Is Jon Scheyer Coach K’s successor or his own man?
The royal straight flush the new Duke basketball coach continues to run raises a number of questions. Does Scheyer landing 6-foot-8 forward TJ Power as his next 5-star in the class of 2023 show that he has Mike Krzyzewski’s recruiting chops or more about the potency of the Duke brand?
Power, the No. 24 rated recruit in his class, would have had almost guaranteed playing time at UNC or Virginia, other finalists for his services, while that is far from the case at Duke, which has four more freshmen recruits rated higher than the versatile New Englander.
If four first-round draft picks don’t depart Duke again after their freshman seasons, there will be plenty of competition for minutes. At Carolina, for example, the cupboard looks bare after Bacot, Black, Nance and likely Love leave next spring.
We know that 5-star prospects recruit each other to form the modern-day version of the Fab Five. And we know the continued aura of Coach K, who flatly called Scheyer the “smartest guy in coaching,” might remain a big influence for the foreseeable future.
But there could be two other factors at play, one of which Hubert Davis ironically may have helped prove by taking the Tar Heels to the Final Four in his first year as head man. Younger coaches surely have more energy, and Davis showed his inexperience did not matter.
The other factor is NIL, which has become the latest recruiting tool for colleges set up to take advantage of it. Duke is one of those schools, where Paolo Banchero made a million-plus dollars in his season with the Blue Devils before he was picked No. 1 in the NBA draft.
As a private school with wealthy alumni and corporate money pouring in from all over the country, Duke has been set up for years to bring in millions for virtually anything it needs. Now, players can be paid, so no new collectives need to be established.
Duke’s enormous fund-raising success is easily expanded to paying athletes for their NIL rights, where Carolina is doing it on a grass roots level and will not promise any kids anything except NIL opportunities.
That’s why immediate playing time might not be so important for Power and his classmates. They don’t have to rely on being one-and-dones. They will be pros eventually and still be paid well until then.
Featured image via The Boston Globe
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It’s funny Art. Duke fans are saying the only way UNC brings back guys like Bacot and Love while Duke loses guys to the draft like Keels is because UNC, as a much larger institution, has a huge NIL advantage. Which is the truth?
Art is an admitted Duke hater, there’s your answer.
uNC boosters are literally paying Bacot 1 million to come back this year, not that the NBA especially wanted him. How is that grassroots NIL?
They were doing it well before NIL. Colvard Farms, etc.