Where Jon Scheyer ranks as head coach

Below NC State’s Kevin Keatts and Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes is Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and his main Tobacco Road rival, UNC’s Hubert Davis. That’s not a typo. No, absurd to many but logical to others, here’s how the four sides of current ACC basketball in North Carolina compare to College Basketball’s recently released “50 Best College Basketball Head Coaches Heading into 2024-25” Report.

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Keatts appears at 29th, then Forbes at 34th, Scheyer at 35th and Davis at 36th.

Presumably the argument is that Keatts has bragging rights in terms of more recent success, going a combined 3-0 against Scheyer and Davis last March en route to the Wolfpack’s first ACC Tournament title and Final Four appearance since the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Forbes, meanwhile, has been a head coach longer than Scheyer and Davis combined. So maybe that alone gives him a slight edge over both in the eyes of College Basketball Report, even though he hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament in four years in the ACC since leaving East Tennessee State, not to mention that not yet. I don’t have an overall winning record in ACC play.

As for the head-to-head comparison between Scheyer, preparing for his third season at the helm since succeeding Duke basketball legend Mike Krzyzewski, and Davis, in his fourth year since tar heel treasure the retirement of Roy Williams, it appears that College Basketball Report views them as essentially equals despite the contrasting paths of their results thus far.

In terms of notable achievements, Hubert Davis has the edge. He made it to a Final Four before the end of Coach K’s career, won an ACC regular season and earned a No. 1 berth in the NCAA tournament. Jon Scheyer reached an Elite Eight and won an ACC tournament.

In the recruiting process, Scheyer has yet to meet his match, having already landed two No. 1 classes, including the one available for next season. And their back-to-back 27-9 campaigns to start his career point to a win in the consistency department over Davis, whose 2022-23 team failed to earn an invitation to the Big Dance.

Jon Scheyer is 2-2 against Hubert Davis, 2-2 against Steve Forbes and 2-3 against Kevin Keatts.

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