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Jon Scheyer mimicked what his mentor did when Scheyer was 10 years old.
I think the 35-year-old Scheyer is a good young coach and seems like an okay choice to lead the legendary Duke program.
He makes $7 million a year, which he also owes to Mike Krzyzewski’s outrageous pay scale over his 42 years at the helm. That’s more than twice what Hubert Davis makes.
I was surprised when, along with praising Carolina’s play in its nine-point win, Scheyer got on his own team after his first loss to the Tar Heels as a head coach.
While mentioning Carolina’s vastly improved defense, Scheyer said his Devils did not play hard enough and was disappointed with their effort.
If that is something he confirms after watching tape of the game, Scheyer can get all over them in private. Publicly, it was an insult to both rosters.
It reminded me of what Krzyzewski did in 1997 after he returned from his season off following back-to-back NCAA titles.
His team just lost at UNC in the regular-season finale a week after Duke had clinched first place and said his players couldn’t get up for the Carolina game because they were already ACC Champs.
In Dean Smith’s last game at the building that bears his name, the ’97 Tar Heels earned their eighth straight ACC win on the way to 15 in a row that included his 13th ACC tournament title and 11th trip to the Final Four.
For the money he is making, Scheyer should leave public criticism of his own team to alumni, fans and the media. It is his responsibility and, if true, his job and salary is to fix it. Imagining either team not giving it their all in a renewal of the greatest rivalry in college basketball is ludicrous.
Sure, one team can get the best – and the goat – of the other and wind up looking like it didn’t play as hard as the opponent, but again that’s on the head coach and his staff to prepare their players for the game and get in their faces during timeouts if they are not hustling.
It did not look like that to me; Carolina played faster and got more of the 50-50 and loose balls while never trailing after the first minute. But it looked like Duke was more overmatched than outworked in the game.
Scheyer was 10 years old at the time of Coach K’s sour grapes criticism of his own team way back when, so he probably doesn’t know anything about it. But he was chosen for, among other things, because Krzyzewski called him the “smartest guy in coaching” when he passed the mantle.
What Scheyer said after two straight wins over Carolina in his rookie season was far from smart.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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