Things are different for Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer as he enters his third season.

In his second appearance on the Brotherhood Podcast, the Blue Devils’ third-year leader discussed a change with his approach this offseason and what to expect from Duke’s 2024-25 roster.

The latest episode of the podcast, which was released Tuesday, was hosted by ESPN analyst and former Duke standout Jay Bilas. The duo touched on several topics, including Scheyer’s thoughts on the transfer portal and how the team will use its time together this summer.

Scheyer told Bilas he had “honest, heartfelt conversations” with each player on last season’s squad after the season-ending loss to N.C. State in the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

“The sooner we got answers, the better decisions we could make from that,” Scheyer said.

“I have nothing but great things to say about all those guys. Whatever direction they’re going, I was fortunate to coach really good guys. But our program needed to go to another level this year with the competitiveness and also the fit of the guys that we had.”

Seven players entered the transfer portal and two — Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski — announced their decisions to declare for the NBA Draft. Those departures opened the door for 10 new players to join the Blue Devils, including a six-player recruiting class headlined by incoming freshman Cooper Flagg.

Duke then added four players from the portal, including Syracuse’s Maliq Brown and Purdue’s Mason Gillis, to join returning guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster.

As Scheyer and the coaching staff explored options in the portal, they stuck with honing in on three areas during the evaluation process: competitiveness, feel for the game and character. Scheyer feels Duke checked those boxes with the additions of Brown, Gillis, Tulane transfer Sion James and Rice transfer Cameron Sheffield.

“We knew we had to have some change happen to take that next step for where we want to go,” Scheyer said. “We’ve executed that. … I’m really proud with where we’ve landed.”

The strategy, Scheyer noted, was to add experienced talent from the portal to mesh with the latest crop of high-profile freshmen.

“The way of building a team and getting older, it’s tougher to do that if you don’t have any transfers,” Scheyer said.

“For us, we recruited very well, but having experience is still a very valuable thing.”

Scheyer is also shifting his approach to offseason workouts, with plans to have more team activities to “challenge these guys” instead of focusing on the individual workouts.

“We’re gonna do things differently this summer,” he said. “. … This summer, we’re gonna do hard things.”

With its wave of new players, Duke is expected to be among the teams favored to win the 2025 national championship. The hype surrounding Flagg, who could be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, will fuel that fire.

“When you have a special guy who’s all about winning and all about competing, I think you have a chance to do something that’s unique,” Scheyer said. “I feel we have that with (Flagg), but I feel we have that with this group.”

Listeners can find the full episode of Scheyer’s appearance on the Brotherhood Podcast on Spotify and iTunes or watch the video version on Duke’s YouTube channel.

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball's Jon Scheyer evaluates Blue Devils' 2024-25 roster