Some thoughts on Jon Scheyer

And the dominant team he's put together

So much to unravel.

I’ll start with Jon Scheyer. Saturday he became the fourth Duke men’s coach to lead his team into the Final Four.

Mull that one over for awhile. Four different coaches. Many programs that we think of as historically successful on the hardcourt haven’t had that many in their history. Purdue has only been to the Final Four three times. Rick Mount. Joe Barry Carroll. Glenn Robinson. Zach Edey. Three times.

Same with Marquette. And Virginia. Gonzaga twice.

Wake Forest has made one Final Four and that was back in 1962. Billy Packer started on that team. Despite Charlie Davis, Rod Griffin, Randolph Childress, Tim Duncan, Josh Howard and Chris Paul, they’re still looking for number two.

They couldn’t make the Final Four with TIM DUNCAN.

Duke has done it with four different coaches.

Scheyer made it quicker than anyone else at Duke.

Vic Bubas first made it in his fourth season at Duke(1963). Bill Foster made it in his fourth season (1978). It took Mike Krzyzewski six seasons (1986).

All had their challenges. Bubas took over a team that had gone 13-12 the previous season, albeit starting five sophomores, back when sophomores were young.

Bubas coached up those juniors into a magical March run that included Duke’s first ACC Tournament title and first two NCAA Tournament wins. But it wasn’t until Bubas changed Duke from a regional recruiting power to a national recruiting power that Duke hit its stride. All of Art Heyman, Jeff Mullins, Jack Marin, Steve Vacendak, Bob Verga and Mike Lewis played in at least one Final Four.

Bucky Waters wasn’t able to sustain that and his last team went 12-14 in 1973, Duke’s first losing season since 1939. Neil McGeachy’s 1974 team has a claim as the worst team in modern Duke history; so does 1982. But that 10-16 1974 disaster has one claim to infamy. It remains the only Duke team to not have a single All-ACC player.

That’s what Foster was facing when he took over. He turned it around on the recruiting trail, bringing in Jim Spanarkel, Mike Gminksi, Gene Banks, Kenny Dennard and Vince Taylor, all of whom played for at least one ACC Tournament title team and at least one Elite Eight team.

Krzyzewski came in after a darned good 1980 season and inherited Banks, Dennard and Taylor. But he didn’t have a center, didn’t have a point guard and that 1981 team probably maxed out with 17 wins and an NIT appearance.

Yes, folks, there was a time when Duke embraced an NIT bid.

It took Coach K a few years to figure out how to recruit at an ACC level but once Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, David Henderson and Jay Bilas took some lumps, Duke was on its way.

Scheyer? A casual analysis would suggest he had it easy or at least easier than Bubas, Foster and Krzyzewski. Duke was a national brand, a recruiting machine coming off a Final Four appearance when he took over.

But that’s lazy thinking.