Jeremy Roach faces ex-team in March Madness rematch

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Defending champs UConn vs No. 1 seed Florida leads Sunday slate

Mackenzie Salmon previews the best games during Sundays slate of games in the round of 32 including the defending champs UConn taking on Florida.

Sports Seriously

RALEIGH, N.C. — What’s going to happen here Sunday isn’t primarily about Jeremy Roach.

It’s about Duke vs. Baylor, Sweet 16 on the line, at least two future lottery picks on the floor and a coach in Jon Scheyer who’s trying to do this year what Baylor’s Scott Drew accomplished four years ago when he won the national championship.

But it’s also about how modern college basketball works.

After four years playing point guard at Duke, encompassing 108 starts and 11 NCAA Tournament games and a Final Four, Roach’s career ran out of real estate. Despite having one more year of eligibility due to the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season, it was made clear to him that it was time to move on.

“It was handled with love, honesty and we felt mutually both ways that it would be the best thing for him in his career and where we had to go because of that,” Scheyer said.

Sitting 1,000 miles away in Waco, Texas, Drew saw opportunity. Though he had a highly-rated point guard coming into the program in Rob Wright and another star freshman in V.J. Edgecombe, Baylor combed through the transfer portal looking for experience – and particularly postseason experience. It didn’t hurt that when Baylor lost to Duke last season in Madison Square Garden, Roach played all 40 minutes and had 18 points.

“You try to get some balance,” Drew said. “You don’t want all freshmen; you don’t necessarily want all upper classmen. At the same time, when we won a national championship (in 2021) we had two point guards in Davion Mitchell and Jared Butler. If you can have four point guards out there, I think everybody would like that if you could get them to buy in. You have to play with the ball, without the ball. We thought Jeremy would be great compliment with Rob and…

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Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2025/03/22/duke-baylor-jeremy-roach-ncaa-mens-tournament/82615720007/

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Publish date : 2025-03-22 22:37:00

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