The Duke Blue Devils experienced the ultimate heartbreak in March Madness, as they held a lead throughout a majority of their Elite 8 game against UConn, and then saw it vanish, with UConn coming back to claim an improbable win in the final 10 seconds.
A massive three-pointer by freshman Braylon Mullins came from near the half-court logo, after Duke attempted to throw the ball across the half-court line and UConn forced a turnover. That shot sent the UConn sideline into extreme excitement, as the Duke sideline was stunned with only 0.4 seconds remaining to draw up some sort of full-court miracle play.
For head coach Jon Scheyer, it was another disappointing ending to his NCAA Tournament attempts, immediately drawing criticism for the man on the Blue Devils’ sidelines. However, Scheyer received defense from many individuals, including a Duke legend who blasted his critics.
Read more: Illinois Coach Brad Underwood Makes Surprising Admission About UConn Game
On Monday, former Duke player and now ESPN analyst, Jay Williams, uploaded a video rant in which he called out those trying to criticize Scheyer.
“Labeling Jon Scheyer as a choker is laughable. S*** is laughable. Last time I can remember, three out of the four coaches in the Final Four haven’t won the big game yet, either, and how long have they been coaching?” Williams asked. “Anybody that wants to equate success to just winning the big game, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The former Blue Devils star mentioned that Scheyer has reached three-straight Elite Eight games in his career, has a 124-27 record in four years, has won the ACC Tournament three out of four years, has won the conference back-to-back, and has had the No. 1 recruiting class three out of his four years.
“So lose with me all, ‘He’s overrated.’ What are you talking about? Williams pointed out that it took other coaches a long time to win their first championship, including former Duke coach Mike Kryziewski, who took 16 years to win it.
He also mentioned former Villanova coach Jay Wright needed 22 years to win his first, John Calipari took 20 years, and John Wooden took 16 years.
“So look? Is it difficult to win the big game? Sure. Can you be critical because he’s had top-tier talent and they can’t get over the hump, even though they’ve all been freshman? Sure. You wanna compare him to John Calpiari? Sure. It’s hard to win a championship, but lose me with the fact that this dude isn’t extremely successful,” Williams said to end his rant.
Scheyer began coaching the Blue Devils in the 2022-23 season. The past four years featured Duke losing to UConn in the Elite Eight, a loss to Houston in the Final Four, a loss to NC State in the Elite Eight, and a second-round exit.
Much of the criticism that is falling on Scheyer relates to the play in the final 10 seconds, where his players attempted to advance the ball, rather than holding it. However, that may fall more on the players and less on Scheyer’s coaching in the frantic final seconds of a game.
Add to it that the bar has been set extremely high for college basketball coaches, thanks to UConn’s Dan Hurley leading his teams to those two championships back-to-back and returning to the NCAA Final Four for the third time in four years.
Read more: UNC Halts Arena Plans as Coaching Search to Replace Hubert Davis Continues
For more about college basketball, head over to Newsweek Sports.
