Everyone Is Astonished by Jon Scheyer’s Summer Practice Twist
In Durham, something unexpected is taking place. and it’s surprising everybody. From
In Durham, something unexpected is taking place, and it’s surprising everybody. At the heart of this summer’s buzz is Jon Scheyer, head coach of the Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team, who has introduced a dramatic and unconventional twist to the program’s off-season practices—one that has not only left fans and analysts talking, but also caught his players off guard in a way that might just define the team’s trajectory for the upcoming season.
Jon Scheyer, still relatively early in his tenure as Duke’s head coach, has already shown he’s not afraid to step out of Coach K’s long shadow and do things his way. But even those familiar with his progressive style didn’t see this coming. It started in mid-June when Duke’s summer training camp opened its doors. Instead of the grueling, system-heavy drills that players had braced themselves for, Scheyer told his team to leave their playbooks behind and come ready to compete—but with almost no basketballs in sight.
What unfolded over the following weeks has been described by insiders as one of the most radical off-season regimens in modern college basketball. Rather than building practices around scrimmages, skill development, and shooting drills, Scheyer implemented a program designed to test—and transform—the players’ mental and emotional resilience. The twist? He outsourced the first phase of summer training to a team of Navy SEAL veterans, sports psychologists, and improvisational actors.
It began with something Scheyer called “The Reset.” Players arrived expecting a weight room or gym session but were instead ushered onto buses at dawn and taken to an undisclosed location in the mountains of North Carolina. There, they spent three days disconnected from their phones, their schedules, and even basketball itself. Instead of lifting weights or running sets, they hiked, cooked meals over fires, slept under tarps, and engaged in team-building challenges designed to reveal the limits of their cooperation and character.
Why such a move? According to Scheyer, the goal was to strip away assumptions and rewire the team’s understanding of leadership and cohesion. “We talk a lot about brotherhood here,” Scheyer reportedly told the players during a mountain debriefing session, “but what does that mean when the lights are off, when there are no fans, no rankings, no highlights—only each other?”
The response was mixed at first. Several freshmen, new to the pressure cooker of Duke basketball, admitted they were confused and even frustrated by the direction. Some returning players, who had expected a traditional camp, found themselves questioning whether this experiment was a gimmick. But by the time they returned to Durham, something had shifted. Players were noticeably more in sync, not just on the court but in the locker room. They listened to each other differently. They communicated without ego. And that was just the beginning.
Back on campus, Scheyer turned the gym into a stage—not for basketball, but for performance. In a bold move, he collaborated with a group of theater professionals from the American Conservatory Theater to lead improvisation workshops with the players. These weren’t optional sessions or warm-ups. These were mandatory parts of the practice schedule. Athletes used to running pick-and-rolls found themselves performing character monologues, participating in scene exercises, and playing trust-building games that demanded vulnerability and spontaneity.
“The idea,” said a staff member close to the program, “was to expand their comfort zones and improve their ability to think and react under pressure—not just physically, but emotionally and intellectually.” Scheyer believed that traditional skill drills didn’t adequately prepare players for the dynamic chaos of real games, especially at the level Duke aspires to play. In his mind, improvisation training would unlock better communication, faster adaptation, and deeper trust on the court.
Skepticism, again, abounded. Some media voices questioned the practicality of using acting techniques to prepare for high-stakes basketball. Critics labeled it eccentric and even risky. But then something began to emerge during the few controlled scrimmages the team did run in July. The pace was faster. The spacing improved. Players called out rotations in real-time. Younger athletes showed an unexpected poise under defensive pressure. And it wasn’t just skill—it was instinct, and instinct honed through this unconventional training.
Behind the scenes, Scheyer was also reshaping the coaching staff’s approach. Rather than directing every play or dictating every sequence, he instructed his assistants to take a step back during scrimmages, to let players self-organize and solve problems on the fly. This mirrored the improvisational nature of their earlier sessions and empowered the team to take ownership of their system. “Basketball IQ doesn’t grow by memorizing plays,” Scheyer explained during a private session with alumni donors. “It grows when players are trusted to make decisions under fire—and held accountable when they don’t.”
This summer of transformation wasn’t without its setbacks. Two players suffered minor injuries during the early outdoor segment, and one highly touted recruit reportedly considered transferring after the first improvisational theater session. But by early August, the team was beginning to buy in. A senior player described it as “the most intense, confusing, and transformative summer” he’d experienced in four years at Duke. Another called it “a reality check wrapped in team bonding.”
Scheyer, for his part, remained measured but confident in his vision. When asked by a local reporter whether he was concerned the team might not be getting enough traditional basketball reps, he responded, “You can teach a guy how to shoot. You can diagram plays. But what you can’t teach easily is how to lead, how to adapt, how to think. That’s what we’re investing in now.”
And that investment appears to be yielding early dividends. In a closed-door scrimmage against a group of alumni and G League-level competition in late July, the Blue Devils came from behind twice to win—a stark contrast to last season, when their young roster often crumbled late in games. Observers noted not just the physical improvements, but a sharper sense of urgency and cohesion in pressure moments. The team, though still far from a finished product, looked mentally tougher and far more mature.
Recruits and their families have taken notice. The program’s willingness to innovate—and to challenge athletes in non-traditional ways—has become a talking point among high school stars and their coaches. What might have once been seen as unorthodox is now viewed as progressive, even cutting-edge. It’s not just about basketball anymore; it’s about the holistic development of young men who will be expected to lead, perform, and thrive under scrutiny.
Of course, there are still questions. Will this experimental summer produce tangible results when the ACC season begins? Will Scheyer’s methods hold up against more seasoned, tactically rigid programs? Can the lessons learned in the woods and on the improv stage translate to March basketball under the blinding lights of national media?
No one can say for sure. But what’s clear is that something fundamental has shifted in Durham. Jon Scheyer is not trying to be the next Coach K. He’s not trying to recreate the past. He’s trying to invent a new model—one that reflects the demands of a modern game and the complexity of modern athletes. His summer practice twist wasn’t just about getting better; it was about getting different. And in a sport where margins are razor thin, and every team is talented, being different might just be the key to winning.
As the fall semester approaches, the players return to campus more unified, more introspective, and more prepared for adversity. They’ve been challenged in ways that have nothing to do with a basketball court—and that, perhaps, is the entire point. Where most programs are drilling, Duke has been evolving. And if that evolution translates to wins, Jon Scheyer’s summer surprise may well become the blueprint for a new era of college basketball.
