Duke's all-time collapse says it again: Jon Scheyer has a March problem -- until proven otherwise

Back-to-back NCAA Tournament meltdowns — including a 19-point Elite Eight collapse vs. UConn — are starting to define Duke under Jon Scheyer. Fixing it is now the job.

Zachary Pereles

Mar 29, 2026

11:37 pm ET

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9 min read

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Huddles are supposed to be the holiest of spaces, the one place where five basketball players can block out five opponents and tens of thousands of fans and regroup, in good times and bad, whether in need of a pump up or a calm down.

But UConn veteran Alex Karaban also recognized it as a sign of No. 1 overall seed Duke wilting under the pressure as the Blue Devils' lead shrunk and shrunk and shrunk and then, on Braylon Mullins' game-winner for the ages, disappeared altogether.

"You feel the momentum swing, you feel them start to huddle up a lot more, really just get tight," Karaban said. "You can just tell. When you're a player, you can tell when the momentum's swinging and when the other team is trying to regroup themselves."

Karaban knows the magic of March well. He has two national titles and is now headed to another Final Four.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer knows the agony, the brutality, the suddenness of March even better.

Somehow, Duke -- for all its talent, all its dominance, all its moments of pure basketball brilliance -- has collapsed again. Scheyer bore the brunt of it last year, when the Blue Devils blew a seven-point lead with 1:15 left in the Final Four against Houston. Sunday's was worse, on the wrong end of a 19-point UConn comeback that tied for sixth largest in NCAA Tournament history, with an all-time dagger to boot.

One collapse can be credited to the madness of March, perhaps. A second? It's a downright failure from everyone, and a failure from Scheyer. He cannot, in the exact moment, control whether a Cooper Flagg game-winning attempt goes down in 2025 (it did not). He cannot, in the exact moment, pull the plug on whatever idea Cayden Boozer had to even try and pass the baksetball with Huskies swarming and the clock ticking (Boozer of course put the ball in the air). But a coach can keep his players composed, keep them aggressive in the right spots, and keep them playing their game. Scheyer is failing to do that.

"There's not a person in this room, including me, that doesn't replay everything that you could do and how you can help," Scheyer said. "I mean, obviously. That's part of being in this seat. That's part of being in this spot. ... End of the day, we've got to finish it off. We'll reflect. We'll learn, do all that. But yeah, of course."

It simply isn't good enough.

Mullins' 35-foot prayer from the logo broke Duke's heart.

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The anatomy of a titanic Duke collapse

Incredibly, UConn actually made a mistake on the play that led to Mullins' three. Down 72-70, the Huskies were supposed to foul Dame Sarr, who received the ball after inbounding to Cameron Boozer. But they couldn't get there in time -- you can even see on replay Jayden Ross desperately reaching for Sarr -- and Sarr zipped a pass to Cayden Boozer. With under seven seconds left, all he had to do was hold onto the ball and get fouled.

"I should have been strong with the ball," Cayden Boozer said, tears in his eyes, emotions at once swelling and muting his voice. "I cost our team our season. We knew that they were gonna trap. [Scheyer said] 'Be strong with the ball.'"

> Cayden Boozer says he feels like he let his brother down. May be the last time they get to play together. pic.twitter.com/CCMSOm5Zvw

— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) March 30, 2026

But one play did not blow a 19-point lead. One play did not blow a 15-point halftime lead; No. 1 seeds had been 134-0 in NCAA Tournament when leading by that margin at the break, by the way.

"There's no heat on Cayden at all," freshman Nik Khamenia said. "This game is not on him at all. He carried us for long, long, long portions of the game, making big play after big play. You can go through every single one of us at different points in the game we messed up. The game of basketball never relies on one possession, so, no, it's not on him at all."

This was a collapse from the moment the teams took the floor in the second half.

Duke could have surged. Duke should have surged. The Blue Devils had dominated UConn's guards, picked apart UConn's defense and generally gotten whatever it want offensively. Scheyer can't go out and make the plays for his players, but he can instill them the small advantages to succeed in tough moments -- the mental fortitude, the X's and O's, the calm nature required of a champion. Either he didn't instill it Sunday, or his players were unable to instill it in themselves.

"I think as a whole we could have gave a lot more in the second half," Cameron Boozer said. "We came out a little flat and gave them a little bit of life. When you're playing a team as good as UCon