There are many factors, but Duke is a brand and not many can say that.
After Jon Scheyer made some interesting comments about his decision not to go to the NBA to coach the Dallas Mavericks, as reports indicated earlier in the week that the two sides had discussed a potential pairing, it raises the question of whether Duke is a better job than many jobs in the NBA.
I don't think it's crazy to say the NBA is obviously a different game and that a lot of factors go into why coaching the Mavericks is more impressive than coaching Duke, but we need to take a step back and really dissect this.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself not seeing this thing through," Scheyer said, per Yahoo.
"I mean, that's just the bottom line. And I'm at a one-of-one place where not often you get your dream job when you're 33. And that's what happened to me. I'm really proud of the start we've gotten off to and the continuation of what has been built here. But I think we got so much left to do. I just think we have so much left to accomplish. … This is where my family is. This is home for me. I've been in Durham longer than I have when I grew up in Chicago."
For one, I really appreciate what Scheyer is saying here, and the fact that he didn't make the jump to the NBA when he easily could have shows the type of person he is.
There's also something to be said about what this means for Duke, however, and that's the bigger part. When we think about basketball around the country, we don't really think about the Mavericks, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
When people talk about the NBA, we'll often hear about teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and maybe a few others.
The marquee teams get brought up, but if we start talking more broadly and college basketball comes up, Duke is often the first team mentioned.
Is Scheyer declining the job because of how people view Duke compared to the Mavericks in terms of how others speak about the two teams?
Definitely not, but I do think there is something to be said about how big of a program Duke is and what it means to the basketball world in general, not just in college.
I think if there is one college basketball program that can be compared to NBA teams in terms of notoriety, it's Duke.
