Jon Scheyer has been here before.
The head coach for Duke is back on the sport’s grandest stage.
But this time, not as the wiley guard who once led the Blue Devils to the national championship in 2010.
But rather, this time Scheyer is the wise old man of the group, who has coached his team back to the Final Four.
The 37-year-old at the helm of the storied program is trying to do something that seemed nearly impossible when he took the job in 2022.
Replicate the success of the greatest coach of his generation, Mike Krzyzewski.
Scheyer is now just two wins away from following in the footsteps pf his former coach.
He was on Coach K’s 2010 national championship team that won the title over Butler in a thrilling affair.
15 years later, his own star player, Cooper Flagg, is helping Scheyer live up to the massive expectations that comes with playing and coaching in Durham, North Carolina.
While Flagg is the overwhelming favorite to hear his name called first in the NBA draft, if and when he declares, it was Scheyer who once upon a time tried to carve out a career in the NBA, that unfortunately was over before it even had the chance to start.
And that’s because of an extremely rare and scary injury that Scheyer suffered in only his second professional game during Miami’s Summer League game in 2011.
Scheyer was accidentally poked in his right eye by Joe Ingles during the game, that caused a retinal tear and traumatic optic nerve avulsion.
The injury required surgery and Scheyer had to play with goggles for the rest of his career.
A career that only lasted a few more seasons between the G League and playing overseas.
“I think it’s another example of how quickly you have to pivot or how quickly things change,” Scheyer said on A Field of 68 podcast in September of 2023.
“I was in Miami in their summer league camp when LeBron James went on camera and said, ‘I’m taking my talents to South Beach.’
“I remember me and Shavlik Randolph were having dinner. He was on the team, and LeBron announced it.
“At some point, I don’t know if it was afterwards or before, Chris Bosh said he’s going to Miami.
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“So I’m thinking, ‘Man, I’m gonna be teammates with LeBron. This is amazing!’
“The first game of Summer League I hit the game-winning shot.
“The second game, I got poked in the eye and immediately lost all eyesight. It was kind of a crazy deal.
“To this day I haven’t regained that vision, because it’s an optic nerve injury.”
Scheyer is legally blind in his right eye.
Luckily for him, he won’t need 20/20 vision to cut down the nets in San Antonio.
All he will need, is two more victories.
How to watch March Madness in the UK
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March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions.
This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years.
talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service.
Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
