Jon Scheyer pushes back on narrative surrounding transfer portal, praises freshmen

The Transfer Portal has shifted the way that many rosters are built throughout college sports. In the case of college basketball, it has often led to some teams relying on older players who have transferred into the program. That isn’t the case for the Duke Blue Devils and head coach Jon Scheyer.

Now on a 15-game winning streak and coming off a win against rival North Carolina, Scheyer pushed back on the idea that there’s one way to build a team in the modern era, making sure to praise the play of the freshmen he has at Duke.

“I just don’t think it’s right to say there’s only one way you can do something,” Jon Scheyer said. “We’ve had to find what our way is in 2024 and 2025 and going forward. Some of it is timing. For this group, we knew we had some special guys coming in, and then we had to get some special guys with them or around them to be able to do something special.”

There are two freshmen who have stood out beyond any others at Duke. The first is Cooper Flagg. The five-star recruit in the Class of 2024, Flagg was the top-ranked recruit in his cycle. To this point in the 2024-25 season, he’s played in 21 games and has averaged 20 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.

Along with Flagg, Duke also brought in Kon Knueppel in the Class of 2024. A four-star recruit in his own right, he is averaging 13.5 points 3.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. He combined with Flagg to be the first pair of pair of Duke players to score at least 20 points and five assists against North Carolina in the same game since Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer himself did it 15 years prior.

“So, I think it’s all about having the right guys, regardless of age,” Scheyer said. “I think it’s about mindset, competitiveness, and our young guys have it.”

The game against North Carolina, in particular, was one where the freshmen stood up and earned praise from Jon Scheyer ahead of the game.

“They sure met it [the moment],” Scheyer said. “You always worry, just when you see different moments or environments, how is your team going to respond. We’ve really been focused this season on what you can control at the end of the day. We focused on our defense. We feel, if our defense is there, our offense is going to come.”

Next, Scheyer and Duke will look for those freshmen to continue to step up against Syracuse on Wednesday.