Duke Basketball: Jon Scheyer Hints at Prime Candidates for Captain Job
Second-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff met with the media in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. Blue Devil Country was there and asked the 35-year-old former senior co-captain (alongside Lance Thomas) for the 2010 Blue Devil national champs about his captain expectations for the 2023-24 team.
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"We're probably going to have more [than one captain]," Scheyer said (beginning around the 20:00 mark in the video below).
Without excluding any of the eight returning scholarship players from consideration, he mentioned three, in particular, exhibiting admirable qualities in this regard.
Scheyer began by commending 23-year-old graduate center and host of The Brotherhood Podcast Ryan Young (entering his second season with the Blue Devils after transferring from Northwestern) for his team-first attitude since his arrival last summer and his further emergence in the leadership department this offseason.
"We haven't made any final decisions," Scheyer explained, "but our guys really look to Ryan Young too. Ryan is very vocal. He's the ultimate teammate. When you talk about only caring about winning, he can score one point [and never complain].
"I remember telling him several times last year, 'I'm starting Dereck [Lively II] — like, Dereck is ready.' And he was like, 'Coach, I agree.' That doesn't happen. And so his selflessness has really carried over to our team."
It sounds like Scheyer is also looking for at least one of the five sophomores to lock down a co-captain title in hopes of that player best connecting with the four five-star newcomers and offering been-there-done-that guidance.
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Perhaps projected starting point guard Tyrese Proctor could be a perfect fit for that job, as Scheyer alluded to, especially in light of the Aussie's ability last season to learn from early struggles and carve out an impressive campaign following his move to the position of primary floor general late in the year.
"Tyrese has taken more of a leadership role coming back," Scheyer noted. "Just with what he went through, I think he can have a lot of empathy for our freshmen because he just went through it."
Then there's an obvious choice in senior combo guard Jeremy Roach, the lone captain for a 2022-23 Duke basketball squad that finished 27-9 overall, winning the ACC Tournament in Scheyer's first year on the job before falling to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
"And, of course, Jeremy, with his experience," Scheyer added. "Those three guys, in all different ways, have done a really good job of just leading, communicating, setting the tone for what we need to do."
Duke basketball's season begins with a Nov. 6 home game against Dartmouth. The Blue Devils will likely announce the captain(s) sometime in October after official preseason practices get underway.
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