What Jayson Tatum likes about Duke basketball and how Jon Scheyer views the Blue Devils

[ad_1]

Jayson Tatum hasn’t stopped paying attention to Duke basketball.

On the 50th episode of the Blue Devils’ Brotherhood podcast, which featured Tatum and Duke teammate Amile Jefferson, Tatum was asked his thoughts on Cooper Flagg and the current Blue Devils (16-2, 8-0 ACC).

“I really enjoy how fearless they are,” said Tatum, an NBA Finals champion and five-time All-Star in his eighth season with the Boston Celtics.

By all accounts within the Duke program, that fearlessness has been on display since the summer ahead of the 2024-25 season. It continues to grow 18 games into Jon Scheyer’s third year as head coach.

When asked about Tatum’s thoughts on his team, Scheyer referenced several factors that have contributed to forming and developing the fearless attitude within the Blue Devils.

Jon Scheyer gives credit to Duke basketball parents

During his 42 seasons as the Duke basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski often said the Blue Devils wanted to recruit “talent with character, not talented characters.”

That philosophy hasn’t changed under Scheyer, which means many of the players that choose Duke arrive in Durham with a strong understanding of what it takes to handle the ebbs and flows of life.

“I think you have to have strong individual character. That’s the first thing,” Scheyer said Thursday inside the Bill Brill Media Room at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“We’ve been able to identify it, recruit it and get a collection of guys that have strong … their families, a lot of our guys, their families have allowed them to fail. They’ve allowed them to grow up, I’m saying, even before they got to us. I think that builds a toughness in you. All of our parents, I think that’s a big deal.”

With 10 newcomers, including three freshmen in the starting lineup, Duke endured some early failures when it forced its youngsters to face tough situations. The Blue Devils were left with learning experiences from close losses to Kansas and Kentucky in November. 

The growing pains…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jayson-tatum-likes-duke-basketball-233047074.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2025-01-23 23:30:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.