After Duke choked away a Final 4 game away to Houston this is what we wrote…
When you look back on the 2025 men’s basketball season, I’ll always think the Duke Blue Devils were the highest ceiling team of in the country. You don’t win national titles on potential, though.
Duke was the better basketball team against Houston for 38 minutes. They were more skilled and better prepared, and the result looked inevitable until it wasn’t.
Kelvin Sampson gave Jon Scheyer an absolute lesson in late-game coaching Saturday.
Just change a couple of words, and it happened again exactly the same way.
When you look back on the 2026 men’s basketball season, I’ll always think the Duke Blue Devils were the highest ceiling team of in the country. You don’t win national titles on potential, though.
Duke was the better basketball team against UConn for 38 minutes. They were more skilled and better prepared, and the result looked inevitable until it wasn’t.
Dan Hurley gave Jon Scheyer an absolute lesson in late-game coaching Saturday.
When the players change, but the exact same thing happens, it’s on the coach. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. Yes, Cayden Boozer tried to force a pass when he would have gotten fouled, or the clock ran out. It created a turnover and resulting game winning shot for UConn. Yes, it was Isiah Evans who just froze instead of trying to defend the 3-point shot that sent Duke home, but Scheyer is the constant.
The hard part for Scheyer is that he’s back to square one as a coach. He can assemble talent, and Duke is the ACC’s best program, but when the biggest moments come in the biggest games, his teams crack, and that’s a reflection on him.
If I were Scheyer, and I don’t doubt he’s already doing this, I’d have a long sit-down with his mentor Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski, who had 4 Final Fours and a Sweet 16 in his first 10 years, before breaking through. Scheyer is on a similar trajectory now with a Final 4 and 2 Elite 8s, but no titles.
I still believe Scheyer is eventually going to win a national championship, but Duke and Scheyer let another winnable tournament get away.
That’s the epitome of a classic choke job, and it’s starting to become the identity of Duke and Jon Scheyer until they prove othwerise.
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