Jon Scheyer breaks silence about Duke's 'heartbreaking' loss to UConn

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There's nobody who has felt more heartbreaking moments for Duke basketball than Jon Scheyer.

The Blue Devils' fifth-year coach took one of his worst defeats in this year's Elite Eight stunner against UConn. While the 74-73 result won't tell the entire story about how Duke was outplayed in the final six minutes before Braylon Mullins nailed the game-winning 3-pointer, the loss still feels the same.

Scheyer recently went on the record with Westwood One's Josh Graham and recapped the season for his team. The player turned coach didn't downplay the situation, but instead used it as a moment to reflect and move forward.

"I'm not shying away from the fact that there's incredible heartbreak and disappointment when we lose the way we did," Scheyer told Graham. We've lost two unimaginable ways in the last two seasons. At the same time, we've been back-to-back-to-back Elite Eights for the first time in 30-something years. We've had really good success in the tournament. It just hasn't ended with a win the way that we want."

Duke has been right in the thick of "best team" conversation dating back to last year. However, neither trip to the NCAA Tournament has resulted in a championship game appearance. The Blue Devils took the No. 1 overall seed in the tourney and struggled to find consistency, despite national Player of the Year, Cameron Boozer, leading the way. But Scheyer's focus is the process, along with trying to have a better end result.

"It would be one thing, and the scarier thing is, if we're not close. The thing is, we're knocking on the door. We're right there, Scheyer added. "And we just have to continue to find ways to win the margin, regroup with a different team for next year and not quit. We're going to stay at it. We're going to stay at it until we're there."

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There were many Duke fans on emotional overload after the loss to UConn. And rightfully so. After being up by as many as 19 points in the second half, to watch it crumble is tough. Nobody can prepare a team to try and stomach all of it either. For whatever it's worth, Scheyer isn't going to live or die on a bad series in one game to sink a season of hard work.

"But outside noise or expectations, or anybody trying to say because of one game that changes the result of an entire year. I'm not going to let that happen because this team deserves to be praised for the year they've had," Scheyer said. "35-2 with the schedule we had going into that game... incredible. And they're a great group to coach."

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Duke now regroups to figure out the roster for next season. The transfer portal window is  open with Scheyer trying to find players who are the right fit for his program.

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