With Duke basketball in Final Four, Coach K opens up on Blue Devils, coach Jon Scheyer
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2025 NCAA Tournament
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Four years ago this spring, when Mike Krzyzewski and Duke’s athletics administration began planning for his retirement from coaching, the goal was a seamless transition, to continue to strive for — and reach — the lofty results to which the Blue Devils had been accustomed under his Hall-of-Fame tutelage.
In other words — to produce exactly what’s happening this weekend in San Antonio, and to do so under the guidance of fruit plucked directly from the Krzyzewski coaching family tree: Jon Scheyer.
In a Final Four filled with nothing but No. 1 seeds — for just the second time in NCAA Tournament history — the Blue Devils (35-3) are the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, have the best record, and are led by national player of the year candidate Cooper Flagg, with a deep team around him.
Vic Bubas and Bill Foster led Duke to Final Four appearances prior to Krzyzewski’s arrival in 1980. Now, Scheyer has accomplished it following the Coach K’s departure.
Krzyzewski, as he prepares to head to San Antonio with his wife, Mickie, to watch the Blue Devils chase their sixth NCAA championship, and first without him at the helm, couldn’t be more proud.
“He’s been able to study the game and get information from a bunch of different sources and come up with his own philosophy,” Krzyzewski told the News & Observer on Monday. “He’s not tried to be like anybody. He’s not going to be the Celtics or whatever. But you might take things from them, take things from what we’ve done and become who you are. And that’s what I’ve told him the whole time, just be you and keep developing you.”
‘I’ve always wanted to make him proud’
Scheyer will coach Duke against Houston on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio having compiled an 89-21 record in three seasons. He’s won two ACC Tournament championships, and led Duke to the ACC regular-season crown with a 19-1 record this season.
The 37-year-old Scheyer has now added to Duke’s national legacy with a Final Four trip of his own.
Krzyzewski set the all-time NCAA men’s basketball record for wins with 1,202 during his career, which included 42 seasons at Duke. He won the school’s first five NCAA titles.
But in April 2021, he informed outgoing athletics director Kevin White he wanted 2021-22 to be his final season. Duke promoted Scheyer, the starting point guard on Duke’s 2010 title team and, by then, an associate head coach, to be his successor.
Part of Krzyzewski’s succession plan, though, followed military protocols of having the person fulfilling the role work alongside the outgoing boss.
That meant everything to Scheyer. He assisted as Krzyzewski coached the 2021-22 season, when Duke won the ACC regular-season title and made one last Final Four under Krzyzewski.
That plan set Duke up for what’s occurred since, Scheyer said, and showed Krzyzewski’s love for Duke.
“I don’t know how many coaches genuinely want to see the program succeed when they leave,” Scheyer said. “And for me, I’ve always wanted to make him proud. Part of his legacy isn’t just the wins. I want his legacy to be how our program continues to be right there as a top program, and that’s something Coach K and I have talked a lot about.”
‘He’s recruited really good guys’
Duke certainly is a top program, if not the top program in college basketball this season. If the Blue Devils win two games in San Antonio to win the NCAA championship, their 37 wins will be the most in program history since Krzyzewski’s 1998-99 team went 37-2 and lost in the NCAA title game.
At 35-3, Scheyer’s Blue Devils have matched the single-season win totals of Duke’s 2001, 2010 and 2015 teams. No Duke team this century has won more games in a season.
Krzyzewski watched how Scheyer built this team’s roster: wooing Flagg and the No. 1-ranked recruiting class, and then refilling the roster with veterans after NBA departures and outgoing transfers emptied the roster last spring.
Players like Jeremy Roach (Baylor) and Mark Mitchell (Missouri) transferred and helped their new teams to the NCAA Tournament. Others, like TJ Power (Virginia), Sean Stewart (Ohio State), Christian Reeves (Clemson) and Jaden Schutt (Virginia Tech) landed in power conferences, too.
But Scheyer replaced them with graduate transfers in 6-6 guard Sion James from Tulane, 6-6 Mason Gillis from Purdue, and 6-9 junior Maliq Brown from Syracuse. They joined junior guard Tyrese Proctor and sophomore guard Caleb Foster to give Duke experience.
“He’s recruited really good guys,” Krzyzewski said. “Not just really good players. Guys who want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to have a championship level team.”
‘I’m proud of him’
Krzyzewski referred to Flagg, the 6-9 all-American forward who leads the team in every major statistical category, and fellow freshman Kon Knueppel as a pair of superheroes teaming up, Fantastic Four style. The team’s collaborative nature, along with talent, makes it outstanding.
“He not only built it around talent, he built it around the attitude, the competitiveness of Cooper and Kon,” Krzyzewski said. “I think a huge thing is the year Tyrese has had as an upperclassman, sometimes not looking for offense at all, but playing a role, and then all of a sudden, bursting out there. The transfers that have come in are good guys, and they really compliment the young guys. Tyrese is a big factor in this on this team, being the junior and not a transfer.”
It’s combination of talent, attitude and team spirit any coach would love to have.
“I think obviously we’re very talented, but they really get along, and they pull for one another,” Krzyzewski said. “I think so much of it is the unselfishness of Cooper and his reactions, not just during the game when he’s on the court, but when he’s on the bench. You know, in a practice, he really celebrates the accomplishments of his teammates, and when your best player does that, that’s a force multiplier.”
Scheyer and Krzyzewski remain extremely close, with Krzyzewski occupying the same office he used while coaching. Sunday, the day the Blue Devils returned to campus following an 85-65 win over Alabama in the East Regional final at Newark, New Jersey, the two had one of their many chats.
Now 78 years old, Krzyzewski is comfortable not only with his successor, but how the program he built into a national power is continuing to win.
“We have a great relationship,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m not just happy for him. I’m proud of him. He’s terrific. He’s superb.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 3:58 PM with the headline "With Duke basketball in Final Four, Coach K opens up on Blue Devils, coach Jon Scheyer."
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