As the Duke Blue Devils prepare for their second-round game in the NCAA Tournament against 9th-seeded Baylor, head coach Jon Scheyer opened up about the nickname he was given during his high school and college days as a basketball star in the Chicago area. NBA veteran Patrick Beverley had referred to Scheyer with the nickname of “White Mike” because Scheyer had been willing to accept all challenges when playing against the best players in the Chicago area.
Scheyer had the time to talk about his play as a high school and college player because his Duke team been an easy victor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament when it defeated Mount St. Mary’s by a 93-49 margin. The game marked the return of Player of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg from a sprained ankle, and that was a major relief to Scheyer, his teammates and all Duke supporters.
The Duke head coach was the subject of Beverley’s podcast ahead of the start of the NCAA tournament. He said Scheyer had been given the nickname of “White Mike” because he took on all challenges and went to the most competitive locations in order to play in challenging situations when he was coming up in the sport. The nickname was a compliment to Scheyer’s competitiveness as he was given a nickname that referenced all-time NBA great and Chicago legend Michael Jordan.
“For me, I take a lot of pride in the city of Chicago and going wherever there was a game, I’d go there to play,” Scheyer said as he met the media. “For (Beverley) to talk about me that way — I’m not sure “White Mike” was the name, but I’ll take it.”
Celebrated high school and college star has Duke in a position to win a national title
Scheyer finished his high school career at Glenbrook North (Ill.) High School with 3,034 points. Scheyer averaged 32 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals as a senior. He played his college career at Duke and became the only player in Duke history to 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 3-pointers and 200 steals.
The Blue Devils gained one of the No. 1 seeds in the tournament and they figure to get much more of a test from Baylor than they did against Mount St. Mary’s. Duke will bring a 32-3 record into the game in Raleigh and Scheyer’s team has won 12 games in a row.
The Blue Devils have not lost a game since suffering a 77-71 defeat at Clemson in early February. Flagg leads the team with an average of 18.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Ken Knueppel is second with a scoring mark of 14.1 ppg.
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