Jon Scheyer says Duke's veteran leadership is 'huge'

Duke has long been one of the top destinations for five-star recruits. This year is no different, as the Blue Devils inked three of the top seven players in the 2022 recruiting class despite the departure of Mike Krzyzewski. So they’re really young, again.

With such a young team whose most-talented players are 19-year-olds, Jon Scheyer definitely needed some veterans sprinkled throughout the roster to give them some experience and veteran toughness. Which he believes the older transfers have brought so far.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s huge. And really, our team, they complement each other really well,” said Scheyer when asked recently about the impact of those veteran players. “And so, different situations, we can have abetter defensive group, more versatile defensive group. Plus, we can also put a lot of shooting on the court.”

Then, Scheyer singled out senior wing Jacob Grandison, who had a tough time at the start of the year but has come on strong as of late.

“And I just thought Jake — I mean, look this is how it could go all year long, but probably didn’t play him as much as I should. Even on Sunday, plays eight minutes, positive attitude, he comes back and has a heck of a game. He really comes in — and really I talked about it, he really gave us a big one, you know. Seven quick points and had great energy.

“And so, it’s going to be like that for this team, whether we start the same way or not. Doesn’t mean we’re going to close the same way. Doesn’t mean in stretches if all of a sudden we get going and then we can go with a different room. And, you know, that’s what this team is all about.”

Perhaps more performances like that from Grandison could lead to even more minutes. With him having played at the college level for six years now, he needs to be on the court so Duke can take advantage of that experience. Jon Scheyer knows he’s got to have him out there.