How Duke went from Coach K to Jon Scheyer without missing a beat

As college basketball heads toward the Final Four next week, much of the sport’s focus will be on the simmering uncertainty at several of the sport’s blue bloods. North Carolina’s transition plan from Roy Williams to Hubert Davis went bust . Kansas could be facing just its second coaching search since 1988, caught between cross-pressures to elevate current assistant/former NBA coach/alum Jacque Vaughn or cast a wider net if Bill Self retires .

And Kentucky’s discontent after 15 years of John Calipari has put Mark Pope, another alum, on the hot seat headed into next year. Meanwhile, four years after the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is in its third straight Sweet 16, has won 83. 7% of its games under Jon Scheyer and seems poised to continue contending for national titles as far as the eye can see.

Over the history of college sports, few tasks have been more vexing for schools and administrators than keeping things both successful and sane around a prominent program once their forever coach leaves. Duke has made it look easy. It might even be the most well-executed coaching handoff there’s ever been from legend to successor.

“The following of one of the very best coaches of any sport, arguably one of the very best basketball coaches in the history of the game, to a young, up-and-coming assistant coach that was a very good college player, there was a lot of room for that not to work,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told Yahoo Sports. “In my experience in college athletics, which is over 30 years, I've not seen a more seamless transition than what's taken place. ” Given what a towering figure Krzyzewski became on his way to 1,202 wins and five national titles across his 42 seasons, it’s remarkable how drama-free the Duke program has been the past four seasons under the 38-year-old Scheyer.