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First Up: Fayetteville State In A Cameron Exhibition

As a new era begins for Duke

By JD King
/ new
Texas Tech v Duke
The easy part is over now. Starting Wednesday, we’ll see what Jon Scheyer brings to the court as head coach.
Photo by Lance King/Getty Images

Date || Nov. 2 || Time 7:00 || Venue Cameron Indoor Stadium || Video ACCNX

The Jon Scheyer era at Duke opens on Wednesday evening with an exhibition against D-II Fayetteville State.

Duke has a tie with Fayetteville State: Former Blue Devil Jeff Capel III’s father, Jeff Capel II, went to school there and also coached the Broncos. The arena is named Felton J. Capel arena for his grandfather, who was a member of the board of trustees.

FSU is now coached by current HBCU Coach of The Year Luke D’Alessio, who was at Bowie State between 1999 and 2009 and ran up some impressive numbers. He had one losing season at Bowie State, his first, and peaked there with a 30-win season in 2002-03.

He did well last season with the Broncos: his team started 2-3 against a brutal stretch and ended up winning the CIAA Tournament.

They lost a lot last year, including NCAA Division II Player of the Year Jalen Seegars and Darian Dixon, Koraan Clemonts and Zion Cousins.

They bring a lot back too, including 6-2 senior CIAA Tournament MVP Cress Worthy, 6-5 sophomore Isaiah Ray, 6-1 junior Darryl Myers, 6-1 junior Khalil Ridges and 6-5 sophomore Josh Wiggins.

Transfers abound as well with 6-9 junior Sean Tony Hauser, 6-7 junior D’Marco Baucum, 6-7 Tyler Young and 5-11 Ephriam Butler. Nakwan James, a 6-7 forward, was previously at Shaw.

There are also three freshmen - 6-2 Tristin Harkins, 6-7 Mathias Billings and 5-9 Jordan Bunch.

Note that Young is a robust 260 and could be a pain inside.

It’s hard to know a lot about a D-II opponent, simply because they typically don’t get as much coverage as D-1 schools. However, this seems sure: Alessio is a good coach and will have his team ready. And whether this matters or not, he’ll surely tell his team, look, there’s no Coach K. Let’s hit them as hard as we can and see if they can handle it.

It’s only an exhibition, and you might not think it matters, but ask Louisville: it matters (Louisville just lost to D-II Lenoir-Rhyne).

And to an extent, this game could set the tone for Scheyer’s first year. So it will be most interesting.

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