Scheyer's young Duke squad showing maturity, poise in ACC Tournament

By Jack Brizendine

Editor-in-Chief

March 10, 2023

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Duke and postseason basketball are synonymous in the world of college basketball — but for many of the Blue Devils’ core players this season, it's new territory.

Led by first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, Duke finished fourth in the ACC this season with a 23-8 record. The Blue Devils collected 14 conference wins, including four on the road. 

It’s been a somewhat typical season for Duke — what’s different this year is the amount of youth that’s helped make that happen.

With the only returning starter from last year’s Final Four squad being junior guard Jeremy Roach, Scheyer had to install a younger group into the rotation.

Four true freshmen have carried the bulk of the load this season: Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell, Tyrese Proctor and Dereck Lively II.

All four have started at least 22 games, with Filiposwki and Mitchell starting all 31 games this season. 

Filipowski — ACC Rookie of the Year and All-ACC second team member — led Duke with 15 points per game this season. Proctor (9.2) and Mitchell (9.1) are third and fourth on the team in scoring per game as well. 

The lineup is one that Scheyer has complete confidence in, and how could he not?

In Duke’s opening ACC tournament matchup against Pitt in the quarterfinals on Thursday, his young bucks looked like a group that had been together for years as the Blue Devils cruised to a 96-69 victory.

They trailed for the majority of the night in their win over the Panthers in the regular season, but led for the entire game in the blowout win on Thursday night.

“Their freshmen have grown up,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said. “They’re not freshmen anymore.

“They’re better [now than they were in the first meeting]. They understand college basketball now. They’ve had their noses rubbed in crap, and they’ve started together and they’ve responded.”

The Blue Devils have learned several lessons the hard way. The team they faced a day later gave them one of those humbling experiences late in the regular season.

The quarterfinal victory earned the Blue Devils a date with Miami in the semifinals — a team that blew them out 81-59 only a month prior in Coral Gables. 

Duke turned the ball over 21 times in the blowout loss and allowed the Hurricanes to score more than 40 points in each half of the game.

Like it did against Pitt, Scheyer’s group showed how much it had grown from its mistakes earlier in the year against Miami.

Shooting 55% from the field and a season-high 50% from behind the arc, Duke cruised past Miami and advanced to its third ACC championship game in six years.

While it was a close game for the entire 40 minutes, Duke seemed in control from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

“I think for us it's the consistency and continuity,” Scheyer said. “Just making the right plays, whatever that means.

“I give all these guys so much credit. They all have professional aspirations. There’s a lot at stake. They want to play this game for a long time, and it’s easy to think that’s going to be impacted by numbers.”

Through two impressive ACC tournament wins, Duke’s pack of young players has proven itself as one of the top units in the ACC. 

It’s a testament to the culture in Durham that Scheyer himself helped instill in his time as a player and an assistant coach under longtime head coach Mike Kryzewski.

The hardships his young team suffered in the regular season taught lessons that have paid off in the postseason — and he believes it can take them far.

“I’ve thrown these guys in the fire. They’ve just battled every step of the way. To me, it makes you tougher going through those things. If you don’t go through them, you don’t know otherwise.

“We’ve gone through some hardships, gone through some adversity, and I feel that it’s made us really tough.”