After coming into the NCAA Tournament with the cloud of Cooper Flagg’s injury hanging over its head, Duke basketball had absolutely no trouble in the first round. Flagg was back on the floor, looking healthy, and the top-seeded Blue Devils absolutely rolled through the No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s 93-49.
The victory sets up a second-round clash with No. 9 seed Baylor, who knocked off Mississippi State in a nail-biter on Friday morning. Baylor is led by point guard Jeremy Roach, who spent the last four years at Duke before departing in the transfer portal last offseason.
Despite the battle with an old friend on the horizon, Scheyer isn’t focused on the reunion at all as he chases a national title as a head coach, via college basketball reporter Jaden Daly.
“We’re not gonna make this about that,” Scheyer said. “This should be about Duke and Baylor.”
Roach is one of four double-figure scorers for Scott Drew and the Bears, so Duke has plenty to focus on in the 48 hours between games this weekend in Raleigh.
The Blue Devils will be all too familiar with big man Norchad Omier from his time in the ACC at Miami, and superstar freshman VJ Edgecombe will give Scheyer plenty to think about. Robert Wright III also had a stellar day on Friday for Baylor, so the Bears are full of dangerous weapons all over the court.
NBA Draft scouts will have their eye on the matchup between Edgecombe and the Duke freshman trio of Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach. All four of them have the potential to be top 10 picks in the draft this summer, so it should be a fun display of pro-level talent when the two teams clash on Sunday.
Roach is one of the veterans in this game, and there will certainly be some emotions between he and his old Duke basketball teammates, such as Tyrese Proctor. However, those can be saved for after the game, as the focus for the entirety of the 40 minutes will surely be on advancing to the Sweet 16.
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