Can you imagine having the best player in America, the strongest KenPom profile in 30 years, a 14-point lead with eight minutes left and still lost the game? That’s the Duke Dare Devils. This wasn’t just a collapse. It was a reckoning. Because when you wear Duke blue, you don’t just lose games—you write chapters in college basketball history. And unfortunately for Jon Scheyer, his latest chapter might haunt the program for years.
On the latest episode of CBS Sports College Basketball with Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander, the discussion was less about Xs and Os and more about trauma—Duke trauma. Gary Parrish didn’t hold back as he said, “It felt like this is a game we’re going to remember forever. The next time Duke is in a big spot, we’ll reference back to it… Jon Scheyer, until Jon Scheyer breaks through and wins a national championship, he will have to talk about this game forever.”
It was a historic choke—a 70-67 Final Four loss to Houston after leading by 14. Houston’s defense—the best in the country (according to KenPom) with an 87.4 defensive rating suffocated Duke in the final stretch. That’s what Houston did. The Cougars racked up six blocks in the game, with three coming in the last 9 minutes and 18 seconds of the second half. The Blue Devils hit one field goal in the last 10 and a half minutes.
That field goal? A Cooper Flagg three at the 3:02 mark. After that, nothing. Just a disrupted jumper. A heave at the buzzer. A slow, stunned walk off the court. “We just had to keep that belief and keep the faith,” said Houston guard L.J. Cryer, who dropped 26 on the Blue Devils.
Even Cooper Flagg, the presumptive No. 1 NBA pick, gave credit where it was due: “We could have been a little bit more sharp down the stretch executing some things. At the end of the day, you got to give them a lot of credit, as well.” But credit doesn’t ease the pain. Not for Duke. And certainly not for Scheyer.
Matt Norlander offered what sounded like a eulogy: “He had the best team in the country, according to predictive metrics. One of the best teams in the past three decades, according to KenPom. The best player in the country, and you’re up 14 with a little more than eight to go and nine with a little more than two to go. You have got to win that game. You’ve got to close that out. And when you don’t, it hurts.”
Scheyer’s Duke: Brilliant in December, Broken in March
And maybe that’s the most damning part: Scheyer has improved. Each year, deeper in the tournament. Each year, closer to the goal.
2022–23: Round of 32.
2023–24: Elite Eight.
2024–25: Final Four.
Yet, as Norlander said, “The way that Duke is getting knocked out of this field is getting more excruciating with each passing year… If the pattern continues a year from now, I don’t even want to imagine how Duke would lose in a national championship game in that scenario.”
NCAA, College League, USA Basketball: NCAA Tournament East Regional-Arizona at Duke Mar 27, 2025 Newark, NJ, USA Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer during the first half against the Arizona Wildcats during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Newark Prudential Center NJ USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xVincentxCarchiettax 20250327_pjc_cb6_868
This is no longer about growing pains. This is about failure to deliver when it matters most. And this time, Scheyer had everything. A once-in-a-generation freshman in Flagg. Kon Knueppel scoring 16. A roster with half a dozen future NBA names. A team that went 35–4, 19–1 in conference play.
But basketball is a cruel game—a game of inches and intent. You don’t coast to the rim in March; you scrap for every possession. And Houston, the team that closed the game on a 9-0 run, knew that better.
“Cooper was not going to beat us by himself,” said Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson. Although Cooper had 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Even AI bet against Duke. A professional gambler lost a million-dollar wager to an AI-powered March Madness bracket that predicted the Houston comeback. That’s how predictable Duke’s collapse is starting to look.
Scheyer, in many ways, is pulling a Brad Stevens—trust the core, build the culture, run it back. But here’s the thing: Stevens actually ran it back. In 2017, the Celtics got smoked by LeBron’s Cavs in the East Finals. Two years later, they blew a golden opportunity in the Bubble, falling to the Heat despite leading in every game.
But Stevens stayed the course. He drafted Tatum, doubled down on Jaylen Brown, handed the reins to Ime Udoka, and watched that same group morph into the NBA’s best team. Seven years, five East Finals, and finally, a title in 2024 with a 64–18 season and a playoff steamroll. That’s what “run it back” looks like.
But college basketball doesn’t wait. As Parrish said, “You don’t get to just run it back.” There’s no next year when you’re one-and-done. No luxury of seven seasons. Scheyer had the roster, the stars, the analytics. And still, Duke collapsed. This isn’t the NBA—it’s March. You get one shot. And Duke missed.
So yes, Scheyer’s overall win-loss record says 89–22. Yes, the win percentage is .802. But what does it matter when the losses define you?
The post Ground Is Shrinking Beneath Duke as Jon Scheyer’s Disastrous Incompetence Makes Future Difficult for the Blue Devils appeared first on EssentiallySports.
