70 - 67 When you look back on the 2025 men’s basketball season, I’ll always think the Duke Blue Devils were the highest ceiling team of in the country. You don’t win national titles on potential, though.
Duke was the better basketball team against Houston for 38 minutes. They were more skilled and better prepared, and the result looked inevitable until it wasn’t.
Kelvin Sampson gave Jon Scheyer an absolute lesson in late-game coaching Saturday.
Duke was up 9 with 3 minutes left. They still led Houston by 7 with 86 seconds, but Houston won 70-67.
Sampson started pressuring. He called smart timeouts. Jon Scheyer reverted to the November version of himself, reliant on Cooper Flagg to make a late play, while Tyrese Proctor picked the worst possible game to go MIA. Houston never quit. Duke went into cruise control. Sampson never stopped adjusting. Scheyer coached like a deer in headlights.
If there’s a silver lining for Jon Scheyer. Coach K went to multiple final 4s before winning a national title. So did Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Tony Bennett lost to a 16-seed before winning his title.
They learned their lessons.
I think Jon Scheyer will learn from this, too, but he sure got taught one by Kelvin Sampson on Saturday night.
