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Jon Scheyer is doing a great job in keeping the balance between producing NBA-caliber talent and forming a squad capable of making deep NCAA Tournament runs. While the Duke basketball squad could not give Jared McCain, Jeremy Roach, and Kyle Filipowski the proper send off they wanted, there is someone who will stay in the Blue Devils system to help Cooper Flagg next season. He goes by the name of Tyrese Proctor.
You heard that right, Duke basketball fans! Tyrese Proctor will not yet head to the NBA Draft or even go to the NCAA Transfer Portal. He has chosen to run it back for Coach Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils squad, per Adam Zagoria.
This means that Duke will be loaded and ready to steamroll through the ACC and NCAA Tournament next year. They will have Cooper Flagg, the best recruit of the 2025 class, along with Khaman Maluach, the third-best player of 2025.
All these young guns are going to need someone with experience if they want to win it all. This is where Tyrese Proctor’s help and intangibles come in handy. He is able to facilitate the offense well and communicate schemes to his teammates in the Duke system very effectively. These add up to make him one of the best guards in college basketball come next season.
His production for the Blue Devils only gets better over time. In 2023-24, he knocked down 42.3% of his field goal attempts to notch 10.5 points on a nightly basis. The more impressive part is his three-point shooting. Despite attempting 4.6 shots from way out, Proctor is able to sink 35.2% of them. These are big leaps compared to his averages of 9.4 points on 38.1% field goal shooting which he racked in 2022-23.
His playmaking chops will also stand out more next season. He managed to get 3.7 assists per contest in their last campaign but that number is likely to increase because of how much Cooper Flagg is a threat on the pick-and-roll. Overall, his decision to stay is a big blessing for the Duke faithful.
Duke’s plan for the future
Look, there are not a lot of programs quite as attractive to NBA prospects like Duke. The Blue Devils face unique problems of players constantly leaving due to the NBA Draft or NCAA Transfer Portal. However, Coach Jon Scheyer does have a plan in order for them to remain competitive despite these struggles.
“Well, it’s an art form. I don’t think it’s an exact science, right. And when you recruit, especially in today’s day and age, there’s so much uncertainty, especially for us, at least, when you have multiple players that have a chance to hopefully go pro at some point,” he said about the situation.
So, what’s the solution? Well, it looks like Duke continues to be grateful because some players return for multiple seasons.
“At the end of the day, you go after the guys you believe in. We’ve been a part of — since I’ve been on the staff with Coach K, these last two years that I’ve been head coach, we’ve won a National Championship with a freshman-heavy group. We’ve gone to two Elite 8s where you’re right there. This group, certainly helps to have a Jeremy Roach. The 2015 team had Quinn Cook. There has to be some balance of course,” Scheyer explained.
The Blue Devils have a clear cut veteran again next year. Will this help them break Dan Hurley’s three-peat for a national championship?
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