It's been a pretty painful year for Duke basketball.
Although the Blue Devils made it to the Final Four a year ago and the Elite Eight this year, both of those trips ended in disastrous fashion. Against Houston in the 2025 Final Four, Duke blew a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes, including a six-point advantage entering the last minute of the game. And then just a few days ago, the Blue Devils, who led by as many as 19, turned the ball over on what should have been a game-sealing possession and watched as UConn's Braylon Mullins made a game-winning, 35-foot 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining.
The big-game collapses, though, are just the prelude to the successes that will come to Duke under Jon Scheyer, according to former Blue Devils star and current Chicago Bulls player Tre Jones.
“That was a tough one for sure,” Jones said of the loss to UConn, via the Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Cowley. “Last year was tough, missing free throws and the turnover at the end of the game. But this year, up 19 . . . I was back at the hotel with my family, and it was definitely tough.
“I always back them. I think this is setting them up for something down the line, for sure. Scheyer has been to three straight Elite Eights now. Final Four last year. Moments away from a Final Four this year. So I think whatever is happening is just preparing them for the future, for sure.”
Both Tre Jones and his older brother, Tyus Jones, played for Duke; Tre played for the Blue Devils from 2018 to 2020, while Tyus spent the 2014-15 season at Duke.
With Scheyer at the helm following Mike Krzyzewski's retirement, Duke is 124-25 and has reached at least the Elite Eight each of the past three seasons.
