Welter: Duke took a trust fall with Jon Scheyer and landed in the history books with 22nd ACC title

By Pat Welter

The celebration on the court was wrapping up, but Jon Scheyer was just getting started with the autographs and selfies.

"Thank you guys," Scheyer said after letting out a big smile and handing a phone back to a fan only to grab another. It was a very different celebration than Scheyer's predecessor and mentor, Mike Krzyzewski, enjoyed after his first ACC Championship in 1986, but it's also a very different world.

"To see all the Duke fans that came out to Greensboro tonight, and not just tonight but the last three days, to support us, it means the world," Scheyer said during the press conference. "For me, it's part of the reason why we can have a program that has a sustained excellence for a long time, because of the support that we have from of course internally, the university and all that, but our fans are incredible."

Scheyer and his first Duke Blue Devils team beat Virginia 59-49 Saturday night in Greensboro capping off a nine game win streak and a quietly remarkable debut season for Scheyer. On the heels of Coach K's farewell tour, Scheyer stepped into the spotlight with the number one recruiting class in the nation. Duke's long and considered succession plan rested on the handsome head of K's former 14.4 points per game shooter and 2015 national champ. Everyone knew Scheyer had charm, but no one really knew for sure if he could coach.

"The refs don't respect him," I'd hear ACC media say and even tweet last season when Scheyer filled in for K and beat Wake Forest 76-74 on a night when K wasn't feeling well.

The refs seemed to respect him in Greensboro Saturday when Scheyer demanded an explanation for a call on Ryan Young.

Scheyer could never be K, but the thing he understood from the beginning was he could be himself. From a Wim Hof breathing exercise he had the team do with his college friend and recording artist Mike Posner, to the way he handled the media, Scheyer was different from K in many respects. Yes, K helped set him up with every opportunity to succeed, but the most challenging thing he had to do was convince a new group of players to come to Duke not for K, but for him.

"It was a surreal feeling for me because for every one of these guys to be here -- of course it's Duke University and Duke basketball and the history that we have and the platform," Scheyer said. "All those things are, I would say, a big reason why these guys wanted to come here. But also they believed in us and in me, and obviously I felt that way about each of them."

Here are Duke's freshman 247 Sports 2022 recruiting rankings.

2. Dereck Lively II

3. Dariq Whitehead

4. Kyle Filipowski

13. Mark Mitchell

23. Tyrese Proctor

78. Jaden Schutt

Great problem to have, but one that Scheyer has been able to expertly handle. Scheyer helped K transition Duke recruiting during the rise of the one and done, now he's carrying them through the world of NIL. This year's NBA draft is filled with prospects who by passed college for the NBA G League or even the Overtime Elite start up. Scheyer and his staff's greatest achievement is getting this group with just one returning starter (Jeremy Roach) to buy into the college experience and sacrifice individual statistics for team success.

"He believed in us and we believed in him," Dariq Whitehead told me on the court right after cutting down the nets. "He told us he had our back so we had to make sure we had his this first year. We knew he was under a lot of pressure so we just had to help him cope with that and that's what we did and we are going to continue to do that."

"Greatest coach out there, he should have won ACC coach of the year," Dereck Lively II said after taking a picture with the ACC trophy and his teammates. "He's been able to take this group of misfits, put them together and look what it came out to be."

I can see the Duke haters saying "cry me a river, Scheyer faced pressure, Scheyer had to manage the egos of 5-star recruits" and that's fair, but if you can't understand how impressive this coaching job was, you didn't watch Duke.

Duke's top two recruits started the year with injuries. Whitehead broke his foot and underwent surgery in August. Lively missed the start of the season with a calf injury. In another world and maybe at another school projected first round picks like that could have just sat out the whole season. Instead the injuries turned into a blessing in disguise.  Other young players were forced into leading roles early, like ACC tournament MVP Kyle Filipowski.

"Just seeing the growth individually, that's all because of these guys right here and the rest of them, because I wouldn't be where I am without them,"Filipowski said during the post game press conference. "Just with how hard they've been on me. I hated it, but it was for the best.  But just seeing how much we've come together as a team, where we started. We had almost a brand-new team."

Filipowski was the lower ranked recruit, but was the one whose game was more polished and ready for the speed of college. Lively and Whitehead both eventually debuted in November and developed slower than people on the outside expected. Especially after seeing Paolo Banchero dominate from the jump the year before.

"I think for us, it was hard just to get the continuity," Scheyer said. "And so not only are each of these guys growing every single day, every single week as players, but then when you don't have -- when you have certain guys out, it's hard to build as a team."

Early season Duke was like watching a calf learn to walk. They were clunky, they were inconsistent. This super talented team we'd heard so much hype about was built on defense, rebounding and grit. They started the year ranked No. 7 and actually spent most of the season out of the top 25. After beating North Carolina 63-57 at Cameron, Duke predictably fell flat two days later on February 6th at Miami.  The Hurricanes blew them away 81-59 which led to a now infamous players only meeting.  Their next game was a 69-62 overtime loss at Virginia where the ACC admitted officials blew a call that should have given Filipowski two free throws at the end of regulation. It's been a month and Duke hasn't lost since.

"When we started to trust each other and realized that everybody was here for a reason that's when we started to click," Whitehead said when I asked him about what led to the turnaround. "In the beginning of the year we had a lot of guys trying to do it on their own."

Lively echoed the sentiment.

"A lot of heart and we trusted each other," Lively said. "Trust the first pass, the next pass and we trust one another. That's the reason we got this far and we are happy to be here."

You could argue this whole season has been one big trust fall. Duke closed it's eyes, crossed its arms and tilted back after Coach K's retirement right into the arms of Scheyer.

"I'm not sure any of this happens without Coach K's initial vision of wanting -- some coaches can say it, but not everybody means it or believes it, where they want to see the program continue on at such a high level," Scheyer said. "And he wanted it."

Scheyer knows better than anyone that ACC championships are simply the expectation at Duke, but he's also human enough to recognize that this one was special. His first as a coach is Duke's 22nd and it leads to him having a suddenly very hyped team entering the NCAA tournament. In 1986 Krzyzewski followed his first ACC championship with his first Final Four.  I trust there are more Scheyer selfies to come.