Duke basketball: Jon Scheyer gets laughably disrespected as recruiter

Jon Scheyer doesn't seem to need any extra motivation on the recruiting trail, but he could draw some from one ridiculous recent snub.

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)

Jon Scheyer is a top-10 recruiter. Duh. But the first-year Duke basketball head coach shouldn't be No. 10 or even as low as, say, No. 3.

Nevertheless, whether The Field of 68 and Jeff Goodman honestly believe this or are just trying to get a rise out of the Blue Devil fanbase, nine other head coaches sit higher than the 35-year-old on the list of the nation's top-20 recruiters that they've been posting to social media this week.

Absurd.

Granted, Scheyer has yet to coach his first game as the program's leader. However, that has nothing to do with what the ranking purports to measure.

Since accepting the title as Mike Krzyzewski's pre-named successor and taking over complete control of Duke's recruiting efforts in June 2021, all Scheyer has done is compile the nation's top-ranked classes on both the 2022 and 2023 recruiting trails.

Even so, his unmatched level of recent recruiting success — and it's not even really close — doesn't seem to matter much in the eyes of The Field of 68.

Those two Scheyer-led hauls total 11 prospects, including nine of the five-star variety, per 247Sports.

Heck, the seven-deep 2022 collection, which arrived on campus as a unit in August, features three of the nation's top-five players on the 247Sports 2022 Composite in Dereck Lively II (No. 1), Dariq Whitehead (No. 2), and Kyle Filipowski (No. 4).

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And four of the nation's top-20 talents in the 2023 arena, per 247Sports, have already pledged allegiance to the Blue Devils.

Plus, according to the 247Sports Recruiter Rankings, which includes assistants, Jon Scheyer has ranked No. 1 in the country in four consecutive cycles dating back to 2020, albeit the 2023 race remains in progress.

How have nine other head coaches out there fared better than all that? Have they secretly landed some 8-foot unicorns from some remote island or far-off galaxy?

Yes, Jon Scheyer is relatively new to this. Yet seeing that he has already mastered the craft while undoubtedly out-recruiting all of the names that The Field of 68 ranks above him across the past 15 months, one would think he deserves considerably more respect.

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