Duke’s Jon Scheyer has ’empathy’ for fired UNC coach Hubert Davis

WASHINGTON — While duke Coach Jon Scheyer focuses on one other Elite Eight matchup, the remainder of North Carolina’s Triangle area is in a little bit of chaos.

Hubert Davis was fired at North Carolinaand Will Wade left NC State to return to considered one of his earlier jobs at LSU. Scheyer stated Saturday he can relate to Davis’ scenario, given each took over at high-pressure jobs at colleges they beforehand performed for.

“I’ve got a lot of empathy for other coaches, for Hubert, not just the fact of him coaching at the school down the road, but the fact that he played there as well,” Scheyer stated. “So, there’s the meaning behind it. I understand that obviously well in this position myself.”

Scheyer and top-seeded Duke face UConn in Sunday’s East Region remaining. It’s his third straight look within the Elite Eight after an earlier exit in 2023, his first season. The Blue Devils are searching for their second straight Final Four look and have maintained their spot among the many elite after Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement.

North Carolina, in the meantime, has had its ups and downs. The Tar Heels almost gained all of it in Davis’ first season after changing Roy Williams. They even ended Coach K’s profession by beating Duke in a conflict of rivals on the 2022 Final Four. But they’ve made it previous the spherical of 64 solely as soon as since then. This 12 months, North Carolina was lacking injured star Caleb Wilson and blew an enormous lead in opposition to VCU in a first-round loss.

“Hubert Davis is a good friend. Actually, his wife Leslie — her father, who passed in the last year, was one of my teammates at West Point. I think Hubert’s one of the great guys,” Krzyzewski said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “I think every coach in the country has sympathy for him. You lose a player the caliber of Caleb Wilson, he’s a top-five pick in the NBA draft, and you don’t have him the last few weeks of the season, that’s a big thing.”

Scheyer was equally magnanimous.

“Coaching is a big blessing, but it’s also what you sign up for in this business, unfortunately,” he stated. “So, I think this thing is really delicate. I think it’s really fragile. I think this week has been an example of that.”