It’s hard for me to figure what makes college basketball fans fans want to put their coaches on a hot seat.
Consider, Jon Scheyer at Duke. Coach K’s right-hand man, ace recruiter, given the unenviable task of, replace the legend.
All Scheyer has done in his two years is, go 27-9 each year, this year, getting his team to an Elite Eight.
Now, this is after being preseason #2 nationally, at Duke, where the floor is, Final Four.
Except that, Duke, since its 2015 national title, went to exactly one Final Four in Coach K’s last seven seasons, that trip coming in his last season, in 2022.
Even the best college basketball team ever assembled, the one with Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, flamed out in the Elite Eight in 2019.
It’s against his backdrop that we discuss how Scheyer had to deal with questions from reporters after Duke’s 76-64 Elite Eight loss to NC State on Sunday about his job status and the state of his program two years in.
“To be honest with you, I’m not thinking about my job and these two years. I’m thinking about the fact that this group just came back after having a tough ACC Tournament loss and have played their hearts out in three tournament games, and they’re winning at halftime. They’re heartbroken after the game because it didn’t go the way they wanted it to. I’m thinking about these guys,” Scheyer said.
I’m identifying here with Scheyer because we’re going through some of the same things at Virginia with Tony Bennett, the program’s all-time winningest coach, who led UVA to its only national championship in men’s basketball five years ago, and has people on social media and message boards discussing how hot his seat is.
Seriously?
What the folks who engage in these discussions don’t realize is, why colleges and universities put so much time, attention and money into college athletics in the first place.
You think it is to win championships, and you’re wrong; it’s to make money.
The pursuit of championships, and having your athletics programs in the money-making sports of football and men’s basketball competitive to that goal, is certainly important, but only inasmuch as it can be translated to ticket sales, donor and sponsor dollars, and more TV money.
What I’m getting at is, if you’re Scheyer, and you’re 27-9 every year, if you’re Bennett, and you win the ACC every other year, and capable of making NCAA Tournament runs, you’re doing your job.
Put John Calipari at Kentucky in that same boat.
It’s ridiculous to speculate that any of these guys is anywhere near a seat that is even lukewarm.
“Where is our program at? I think our program couldn’t be in a stronger place,” Scheyer said. “We’re just 20 minutes away from going to a Final Four in our second year. I don’t shy away from our expectations or what we want to do, but for me, that’s not the way I’m thinking at all. I’m just hurting for these guys right now.”
The other ridiculous question postgame – and to be clear, we’re talking, minutes after the game, streamers still falling in the arena – put Scheyer on the spot for not working the transfer portal better last spring.
I cue this one up, because Bennett at Virginia is going to be getting similar questions, given that it’s pretty clear at this stage that he’s not going to lose anybody to the portal this spring, so at most, he’ll have one scholarship, maybe two, to play with.
“When you have our team this year, when you have a (Kyle) Filipowski, when you have a (Mark) Mitchell, a (Tyrese) Proctor, those guys come back, well, you always want to build from within if you can. Getting those guys returning where you have a relationship, you’ve been through some battles together, there’s always value in that,” Scheyer said.
Left unsaid there: dude, dumb question.
Of course you go to battle with guys you’ve already gone to battle with.
They know your system, they know the school, they’re a year older, usually a year better.
The only problem I have with his answer is, he didn’t include Jeremy Roach in the list of guys he had coming back.
Roach, a senior this year, who could come back for a COVID redshirt year, has been the heart and soul of this team for the past three years.
His perspective on the Scheyer era through Year 2?
“The program is right where it left off. We’ve been Top 10 in the country for both years. We got to Elite Eight this year,” Roach said. “Like, people don’t know how hard his job is, people don’t know how hard his job is, that you are taking over after the GOAT. That’s not easy work. Just give credit to him. He is always instilling confidence in us every day. Whether we’re messing up or not, he just always has that strong face.
“A lot of people would have folded in this situation,” Roach said. “All the criticism that people say, I mean, it’s unacceptable. There’s no reason for that. If somebody wanted to, try doing his job and see how easy it is. So, I give credit to Coach Scheyer. I love him. I love him.”
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Chris Graham
