"Need a little bit of luck": Jon Scheyer talks about behind-the-scenes efforts to bring Dame Sarr to Duke

After a very successful last season, coach Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils are reloading for another big run in the 2025/26 campaign. With six players departing the team, including key figures like Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, the Blue Devils have wasted no time in reshaping their roster. They've added two players via the transfer portal and brought in a talented group of five freshmen.

One of the standout additions to Duke's incoming freshman class is Dame Sarr, a highly touted Italian-Senegalese prospect. Sarr, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who was already playing professionally for FC Barcelona and the Italian national team, was highly sought after by multiple colleges. However, it was Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils who ultimately came out on top, securing another elite talent for the 2025/26 season.

Speaking on The Devil's Den podcast in an episode released on Monday, coach Jon Scheyer spoke about the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into bringing Dame Sarr to Duke amid uncertainty surrounding Cedric Coward, who left for the NBA.

"I'd be lying to you if I said it's ideal," Jon Scheyer said. "It's not. I think you're always calculating risk. ... I can tell you that the most important thing for me in those moments is dealing with transparency."

"The thing I would tell you with Ced Coward, his agent Todd Ramasar, his family. It was completely transparent every step of the way... The same thing with Dame and his representation, and with Wasserman and Joe Smith and Tatis and those guys."

Scheyer shared that he and the team were transparent with Coward about the fact that they needed to move on at a certain point. That led to them focusing on Dame, who they were able to get.

"...And so just the fact that it worked out, you need a little bit of luck, but also the conversations, the background, and the transparency to me is a difference maker, you know, at the end of the day. And thankfully, man, we got him because he's a key addition for us." [Timestamp: 39:55]

Other additions to Duke's freshmen class include five-star prospects Cameron Boozer, Nikolas Khamenia, Cayden Boozer, and Sebastian Wilkins.

"We've doubled down on the positional size." Jon Scheyer breaks down Duke's offseason roster rebuild ahead of the 2025/26 season

Still speaking on The Devil's Den podcast, coach Jon Scheyer opened up about the team's approach to restructuring the roster for the upcoming 2025/26 season. According to him, while the Blue Devils may be light on returning experience, the program has intentionally focused on size, versatility, and skill.

"So clearly, we've doubled down on the positional size," Scheyer said. Clearly, we've doubled down on the when, you when you look at the versatility, you know, and the skill level on this team, right? Uh, and then, you know, for us it was going to be a little bit of a different group.

"So, at the end of the day, you know, do I wish we had a little bit more experience? Yes, but to me, when you look at the talent, the ability, the buy-in of the guys we brought in, that was no question way more worth it than just going for experience." [Timestamp: 5:15]

With a total of six returning players, the Blue Devils would be expected to have about 13 players on their roster next season.