Three Jon Scheyer Recruits Named McDonald's All-Americans
Jon Scheyer has not yet taken over as Duke head coach, and he already has signed more McDonald’s All-Americans than all but three coaches in the ACC.
Duke men's basketball signees Dereck Lively II, Mark Mitchell and Dariq Whitehead have been named to the 2022 McDonald's All-American Game, the selection committee announced Tuesday.
Scheyer’s three McDonald’s players rank behind just Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (18), FSU’s Leonard Hamilton (5) and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey (4) in the ACC. The remaining 10 coaches I the league have combined to sign just four McDonald’s All-Americans, total.
The trio increases Duke's total to 88 McDonald's All-America selections, the most among any program. This is Duke's 38th consecutive season with a McDonald's All-America pick – the longest streak in the nation by 26 years.
Lively, Mitchell and Williams also mark the first Blue Devil signees in the annual classic that will play for current associate head coach Jon Scheyer, who is set to become Duke's head coach in the 2022-23 season. The 86 Duke signees selected to the McDonald's All-American Game under head coach Mike Krzyzewski are the most by any coach since the inaugural game in 1978. Lively, Mitchell and Williams are the first McDonald’s All-Americans at Duke not recruited by Krzyzewski since Vince Taylor in 1979. Gene Banks (1977) is the only other one.
Duke and Kansas are the only programs with three signees selected to the 24-member boys' roster.
Lively is one of the top prospects in the class of 2022. The 7-1 center from Chester, Pa., is coming off a dominant performance at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield, Mass., earlier this month, when he led The Westtown School to a win over Vertical Academy with 22 points, 20 rebounds, four assists and six blocks. He competed for Team Final on the Nike EYBL circuit in the summer of 2021, averaging 8.4 points, 6.7 boards and 3.7 blocks over 15 games while helping lead them to a Peach Jam title.
Mitchell is a power forward out of Shawnee Mission, Kan.. He transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan., last summer after a three-year career at Bishop Miege High School. Mitchell posted consecutive 20-point games against nationally ranked opponents at the HoopHall Classic, highlighted by a 27-point, 12-rebound showing versus No. 13 Wasatch Academy. In 2019, he took part at the USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp.
Whitehead is a top-ranked forward in the class of 2022. He won the GEICO High School National Championship in his junior year at Montverde Academy, averaging 9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 23 games. On the 2021 Nike EYBL circuit, he shot .501 from the field for 16.5 points per game in 11 contests as a member of Team Durant.
Five members of the current Duke team were McDonald's All-Americans – Paolo Banchero (2021), AJ Griffin (2021), Trevor Keels (2021), Jeremy Roach (2020) and Mark Williams (2020).
Blue Devils signee Kyle Filipowski, the No. 5-ranked player in the ESPN 100, was originally a member of the class of 2021 but reclassified to 2022, making him ineligible for inclusion, per McDonald's game rules.
The 2022 McDonald's All-American Game will be held Tuesday, March 29 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
