http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=powers_scott&id=4803576
Coach K did right by Jon by giving him a homecoming game at the UC and pulling him for a curtain call after a masterful 31 pt performance. Big ups to JS for coming through in the clutch. Nearly everyone we grew up with was in attendance so this game was definitely one he will remember the rest of his life.
The question remains however what the hell Duke was doing playing Iowa State in the first place. I have been looking around the net all evening to find some justification on why Duke, the home team in the neutral site match-up, selected Iowa State over all the other worthy teams in the Chicagoland area. I found nothing. The only possible explanation I could think of for pitting Duke against Iowa State was that this game was specifically scheduled not as a Scheyer tribute, but as a welcoming party for uber-recruit Harrison Barnes: he the Ames, Iowa native, who spurned Duke for Carolina Blue via Skype at his nationally televised college signing press conference. Seriously if your going to have a neutral site home game in Chicago at least pick an opponent around whom we can build a story line. Notre Dame vs Duke would have been a huge hit with both schools’ rabid alumni bases as well as pitted the three of the four best White players in college hoops against each other. Would have been a classic. How bout Duke-Kansas for a match-up of two teams ranked in the Top 5 with a reunion of former Illinois Warriors running mates Sherron Collins and Jon Scheyer to boot? Marquette, Indiana, or Michigan State also would have been exceptional selections as well. Can’t really fault Duke-Kentucky for not happening as Coach Cal and his top ranked recruiting class hadn’t yet jumped ship to Memphis by the time the schedule was being made.
Real talk now: at the end of the day if this game was really meant to be a Scheyer homecoming this game needed to be llinois vs Duke: the school he spurned for the school he choose. If you’re from Chicago you know the story. Coach Bruce Weber of Illinois is the brother of Scheyer’s high school coach at Glenbrook North. Despite the familial connection, Scheyer followed his life long dream of being a Blue Devil and signed with Duke, which was arguably the most painful recruiting lose ever for the Fighting Illini (especially in the wake of watching top talent like Sherron Collins, Shannon Brown, and Julian Wright forgo signing with the team coming off of the 2005 season). Many in Chicago would argue that Weber’s recruiting momentum has never recovered. This ticket would have been, by far, the hardest ticket to get on the United Center hardwood this year. Instead we got Duke-Iowa State, a game that so lacked a compelling story line after the first 3 minutes that ESPN was forced to show about 30 screen shots of Mr and Mrs. Scheyer to eat up dead time. What a shame.
[...] Scheyer’s on Fire, but its still all about Harrison Barnes [...]