By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — While Duke coach Jon Scheyer focuses on another Elite Eight matchup, the rest of North Carolina’s Triangle region is in a bit of chaos.
Hubert Davis was fired at North Carolina, and Will Wade left N.C. State to go back to one of his previous jobs at LSU. Scheyer said Saturday he can particularly relate to Davis’ situation, given both took over at high-pressure jobs at schools they previously played for.
“I’ve got a lot of empathy for other coaches, for Hubert, not just the fact of him coaching at the school down the road, but the fact that he played there as well,” Scheyer said. “So there’s the meaning behind it. I understand that obviously well in this position myself.”
Scheyer and top-seeded Duke face UConn in Sunday’s East Region final. It’s his third straight appearance in the Elite Eight after an earlier exit in 2023, his first season. The Blue Devils are seeking their second straight Final Four appearance and have maintained their spot among the elite after Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement.
North Carolina, meanwhile, has had its ups and downs. The Tar Heels nearly won it all in Davis’ first season after replacing Roy Williams. They even ended Coach K’s career by beating Duke in a clash of rivals at the 2022 Final Four. But they’ve only made it past the round of 64 once since then. This year, North Carolina was missing injured star Caleb Wilson and blew a big lead against VCU in a first-round loss.
“Hubert Davis is a good friend. Actually his wife Leslie — her father, who passed in the last year, was one of my teammates at West Point. I think Hubert’s one of the great guys,” Krzyzewski said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “I think every coach in the country has sympathy for him. You lose a player the caliber of Caleb Wilson, he’s a top-five pick in the NBA draft, and you don’t have him the last few weeks of the season, that’s a big thing.”
Scheyer was similarly magnanimous.
“Coaching is a big blessing, but it’s also what you sign up for in this business unfortunately,” he said. “So I think this thing is really delicate. I think it’s really fragile. I think this week has been an example of that.”