Jon Scheyer is recruiting much more than a basketball player at Duke.
It takes a different type of person and basketball player to end up playing at Duke under Jon Scheyer.
The same could be said for former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who always showed that he cared about the quality of people off the court. If there's one thing that Duke has done a really good job of, it's bringing in guys who understand that there's a lot more to life than just basketball.
Scheyer is not going to bring in a bunch of guys who are just there to play basketball and don't care about their education.
He wants to make sure his guys are ready to go when all of this ends. According to Scheyer, much of that means making sure he has the right support systems in place for his players.
Whether that be their families, trainers, or agents, he said the one thing that he loves about great players is that they always have people in their support systems.
"I think there are two things that our top guys who have come through really have in common," Scheyer said.
"One, I think there is a strong support system from their family and even beyond, whether it be an agent, whether it be a trainer, a close friend. There's a strong support system where [the parents] have held their son accountable to the things that matter most, like how you show up every day, how you compete, how you want to be coached...
"And the second thing — it kind of goes opposite of what you think I would say — they also have independence. Like, the kid, the athete, the person, their parents don't stymie them from being put in a position of making mistakes and having a failure. And ultimately, I don't care who you are — a Zion Williamson, Cooper Flagg, Cam Boozer — you're going to go through some tough times in your moments at Duke."
As I said above, Duke is going to be a program that tries to recruit families as well. Whether it's during a recruiting meeting or anything else, Scheyer will speak with families to ensure these kids are good people off the court.
That's not always easy to determine with a 17- to 22-year-old kid, but he's done a really good job so far.
