Jon Scheyer On What Makes Duke Special

It is the biggest recruiting weekend of the 2024 cycle for Duke Men’s Basketball. Not only are they hosting No. 1 overall recruit Cooper Flagg, but they also have Five-Star Plus+ shooting guard VJ Edgecombe and four-star center Patrick Ngongba on campus for official visits.

The three recruits came in on Friday, and they will stay through Sunday. The weekend started off with Duke’s Countdown to Craziness, the program’s midnight madness event. This weekend is Flagg’s second official visit. The Five-Star Plus+ wing also visited UConn in September. People around him say a decision could come soon after this visit. November 8 signifies the first day of the early signing period.

Ngonba, the No. 3 ranked center in 2024, has one visit left (10/27), to Kansas State. He has already taken eight official visits, with UConn, Duke, and Kansas State each getting multiple trips. Edgecombe has taken two official visits, Baylor and Florida, and has two upcoming scheduled with Florida State (11/11) and Alabama (11/4).

After the scrimmage on Friday, taking in the festivities, and playing in front of Duke’s fans, the Cameron Crazies, I asked Duke head coach Jon Scheyer what it was that makes Duke special, in his mind.

“I think overall, the biggest thing that gets lost in this is for anybody, but so many decisions are made on short-term gains,” Scheyer said. “And Duke will forever be a lifetime decision. No matter if somebody is here for a year, or somebody is here for multiple years.”

Coming out of Northbrook (IL) Glenbrook North, Scheyer was a four-star recruit, a first-team Parade All-American, and a McDonald’s All-American. He chose Duke over Arizona and Illinois.

“The stage we play on, and our track record with the job we’ve done, all that speaks for itself,” Scheyer said. “But, for me, it’s about relationships still. It’s about the rest of your life, and what you want to do. Duke is the best for that. It’s the best academically, and our network of amazing people, and the basketball program.

“It impacts you forever, and that’s the thing I emphasize a lot.”

Flagg, Edgecombe, and Ngongba will each wrap up their Duke visits on Sunday. These are the last three official visits the Blue Devils have on the books for the 2024 recruiting cycle.

Currently, Duke has three players committed in their 2024 class: five-star SF Isaiah Evans, four-star SG Kon Knueppel, and four-star SG Darren Harris. Duke’s three-man recruiting class is ranked No. 1 in On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings.