green in this, relatively speaking, he has it in him to be a bit more flexable. More importantly, he has been coaching his tail off this season at Duke, helping elevate this team further.
Scheyer is going to make adjustments in the NCAA Tournament because he has had to all year long.