Media Day Notes

Duke held Media Day on Friday and as always, there were some interesting comments and insights.

You can read through all the comments here, including coach Scheyer’s, but there are some in particular that are interesting.

When asked why he returned, Jeremy Roach said “[j]ust everybody coming back. Tyrese [Proctor], [Kyle Filipowski] and Mark [Mitchell], that was a big factor in me coming back. Then obviously, we had another great recruiting freshman class. We have a chance to win the national championship. That’s always been my goal here coming to Duke. So, I’m trying to finish it off in the right way.”

Kyle Filipowski said this about his life post-surgery: “My hips are doing great, first off. I’m starting to realize that the rest of my body is trying to catch up now, just with different parts—my knees, groins, hamstrings, etc. With my hips being more open now, I have a lot more flexibility, mobility. I’ve got to keep working on that, just to get the rest of my body used to it. But, I’m noticing a lot of differences in just how I’m moving and the strength and the stamina I’ve been able to build up over time ...

During that time, I was able to focus on very few things and just put all my attention on that. I was able to reflect mentally too and have some focus on my mental health a little bit because it was definitely a challenging time just knowing I was limited and was on the couch for two months doing nothing. I was able to just focus on my upper body a little bit. I was able to focus on just starting fresh with my legs as well. I wasn’t going from zero to 100. I was taking my time, I was progressing, and I was moving pretty quickly actually.”

And Sean Stewart said this about the already notable closeness of the freshmen: “I mean, just coming in here, we already kind of knew each other, but once we stepped on campus, we just formed a great bond.

“ We’re always together. We work out together all the time in the mornings before practice. We just get along really well, and it translates on the court a lot. In the summer, we liked us four to go against the older guys. So, we have a lot of camaraderie to start. It translates really well.”

There’s a lot to like about how Scheyer is running the program, but if you had to pick one thing, bottom line of winning aside, it’d be guys getting along as well as this team seems to. And that’s not an accident - Scheyer is showing signs of excellent people skills and also of finding guys that get along. And good things come when you have group harmony.