Jaden Schutt Update!

How is the former Blue Devil doing as a Hokie?

Duke is off for the Christmas break until New Years’ Eve, when Virginia Tech comes to town. And that will be an interesting and mildly historic game as the first transfer from Duke to an ACC team returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Technically, that would be Michael Gbinije, who left Duke after his freshman year for Syracuse. However, Syracuse had not yet joined the ACC, so in our view, it’s not exactly the same thing.

Jaden Schutt’s transfer is a bit different.

He, like Christian Reeves (Clemson), TJ Power (Virginia), and Jaylen Blakes (Stanford) stayed in the ACC when they decided to leave Duke after last season.

The redshirt sophomore has had a solid but not great season so far.

Schutt is averaging 9.3 ppg, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists. He’s also averaging 1.1 turnovers.

So far really, his stats aren’t that different from what they were at Duke.

Well, that’s only partially true: he’s getting far more minutes this year than he did last season. At Duke, he got 6.9 mpg and played in just 14, but he also dealt with injuries. At Virginia Tech this season, he’s playing 28.8 minutes a night, which obviously gives him more opportunities to shoot, rebound and pass.

However, his percentages, particularly his shooting percentages, are not that different.

At Duke last year, Schutt shot 37.5 percent overall and 36.8 percent from deep.

This season?

He’s hitting 37.5 percent overall and 36.8 percent from behind the line. On the surface, that’s not impressive. However, at Duke he was a deep reserve and with the Hokies, he’s a key player. He’s going to get a lot of defensive attention.

And while it’s difficult to quantify defense statistically, at least for fans who don't always have access to advanced analytics, there is one obvious mark of possible defensive deficiencies: fouls.

Schutt is averaging 3.5 fouls in those 28 mpg and that’s a real problem for Mike Young.

Check out his heavy foul games and corresponding minutes. In reverse order:

• St. Joe’s: 27 minutes, three fouls
• Navy: 21 minutes, five fouls
• NC A&T: 25 minutes, four fouls
• Michigan: 31 minutes, four fouls
• Penn State: 32 minutes, four fouls
• Winthrop: 28 minutes, three fouls
• Upstate South Carolina: 27 minutes, three fouls
• Delaware State: 24 minutes, three fouls

So far, at 5-7 it’s fair to say that Virginia Tech is struggling. Young has traditionally built his teams around guards and three point shooting, and while Schutt so far is getting the most minutes, and hence the most opportunities, one can assume that his defense is less than perfect (as indeed it was at Duke).

We say all this not to demean him - certainly not. We were hoping he would stick around and emerge as a key player later in his career.

He opted to move on however, and still has a chance to establish himself as an excellent college basketball player.

And we hope he does - just not against Duke.