Familiar face, familiar place: Former Duke guard Jeremy Roach returns to NC with Baylor
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When the NCAA Tournament bracket appeared on CBS Sunday night, of course Jeremy Roach hit up Tyrese Proctor with thoughts.
They did it the past two years as Duke teammates, striving to get the Blue Devils back to the Final Four again.
This time, it’s different.
Roach plays for Baylor now, having transferred away amid Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s roster overhaul last spring after four seasons with the Blue Devils.
Proctor still plays for Duke, now a full-time starter after being in and out of the starting lineup the past two seasons as Roach’s backcourt mate.
This year’s East Region bracket listed Duke (31-3) as the top seed, with No. 9 seed Baylor paired up with No. 8 seed Mississippi State. That means if Duke and Baylor (19-14) win Friday, they’ll meet in Sunday’s second round at Lenovo Center.
“I called Tyrese that night,” Roach said Thursday. “I called a couple other guys, not from the team, but guys who transferred last year. But yeah, really just talked about the potential matchup. Not really anything crazy like that. Just got to take care of business on Friday.”
Roach stayed in touch with his former Duke teammates and coaches since his departure. He’s a Duke graduate, a Mike Krzyzewski recruit who helped the Blue Devils make the 2022 Final Four in the Hall of Fame coach’s final season, and was part of the 2023 ACC championship team in Scheyer’s first season as head coach.
Those ties run deep. Sure enough, with Baylor’s practice at Lenovo Center completed, Roach happened to be near where the Duke bus arrived and he ran into his former teammates.
“He was walking out, and I saw him and said what’s up,” Proctor said. “It was good to see him, catch up.”
Roach and Scheyer formed a tight bond during his recruitment from Northern Virginia’s Paul VI High School and throughout their four seasons together with the Blue Devils. Like Scheyer during his playing days, Roach was voted a team captain.
Last spring, Duke made the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional final, one win from another Final Four berth. But N.C. State knocked off the Blue Devils, 76-64, a crushing upset loss that caused Scheyer to take a deep look at his program.
He decided to rebuild the roster around the top-ranked freshman class, led by Cooper Flagg. But he also wanted older, bigger players to augment them — like 6-7 Sion James and 6-6 Mason Gillis.
The 6-2 Roach eyed the NBA, but had another year of eligibility. The two had what have been described as “tough conversations” before Roach, who would have been happy to stay at Duke, entered his name in the NBA Draft pool while also entering the transfer portal.
“I spent my four years here, I sacrificed a lot,” Roach said Thursday. “I did what I had to do here, so he understood it. I mean, me and him are still very, very close. We text a lot. I mean, I love that guy. He’s always had my back from day one. I’ve had his back since day one.”
Baylor coach Scott Drew was happy to add a guard like Roach, who’d started on a Final Four team. The Bears also added another transfer with Final Four experience in former Miami big man Norchad Omier.
“When we got him and Norchad,” Drew said, “we were really excited about their leadership. Both of them have been to the Final Four. Both of them are proven winners.”
VJ Edgecombe, Baylor’s 6-5 freshman forward projected to be an NBA Draft Lottery pick this summer, said Roach has helped him this season.
“It’s so crazy,” Edgecombe said. “I’ve been watching Jeremy from high school, from when he was in high school. I’ve just been a Jeremy Roach fan. Just watching him. I’ll just watch him workout or something. It just helps me see how you approach games and stuff. How you approach a workout. His maturity level.”
Roach has averaged 10.4 points per game this season for the Bears. He’s done so while enduring not one, but two concussions that caused him to miss six games.
“When you look at Jeremy’s year, I don’t know if there’s anybody else in college basketball that’s had two concussions,” Drew said. “So, it’s one thing adjusting to a new team. It’s another thing fighting through health issues as well.”
Roach is focused on getting his team past Mississippi State (21-12) before he can even seriously look at the Blue Devils. Of course, he won’t need much time to scout them. He’s been following their superb season.
“They’ve had a great season,” Roach said. “A tough, physical team. They’re a big team. They can switch one through five. They can go zone. They can shoot the lights out, guys, coming off the bench shooting 47% from 3.”
But that’s a topic for maybe Saturday. Roach and Baylor must face Mississippi State first.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Familiar face, familiar place: Former Duke guard Jeremy Roach returns to NC with Baylor."
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