Ten players left the Duke basketball team this offseason, which was shocking. Just one person, Ryan Young, completed his eligibility and graduated; two others, Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski, entered the NBA Draft. Jeremy Roach, Christian Reeves, Jaylen Blakes, Jaden Schutt, TJ Power, Mark Mitchell, and Sean Stewart were among the seven players who went through the transfer portal. In the most current episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, head coach Jon Scheyer expressed his sadness at seeing those guys depart Durham, but he also acknowledged that the program needed to move forward.
“The way of building a team, and getting older, is tougher to do if you don’t have any transfers,” Scheyer told Jay Bilas in regards to adding quality to the roster.”Having experience is still a valuable thing.” According to Scheyer, talks with members of last year’s squad started the day following their elimination from the NCAA Tournament by North Carolina State in the Sweet 16. Throughout the season, he never once assured any player of a starting position, a set amount of minutes, or a particular number of shots.
“We had incredibly honest, heartfelt conversations with each one of them, whether they were going pro, coming back [to Duke], or leaving,” according to him.
“Our program needed to go to another level this year with the competitiveness and also the fit of the guys that we had.”
In addition to the six players it brought in during the recruiting process, Duke received four transfers: Maliq Brown from Syracuse, Mason Gillis from Purdue, Sion James from Tulane, and Cameron Sheffield from Rice.
Following his entry into the transfer portal, Jon Scheyer extended an invitation to assist the players he coached last season, saying that he has “nothing but great things to say” about them.
In addition, he stated that he would have been open to having those players return if they had been willing to have an open role on the squad going into the summer.
Under Jon Scheyer’s tutelage, Duke’s current group of players is ready to go to the next level. Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster are leading the charge.
