“Mastermind Jon Scheyer Unveils Winning Strategy for the Transfer Portal”

Jon Scheyer took over at Duke at the very moment that college basketball’s transfer portal began to take off. He and the Blue Devils have been compelled as a result to adapt and decide how best to approach assembling their roster each season.

In a “The Brotherhood Podcast” discussion with Jay Bilas, Scheyer discussed his gateway strategy. He acknowledged that he had to change their approach to fielding a squad before because of how collegiate athletics is always evolving.

“Well, consider this: three years ago, when I was informed that I would be the next head coach, what happened? Scheyer stated, “A plan has been implemented.” “In the past three years, the world has changed more than you could have ever imagined.”

I have been employed for about fifteen years now. We’ve probably had to change our approach to hiring and assembling teams three or four times in order to pivot or keep improving. Right now, we’re going through one,” Scheyer stated.

However, as Scheyer noted, a lot of it will depend on their situation every summer. For instance, at this time last year, they lost zero and accepted just one transfer.

Scheyer said, “This past season, we had more players return than we were expecting, which is probably the first time in a while at least.” It was excellent that there were no transfers. Since the boys have enjoyed it and want to return for more, I believe it’s a reflection on Duke, our program, and our staff.

This offseason, though, was the exact opposite. Soon after their NCAA Tournament loss, Duke initiated the portal procedure. Seven players left after those conversations, and four players moved to Durham.

“The method for maturing and forming a team? If you have no transfers, it is more difficult to accomplish that. Even if we did a great job at recruiting, experience is still a key asset. Thus, we are defeated on March 31st this year following the season. Is April 1st actually the first day of April? We’re talking to all of our men, like, right now,” Scheyer said. “Whether they were going pro, returning, or leaving, we had incredibly honest, heartfelt conversations with each of them, asking questions like, ‘Where are you at, how can I help you, and where are you?'”

“We could make better decisions the faster we received answers.” Whatever path these people choose, I have nothing but the best things to say about them all. I had the good fortune to teach excellent players. However, given the competitiveness and fit of the individuals we had, our program needed to step up this year, Scheyer added. “It didn’t come with a guarantee for you as a player, where I would tell you that you would start or that you would get a specific number of shots or minutes. If someone wasn’t prepared to take that action? And I will assist you in any way that I can. If indeed you are? Then excellent. Come on, let’s go.

The top recruiting class in the country, which includes six freshmen, will be joining Duke’s squad in the fall. They will then be joined by those four transfers and three returners.

That about represents the mixture that Scheyer is aiming for, give or take a few extra or less from each category.

Going ahead, our team has to have a balance of students—probably not a class of six freshmen. More specifically, four, three, or even five at most. You should have three or five players back. While it might be two in some years, it might be six in others. Next, a pair of transfers. That’s the most successful approach for us and the one we’re going to pursue going ahead, at least with the current college system at Duke,” Scheyer said. “It has a certain equilibrium.”

Duke is having to change, even as a blue blood, in order to better suit this new period. Scheyer believes that by projecting this Blue Devils roster for the next season, they have accomplished just that this offseason.

“We were aware that in order to go forward and achieve our goals, some changes needed to occur. Guys have made their decisions, and we’ve carried that out,” Scheyer remarked. “I’m really pleased and proud of where we’ve come to.”