Scheyer plays to strengths to give Duke what it needs

Jon Scheyer is a fresh face, with hardly a visible whisker at the end of the longest day, and his face seldom looked fresher than yesterday.

In the aftermath of Duke's 79-69 title win over Florida State, Scheyer's blue eyes smiled. Time and again, the Jon-come-lately point guard threw his head back in laughter, especially when Coach Mike Krzyzewski announced: "We're not going to make highlight tapes of him leading the fast break."

Instead, the Blue Devils will let Scheyer lead the parade into the NCAA Tournament. He earned the distinction by scoring 29 points, setting the ACC Tournament record with 13 made foul shots (in 15 attempts) and directing the offense through a weekend of heavy traffic.

Shrugging off MVP award

The five-star performance followed a marvelous semifinal against Maryland. He won the tournament MVP award 9-8 over teammate Gerald Henderson (27 points), with FSU's Toney Douglas getting the other five votes.

"I forgot they had the MVP until after the game somebody told me I was that," Scheyer said. He shrugged, then portrayed himself as no more deserving than teammates Henderson or Kyle Singler, whose 14 points included three straight 3-pointers that produced a semi-permanent working margin in the first half.

A special cheering section

Although the Seminoles whittled away at a 22-point spread, prompting Krzyzewski to stomp and curse in the final minute, nothing could cancel Duke's net-cutting ceremony.

Krzyzewski brought along two grandsons, both wearing No. 3 Duke jerseys. The larger version belongs to Greg Paulus, the senior who relinquished the point-guard job first to Nolan Smith and later to Scheyer, in a roundabout way. As everyone within hearing distance of Dick Vitale knows, Coach K inserted freshman Elliott Williams as the defender against point guards and told Scheyer to run the offense carefully.

In the nine games since the switch, Scheyer has committed just 10 turnovers and has averaged 20.2 points.

"I knew he would handle it," Krzyzewski said. "He's such a good player that, placed in that level of responsibility, somebody who is really good will show you even better things. So, I'm not into expecting. I'm into seeing, and what I'm seeing is magnificent play. He's done such a good job because he values the ball."

Scheyer also values the Georgia Dome net, which represents Duke's first championship since J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams won the ACC in 2006 -- the year before Scheyer, Henderson, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek arrived. Scheyer just worried about cutting off his snippet of net.

"I did it in high school, but in high school I did it wrong, so I was a little nervous," Scheyer said. "I was actually the most nervous doing that today. I was trying to do it real quick and get out of there quick…. In high school, I couldn't cut it. You know what? I think they gave me bad scissors. That was what it was, so it wasn't really me. It was a little embarrassing, but today I was cutting it as hard as I could, trying to make sure I got a piece."

The Blue Devils want to make sure they get a larger piece of the NCAA Tournament. They checked out in the first round two years ago and in the second round last year, their legs heavy and energy shot. This time, the Blue Devils' arc is rising rather than descending, and they look fresher than in any recent March.

Scheyer senses confidence in every corner.

"Winning this tournament lets us know we can win the national championship, we can win games, and we can do the right things," he said. "I think for some reason we've gotten to this point in March and we've kind of gotten down a little bit. That's something we're not doing this year. We feel good about where we're at, and we continue to improve."

Reserve center Zoubek (7-1, 260 pounds) improved the most from a bad personal matchup against Maryland on Saturday to a disruptive shift against FSU's skinny big men. Krzyzewski noticed, and so did the fans. A cluster of boys solicited Zoubek's autograph.

"How did you get so tall?" one boy asked.

Zoubek: "I ate my vegetables."

The boy shook his head. "I'm going to start eating my broccoli, golly."

Maybe the Duke juniors are more than mere ACC champions. They're dietary role models, too.

■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.