Jaden Schutt Could Emerge As A Huge Impact On Duke’s Offense This Season

We talked a bit about the impact of Dariq Whitehead, as well as his development, over the weekend, but there is another player who needs to be discussed and that’s Jaden Schutt.

He hasn’t played a ton so far, but he’s been working and when Jon Scheyer called on him Saturday, he responded. Here’s what Scheyer said about his promising freshman guard:

“Proud of Jaden Schutt. He’s worked….. He’s worked before practice, after practice. He’s been the best plaver on every team we scout that we play against, and that’s a role that a lot of big-time players have had here...Just proud of him, and credit to him. The first play he made was an offensive rebound that got us going. He hit three 3’s.

‘He’s going to be a great player for us.”

When you look at Schutt, he is a solid young player but pretty clearly, he has one skill that rises above the rest: the man has a golden arm.

And that might come in handy.

Right now, Mark Mitchell is Duke’s best three point shooter at 42.9 percent (Schutt actually is, but he has only played in five games and hadn’t scored since Armistice Day prior to his nine point run against Maryland Eastern Shore).

MItchell’s followed by Jacob Grandison (38.7 percent), Jeremy Roach and Kyle Filipowski (both at 33.3 percent), Jaylen Blakes at 30.4 percent, Dariq Whitehead (26.1 percent) and Tyrese Proctor closes it out at 23.9 percent.

It’s reasonable to expect Whitehead and Proctor to improve, Whitehead because he’s a solid shooter who is recuperating from a foot injury that kept him out for weeks and Proctor, who came to Duke a year early. He’s still slight and adjusting to this level of basketball.

There’s a trend line here, but with limited data: Since the Ohio State game, Proctor is 6-14 on threes, which works out to 42.8 percent.

Which would be very helpful, but don’t count your ostrich eggs and all of that: in the previous three games, against Oregon State, Xavier and Purdue, he shot 1-11.

Ohio State was a solid team, but Duke’s ACC stablemate BC, Iowa and UMES, where Proctor had some success, aren’t as good defensively.

So there’s a chance that his three point shooting, which has looked better against some weaker teams recently, may just not be very good this year. And that would make Schutt, if he’s caught up enough in the other aspects of the game to unleash his golden arm more consistently, an incredibly dangerous player.