Jon Scheyer: Overcoming the odds

Every College Basketball fan knows Jon Scheyer as the hard-working point guard that lead the 2010 Duke Blue Devils championship team. In a year that few gave credit to the Dukies, they managed to reach the championship game against the overachiever Butler Bulldogs which they won by 2 points.

High School

In High School he is most famous for his amazing feat of scoring 21 points in 75 seconds, but he was already known as a team player despite his amazing scoring ability. He led Glenbrook North High School to the state championship in 2005, he also was Mr.Basketbal of Illinois in 2006 and McDonald’s All-American.

College

In 2006 Scheyer joined a young duke team which allowed him to play significant starter minutes at shooting guard, whereas in his sophomore season he became one of the best sixth men in the country. Late in his Junior season Scheyer switched to the Point Guard reinvigorating a struggling Duke team instantly, but not enough to win the biggest prize…not that year anyway.

In his senior year Scheyer led the Blue Devils to the National Championship with great players such has Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, and Brian Zoubek. During that year Scheyer became the first duke player to record  2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 3-pointers, and 200 steals.

Pro

After going undrafted Scheyer joined the Miami Heat summer league, which was a great opportunity for him. The Heat were struggling at the PG spot, and with all the other stars the PG only needed to take care of the ball and shoot 3′s. It was perfect, but unfortunately he suffered a very bad eye injury during his second summer league game.

Fortunately Scheyer overcame the odds and was able to return mid-season (wearing goggles) to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, where he was able to put some very good performances. He finished the year with averages of 13.1 points, 4.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds. Although that is not his most impressive accomplishment, his greatest accomplishment was making me watch several D-League games LIVE (they are on around 1 a.m in Portugal).

Next season Scheyer will play Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli League and the EuroLeague. I truly believe Scheyer will be a top player in Europe, and I hope one day he will fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA.

Now I have to find a way to watch his games

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