And who better to learn how to shoot from than J.J. Redick?
Not actually, OK. But when Schutt was little, Jeff ordered a Better Basketball video by Rick Torbett — featuring Redick, fresh off a standout four-year career at Duke — that emphasized shooting fundamentals. He’d show it to his grade school teams at Cross Lutheran, Schutt included, and then record the kids’ forms on an iPad so they could watch their own motions back. “It had beautiful graphics of the arc and all that stuff,” Jeff says, “and that’s how he developed it. He just studied that and studied that.”
By middle school, Schutt already had a reputation for knocking down looks — and even in passing, could diagnose fellow players with issues in their release. Lori remembers one instance when she and Schutt were walking by kids playing on an outdoor hoop, and Schutt stopped to watch for a second. “He’s like ‘Mom, that kid’s pushing the ball,’” Lori recalls. “So he’s got this visual way he looks at the game.”
Over time, Schutt’s shooting only continued to earn him notice. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, he won three consecutive free-throw contests held at St. Peter School in Arlington Heights, Illinois; he didn’t miss a single free throw, in 36 attempts, across the three competitions. Then as a sophomore, Schutt shot to viral status in the greater Chicago area, when he made an Illinois high school record 17 3-pointers in one game. That’s how Schutt and Carter first got linked up, the coach reaching out to see if Schutt would be a guest on Carter’s podcast. Schutt said yes, and the pair hit it off. Before long, in the summer of 2020, Carter — who was taking a break at the time from Division I coaching — was driving down to Yorkville to work Schutt out. It went so well that they’ve been working together ever since, Carter helping Schutt build his skill set without forgetting the fundamentals Jeff taught him.
“I knew that he was a shooter,” Carter says, “but I didn’t know he was as athletic as he is. He had videos of him dunking and whatnot, but when we first got in the gym, we were doing this layup drill and I told him, ‘Man, go up and dunk it.’ So he went up, Eurostepped it, and with the left hand, boom. I’m like, ‘Wait, who is this?’”
In the year and a half since, Carter said he’s seen Schutt improve in a number of areas, as many of them mental as physical. Yes, Schutt can hit a midrange or a 3, drive baseline and dunk on someone, or kick out to teammates as a willing passer — but it’s the way he processes information, Carter says, that’s as striking as anything. “When you feed him information, on film or in person, he can turn it over quickly,” Carter says. “That’s where he’s really been impressive. You can watch film with him on pick-and-roll, and he can then make those reads the next time he’s out playing.”
In the grand scheme of things, Schutt’s ability to quickly integrate new teachings into his game is another example of his mental makeup. Like instituting a nutrition plan and sleep schedule as a fifth-grader, Schutt is willing to study new and unfamiliar concepts so long as they do one thing: give him an advantage. “He’s always looking for an angle,” Sovern says. “He’ll ask questions, but not confrontationally. ‘What’s the thought process if we run this here?’ And then you explain it, and it’s, ‘OK.’ You can have that comfortable dialogue with him.”
So, to recap: An excellent shooter, from the greater Chicago area, with a relentless work ethic and a hunger for greatness. Where have Duke fans heard of a player fitting that description before?
Oh, right. The program’s soon-to-be head coach, and the guy who saw pieces of himself in Schutt: Jon Scheyer.
