Former Duke guard Jon Scheyer has a shot at his second championship in two years, although his current team's playoff run isn't getting as much national publicity as the Blue Devils' NCAA title last season.
Scheyer is a starter for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who face the Iowa Energy in a best-of-3 series in the NBA Development League finals beginning Sunday. Versus will carry Game 1 beginning at 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
When Duke needed something, anything, to save itself from spending the weekend at home and leaving the ACC tournament minus its star attraction, Jon Scheyer returned.
It's rare for an athlete to admit to reading articles about his potential or current abilities. But Monday morning in a phone interview, Duke guard Jon Scheyer said he is doing just that to prepare for life after Blue Devils basketball.
"I want to inform myself when it comes to next year so I know what teams look for," Scheyer said.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Like the ACC Tournament, New Jersey brings out the best in Duke.
The Blue Devils beat Xavier 82-64 at their home away from home in north Jersey.
Duke improved to 18-1 at the Meadowlands behind Jon Scheyer's game-high 23 points.
DURHAM — For future reference, the next time Duke is trying to win the game at the buzzer, remember this play.
With 7.0 seconds left in the first half in the win over Rhode Island, Duke was trailing 34-31 and had the ball. The Blue Devils inbounded it to junior guard Jon Scheyer, who drove the length of the court and scored on an acrobatic layup as the buzzer sounded to cut the URI lead to one.
DURHAM — The only thing that went wrong for Duke in its win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday went spectacularly wrong. The Blue Devils made just 25 of 49 attempts (51 percent) from the free throw line.
Lance Thomas made one of eight tries. Greg Paulus made 5 of 8 but missed on two shots after a technical foul on the Georgia Southern bench. Jon Scheyer made 1 of 3; Miles Plumlee 1 of 4. Scheyer said it was a weird feeling watching that many misses but he and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski both felt the night was an aberration. Scheyer talks about it more in the audio clip.
Duke, picked to finish second in the ACC in basketball on Sunday, returns eight players and four starters from a 28-6 team that went 13-3 in ACC play. But some Blue Devils still are looking at new faces and new places.
Duke junior guards and co-captains Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer used to room with teammates Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek, respectively, but are now rooming together.
DURHAM — The theme for the 2008-09 Duke basketball season is “Our house, our court.” ACC Now is taking that to mean the Devils promise not to lose at home this season.
The Devils didn't have to worry about that on Saturday. The Blue-White scrimmage ended at Cameron, telling the story that the Duke basketball team will be fast, it can be deep, and its freshmen will have roles on this team.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski announced this morning that he has annointed senior Greg Paulus and juniors Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson as team captains for 2008-09.
The move came just a year after Krzyzewski said he'd learned how using so many captains can dilute the ability of those captains to lead.
