Lasting legacy: Duke’s Jeremy Roach spans two coaching tenures, chases more banners

During the week following Thanksgiving, Jeremy Roach delivered the first two 20-point performances of what would become a stellar senior season for Duke.

The Blue Devils lost both games, one at Arkansas and one at Georgia Tech, which in Roach’s mind rendered his performances close to useless.

“What can I do differently?” Roach thought, he said. “What can I do to be a better leader? Leading the team, like, I don’t have to just score the ball. I think my legacy will be that I have a bigger legacy if I impact winning rather than just scoring the ball and stuff like that.”

That, Roach said, is when his mindset shifted this season, a campaign where the senior guard has led the No. 11 Blue Devils (24-7) to the No. 2 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament and a certain NCAA Tournament bid.

Now is when Duke players cement their legacies by winning championships and earning new banners for Cameron Indoor Stadium. ACC championships, Final Four appearances and national championships are available.

Roach started on Duke’s Final Four team in 2022 and again last season when the Blue Devils won the ACC championship.

For Roach, all the lessons from his career — from missing his junior season of high school to a torn ACL to winning a state title the following year, from a subpar freshman season at Duke to Final Four and ACC title seasons — have led him to this point.

He has regularly used his actions on the court and off to push his teams to success, which in Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s opinion sets him apart.

“For me,” Scheyer said, “what Jeremy’s done in his approach, being a team guy, being a Duke guy, his legacy is gonna be felt in a big way.”

Roach’s larger impact

Since losing 80-75 at Arkansas on Nov. 30 and 72-68 at Georgia Tech on Dec. 2, Duke has gone 19-4. That includes winning streaks of eight and five games while never suffering back-to-back losses again.

Now Duke needs a three-game winning streak this week at Capital One Arena, in Roach’s native Washington, D.C., to win another ACC championship. A six-game winning streak in the NCAA Tournament would bring the sport’s ultimate prize.

Roach, named to the all-ACC third team this week, averages 14.3 points per game. That’s the best scoring average of his Duke career. He’s also made a career-best 44.2% of his 3-pointers.

In addition, his 1.2 turnovers per game are a career low. With 93 assists and 37 turnovers, his 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio is a career best. It was 1.3 last season when he had 99 assists and 71 turnovers.

But those are just stats. Roach said he’s just as intent on “trying being a pest on defense,” and a better leader and playmaker.

Scheyer speaks to a larger impact, the one that Roach sought when he realized scoring wasn’t the only thing the Blue Devils needed this season.

Scheyer and former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski first saw it while attending the Nike Peach Jam event one summer when Roach played for Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover.

“He hardly scored,” Scheyer said. “Like literally, he hardly scored. He didn’t make any shots. He probably had one of his worst games, in his mind. But Coach K and I loved him because we saw his competitiveness. He picked up and defended full court. His team won. He had other really good players around him that he made better.”

Thus Duke’s recruitment of Roach began in earnest.

‘It was ... a bummer’

Team Takeover won the Peach Jam, then Roach played on a USA Basketball under-17 team that won a World Cup title in Argentina. And then…..

“Everything was rolling,” Roach said. “Coaches were calling and then bam, I tear my ACL and I was like a bummer.”

That injury wiped out his junior season at Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia. But, with his basketball future uncertain, Roach received a phone call that solidified his future.

“Coach Scheyer was the first one to call me after that situation,” Roach said, “so that kind of stuck out to me. Just really the interest that he had to me, the confidence and the belief that he had that I was gonna get back to the player that I once was. That meant a lot to me for sure.”

What Paul VI coach Glenn Farello saw that season was a glimpse at the leader Roach would become for the Blue Devils.

“He did a great job that year as an assistant coach,” Farello said. “We kind of laugh about it. I fired him the next year.”

That’s because Roach returned to play and, as a senior, joined his future Duke teammate, Trevor Keels, in helping Paul VI win a state championship.

Roach’s work the season before, as a so-called assistant coach, brought valuable lessons that are helping the Blue Devils today.

“Jeremy just made sure he was engaged that year,” Farello said. “He got a chance to view the game in different ways, for sure. So when he came back his senior year, I thought he was a much more polished version of himself.”

More hurdles lie ahead, though.

Setbacks aren’t permanent

He arrived at Duke in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. His freshman season was played with no spectators at Cameron Indoor Stadium and a few hundred or so in some road venues. The Blue Devils, in what would be Krzyzewski’s penultimate season as their coach, struggled to a 13-11 record and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.

Krzyzewski announced his retirement plans that following spring, with Scheyer picked to take over as his successor following the 2021-22 season.

In and out of the starting lineup as a sophomore, Roach produced 8.6 points per game while hitting 32.2% of his 3-pointers and just 41% of his overall shots.

But Krzyzewski and Scheyer saw something in him.

When the NCAA Tournament started, Roach returned to the starting lineup. He scored 15 points when Duke beat Michigan State, 85-76, in the second round another 15 in a 78-73 win over Texas Tech that pushed Duke into the West Region final.

In both cases, Roach sank big shots in the game’s final minutes to propel the Blue Devils on their journey to the Final Four.

“When that happened, my confidence skyrocketed,” Roach said. “And I knew I could play with pretty much anybody.”

Roach endured a turf toe injury from November on last season, missing four games and playing compromised in several others. He hit 34% of his 3-pointers while scoring 13.6 points per game. That included 23 when Duke beat Virginia, 59-49, in the ACC Tournament championship game.

After Tennessee eliminated Duke in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, Roach declared for the NBA Draft but ultimately didn’t go through the evaluation process. Instead, he allowed his toe to heal before embarking on summer workouts to further hone his game.

He proved once again that setbacks aren’t permanent. Keith Stevens, who coached Roach for Team Takeover, said that comes with the Roach family DNA from Jeremy’s parents, Joe and Carole Roach, and Jeremy’s older siblings, Chloe and Jordan.

Joe and Carole Roach have been regulars at every Duke game, home and away, the past two seasons.

“I just think they constantly motivate and support each other,” Stevens said. “They just make sure whatever adversity comes in, how they can figure it out and get through it.”

Becoming Duke’s leader

Scheyer kept encouraging Roach to shoot, even though he was a 32.7% 3-pointer shooter over his first three Duke seasons. Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas worked with him heading into this season and Roach has been a student of skills coach Darren McLinton back in the Washington, D.C., area for years.

It was all about rhythm and confidence. Roach expects them to go in and that’s happened more this season.

“I was doing a little bit my freshman, sophomore and even last year,” he said, “shooting open shots but not really thinking I’m gonna make it every time. Just having that confidence in that same rhythm every time. So I think that’s why my shooting percentage has gone up this year.”

Still, remember, it’s about more than scoring for Roach.

As Duke heads into the postseason, he’s the one guy remaining who was recruited by Krzyzewski and who started in the Final Four for Krzyzewski. Roach forged that solid bond years ago with Scheyer and wants desperately to add to the strong start to his Duke head coaching tenure.

Count Scheyer as supremely appreciative.

“I don’t know if there’s a guy in our program’s history, from the timing that he’s been here and what he’s seen, that’s as important with the impact that he’s made,” Scheyer said.

That includes the early season pivot Roach made this year — a result of back-to-back losses — that’s made him a scorer and a whole lot more.

The Blue Devils have followed his lead.

“I think that’s where this team kind of shifted, too,” Roach said. “We just keep learning every day. Keep getting better every day. We’re growing, we’re learning. We’re coming together as one right now and March is the best time for us to do it.”