Twitter Gold: Isaiah Evans Rains Threes On The Auburn Tigers

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 4: Isaiah Evans #3 of the Duke Blue Devils puts up a three-point shot against the Auburn Tigers at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 4, 2024 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) | Getty Images

On Wednesday, Isaiah Evans announced that he would enter the 2026 NBA Draft, and through the course of the day, it sort of became clear that things are a little bit different now for Duke Basketball.

This is not a knock on anyone, but see if this rings true to you: Duke fans feel more closely connected to Jon Scheyer’s teams than they did with some of Mike Krzyzewski’s last teams.

Part of it may just be youth. Jon Scheyer is 38, and he could still theoretically be playing. He has small, adorable children. More of it may be in how well he has bonded with his players, though.

We linked a video on Wednesday that saw Scheyer shooting threes, and before making them, asking his players, “Do you believe in me?”

They really seem to, and part of the reason for that is because he’s a player’s coach. Last year, Cooper Flagg’s mother, Kelly, said “Cooper would run through a brick wall for that man.”

He lets his players take a lot of responsibility; they, in turn, feel invested.

There is a sense of youth in the program now, a sense of rejuvenation. Duke fans have seen it before: the 1978 team was very young by the standards of that day, and when Duke made the first Final Four in the Coach K era, that team had a youthful vibe, as did Coach K himself.

Last season, the team relied on freshmen stars Flagg and Kon Knueppel, and while Evans was a five-star freshman too, he was less prepared to be great night in and night out.