“Duke basketball is a football program”: Jon Scheyer shows pride as Blue Devils dominate viewership since 2021-2022 season
Jon Scheyer leads one of the top men's basketball programs in the country, the Duke Blue Devils. While his job comes with immense pressure given the Blue Devils grab a lot of viewers regularly, he seems to be enjoying it very much.
Earlier today, the Blue Devils released an incredible set of stats regarding their viewership numbers since the 2021-22 season.
They drew a whopping 180 million national TV viewers, ranking them fifth overall among all college football and basketball programs.
They only trailed Michigan, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State's football teams, making them the college basketball program with the most national TV viewers since the 2021-22 season, totalling 25.12 billion viewing minutes.
In addition, the Blue Devils also featured in eight of the Top 100 most viewed college basketball games, some of which include their famous battles against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2022–23 season.
On October 17, Scheyer appeared on The Brotherhood podcast hosted by Caleb Foster. He mentioned how the Blue Devils are similar to football teams in viewership:
"Duke Basketball is like a football program in terms of the viewership, the marketing value," said Scheyer. "Our team has done an amazing job of gathering information, looking at how we're viewed and the billions of minutes.
"Talking billions of minutes that you guys have been on TV, over the past couple of seasons, is crazy. So for me, we focus on our success and what we're doing and we'll be in a great position with ACC and everything going forward," he added.
Jon Scheyer enjoys success in first exhibition game this year
Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils' preparations for the upcoming season were on full display in their first exhibition game, recording an impressive 107-56 victory over the Lincoln Lions on October 19.
Top recruit Cooper Flagg led the team's scoring with 22 points, while Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel chipped in with 19 and 17 points, respectively.
The Blue Devils will face the Arizona State Sun Devils on October 27 in their final exhibition game ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Ranked 7th in the AP Top 25 Poll, they will begin their quest for the sixth national championship at home against the Maine Black Bears on November 4.