Jon Scheyer says both Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell cleared to return for Duke

Jon Scheyer has several players back at Duke this year yet two, Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell, have been dealing with offseason injuries.

That’s no longer the case, though. According to Jon Rothstein, Scheyer has shared that both Filipowski and Michell have been cleared to return to the court.

Duke's Kyle Filipowski (hip) and Mark Mitchell (knee) have both been fully cleared for all basketball related activities, per Jon Scheyer.

Filipowski averaged 15.1 PPG and 8.9 RPG last season as a freshman.

Mitchell averaged 9.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG last season as a freshman.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) September 18, 2023

Filipowski, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, has been rehabbing his hip over the course of the summer. Over his freshman season in Durham, he posted team highs in points (15.1), rebounds (8.9), and steals (1.3) while shooting 44.1% from the field and making 35 three-pointers.

Mitchell has also been on the mend with a knee issue ever since the NCAA Tournament. As a freshman last season, he averaged 9.1 points per game, good for fourth on the team, with 4.5 rebounds.

Both Filipowski and Mitchell were part of Duke’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2022. Filipowski was a five-star prospect, a top-five player, and the No. 1 PF in the cycle while Mitchell was a four-star that finished at No. 24 in the country.

Both were also full-time starters for Scheyer last year as Filipowski started in all 36 appearances he made while Mitchell started in all 35.

Duke has a lot of depth to work with this season with several players, such as Filipowski and Mitchell, back in the fold to add to their No. 2 recruiting class. Even so, it’s great for Scheyer to now have both of his star sophomores healthy and ready to go as they start to prepare for their year.

Scheyer says having experience in Year 2 is different

Experience is everything, whether it’s a head coach or a player. Now, while he enters his second year leading Duke, Jon Scheyer also has several returning players back on his roster to build this second team up with.

Scheyer spoke on the Blue Devil’s experience during a recent press conference. After bringing several players back for their next years at Duke, he said it gives them a great foundation to construct everything on top of. Even so, he also added that it also makes them a completely different team with them all being a season older and then paired with the program’s five additions from the offseason.

“It’s different, it’s different. I’m excited because it’s obviously great having eight players back. We went through a lot last year so there’s a base to build from,” said Scheyer. “But I think our team is also very different. We’re going to have to play differently. At the same time, we have some things that were really good that we did last year that we need to continue to improve on.”

“As long as we all understand that? That it’s not the same kind of team? It’s totally different,” Scheyer continued. “We need to be better. We can be better on both ends of the ball. But it’s exciting to have gone through some things with some of these guys.”