The 2025 Duke Blue Devils were a juggernaut. A team that bulldozed its way through the ACC, dominated the NCAA Tournament, and looked destined for a national championship. But in one of the most stunning turnarounds in March Madness history, Houston ripped the dream away in the Final Four, leaving Jon Scheyer and his players crushed in a silence filled with disbelief. In the aftermath, Scheyer’s raw emotions poured out in the locker room — not just as a coach, but as a leader who carried the weight of his players’ heartbreak on his shoulders.
The Duke basketball program was arguably the best team in college basketball heading into the 2025 NCAA Tournament. A 19-1 ACC record, an ACC regular season and Tournament crown, and a 1-seed in the big dance. The Blue Devils continued to display utter dominance in the tournament, winning their first four games by an average of 23.5 points to advance to the Final Four. Then, heartbreak filled the program and the entire Duke fan base. After controlling the majority of the contest against 1-seed Houston, Duke fell victim to one of the biggest collapses in the history of the NCAA Tournament, falling to the Cougars 70-67. After such a storied season, it was almost impossible to grasp the loss after a national title game appearance looked imminent.
Jon Scheyer highlights emotional rollercoaster in locker room after Final Four loss to Houston
Jon Scheyer spoke with insider Jon Rothstein on Inside College Basketball Now and discussed what he told his team right after the soul-shattering loss.
“Just that I love them,” Scheyer said. “Just that, you know, I’m sorry. I told them I didn’t feel I helped them enough down the stretch, and, they literally did everything we asked of them. They just, in terms of their effort, their approach every single day. That doesn’t mean there’s not mistakes during the course of a game, of course there are. That’s part of basketball. But, man, they were a special group for me to coach.”
That Duke squad was a special group and is one of the most talented Blue Devil rosters in recent memory. Highlighted by AP National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, one of the best freshmen college hoops has seen in some time, the team was so perfectly well-rounded around him with defense, shooting, effort, and chemistry. After the Blue Devils looked quite literally unstoppable through the first four games of the NCAA Tournament, many saw Duke as the clear team to beat heading into the National Semifinals.
Nonetheless, Scheyer has only continued to improve through his tenure as head coach. In his three seasons, Duke has won two ACC Tournament Championships while making an Elite 8 and a Final Four.
The Blue Devils now enter the 2025-26 campaign with an entirely new group, which is extremely young. Scheyer brought back some key pieces to complement the incoming No. 1 recruiting class, and the program is poised once again to make a run for a sixth national title.
