DURHAM -- Given that Jon Scheyer grew up in Illinois and played high school basketball for the brother of Illinois coach Bruce Weber, some in his home state assumed Scheyer was an Illini fan and hoped that would pay off when he picked a college.

But if Scheyer's decision had been based on his fandom, he might not have even ended up at Duke.

"I liked Duke growing up, but then I had a phase where I was rooting against them -- like many people do," Scheyer said. "I always liked underdogs. A lot of my friends were Duke fans and Illinois fans, so I wanted to do something different.

"I rooted for Seton Hall there for a couple of years."

As a seventh grader, Scheyer had the good fortune to attend the Final Four in Minneapolis -- when Duke most recently won the NCAA title. But at that point, Scheyer's allegiances laid elsewhere.

"I was actually in the Arizona section, rooting for Arizona," Scheyer said. "I knew [Arizona forward] Michael Wright a little bit through a family friend."

Scheyer said he was a big fan of the way Illinois played during the 2004-05 season, around the time he was picking his college destination. That was when the Illini avoided defeat most of the season before losing to North Carolina in the NCAA title game.

But after his brief fan flirtations with Arizona, Seton Hall and Illinois, it took just one little thing for Scheyer to turn back to Duke.

"When they started recruiting me," he said.

-- BRYAN STRICKLAND