By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer

1Duke Blue Devils
2Houston Cougars
CBS | Saturday, April 5th 8:49 PM EDT

San Antonio — When Duke coach Jon Scheyer was looking for a program to scrimmage before his first season, he called Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.

“We sought out scrimmaging Houston,” said Scheyer, Duke’s third-year coach. “And, that was the respect that I had for coach [Kelvin] Sampson, Houston’s program, what they stand for and to be here competing against them is an honor.”

The programs will meet with a bit more at stake this weekend in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four. Duke (35-3) and Houston (34-3) are both No. 1 seeds. Tipoff is set for 8:49 p.m. Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.

It’s the first Final Four as a head coach for Scheyer, who played in and won the 2010 Final Four with the Blue Devils. He also coached twice in the event as an assistant to legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in 2015 and 2022.

“It’s special,” Scheyer said Thursday. “You feel a great deal of responsibility to be the head coach at Duke. You want for your players to be able to experience this. Walking out there today for practice, I was just soaking it in like when I was 22 years old walking out for the first time. The Final Four is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. To be a part of this, being my fourth Final Four, obviously first as a head coach, but if you’re around great people, you’re at a great place, it’s something I’ll never take for granted.”

He continued: “At the same time, I feel we belong here. I feel this is what we’ve worked for. So there’s that combination of amazing pride, wanting to soak it in, but then the incredible hunger and understanding what a challenge this game is going to be on Saturday.”

Scheyer, 37, mentioned the influence that Krzyzewski and former Duke assistant coaches Chris Collins, Steve Wojciechowski and Johnny Dawkins had on him.

Scheyer and Duke reached the Elite Eight last season, losing to NC State. He remade the Blue Devils roster in the offseason, building one of the nation’s best teams around super freshman Cooper Flagg. Scheyer has said he had hard conversations with some of the players that left the team, the few that remained, like Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Forster, and incoming freshmen and transfers.

“It’s part of who we are, part of the culture,” Scheyer said. “For me, I’ve had the biggest breakthroughs as a player and now as a coach when you have those confrontations, and they don’t always have to be hostile, but it does need to be based on truth.”

Duke hasn’t lost a game since Feb. 8, a 77-71 road loss to Clemson.

“You find out very quickly as a head coach, you’re not going to be liked all the time, and you have to accept that, but I do think if you’re always honest and show that you care, you’ll always have the respect, and that’s something that I always hope to have,” Scheyer said.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to go through that with our guys. I’m always going to be myself. That’s who I am. I think at the end of the day you find out very quickly as a head coach you’re not going to be liked all the time. You have to accept that. But I do think if you’re always honest and show that you care, you’ll always have the respect. That’s something that I always hope to have.”

Houston enters Saturday’s game with the longest active winning streak in the country at 17 games. Sampson, 69, is a North Carolina native and member of the Lumbee Tribe. He is making his third trip to the Final Four: 2002 with Oklahoma and 2021 with Houston.

“I’ll tell you how good Jon Scheyer has been. Nobody talks about him replacing Coach K anymore. He’s Jon Scheyer,” Sampson said. “He’s got his team in the Final Four. I think that speaks volumes for him.”

Scheyer said he learned a lot about his first team during that scrimmage with Houston and Sampson before the 2022-23 season. He was seeking the “toughest test” he could find.

“They’re the toughest test because of their coach,” Scheyer said. “Their coach is as good as it gets in college basketball, and basketball, period. I just admired from afar the way they defended, how they were building their culture.”

Duke knocked Houston out of the 2024 tournament with a 54-51 win in the Sweet 16.

Contributions of Cooper Flagg, other Duke freshmen

Duke has relied on several freshmen players this season. Cooper Flagg (18.9 points per game) and Kon Knueppel (14.4 points per game) are the team’s two leading scorers. Big man Khaman Maluach has also started all 38 games this season. Each are projected as first-round picks in June’s 2025 NBA Draft.

No other team in the Final Four – Auburn and Florida are the others – starts a teenaged player. Duke starts three of them in Flagg, Knueppel and Maluach.

There are six players starting for Final Four teams who are 23 years or older.

“There’s a part of you that feels maybe you’re a little crazy at times just because it’s so different,” Scheyer said.

“I will say the confidence level is pretty high, though, when you think about the freshmen being Cooper, Khaman and Kon and Isaiah (Evans) and Pat (Ngongba) and Darren (Harris). We felt like we have a special class that you can’t have every year.”

Scheyer, however, is confident in his next recruiting class. Duke will likely have to remake much of its roster as Flagg, Knueppel and Maluach are projected as NBA lottery picks.

Duke has signed Cameron Boozer, Shelton Henderson, Nikolas Khamenia and Cayden Boozer.

“Next year, I feel we have a group already that can do the same, but I think that’s going to vary year to year,” Scheyer said.

The Boozer twins are the sons of Duke legend and two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer.

Cameron Boozer is considered the third-best player in the 2025 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. The service ranks Cameron Boozer and Henderson as five-star recruits.

They’ll follow what’s been a spectacular season by Flagg, who was named a first-team Associated Press All-American for the 2024-25 season.

In addition to scoring, Flagg leads Duke in rebounding (7.5 per game), assists (4.2 per game) and steals (1.4 per game).

“If we’re relying on freshmen players, they better be ready to go right away,” Scheyer said.

How Duke matches up against Houston

Duke’s length has given opposing teams problems on offense. Duke limited Alabama in an 85-65 win to reach the Final Four.

Alabama entered the Elite Eight as the highest-scoring team in the country (91.4 points per game). In the Sweet 16, Alabama defeated BYU, 113-88, on an NCAA Tournament record 25 made 3-pointers.

The Blue Devils are the tallest team in the country, averaging 79.8 inches (or about 6-foot-7¾ in layman’s terms) across 15 players, according to analytics site KenPom.com, ranging from the 7-foot-2 Maluach to 5-foot-8 guard Spencer Hubbard.

Duke’s scoring defense ranks seventh in college basketball, allowing only 62.6 points per game. Statistically, Houston has been the best in the country, allowing only 58.3 points per game. The Cougars’ defense, Scheyer joked, has kept him up at night.

“No offense to our scout team … it’s not something you can replicate,” Scheyer said. “And so, it’s understanding what could or could not be there, but at the same time, you don’t want to make them out to be the boogie man either. You have to have confidence. We’re a great offensive team. I want us to be us. In doing that, you’re going to have some moments where you may go through a stretch [where] you don’t score.”

The Cougars defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 69-50 in Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup.

Fifth-year guard L.J. Cryer is the team’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game. Fifth-year forward J’Wan Roberts is 23 years old and has played in 171 games.

Senior forward Ja’Vier Francis has played in 126 games, sophomore guard Terrance Arceneaux has played in 83 games and sophomore forward Joseph Tugler has played in 66 games.

Source: wralsportsfan.com