Jaden Schutt set the Illinois state record for three-pointers in a game on December 13, 2019. He was a sophomore at Yorkville Christian, a tiny Class 1A school in the western suburbs of Chicago, and he drained 17 threes against Universal — shattering a record that had stood since 1993. The number is almost absurd. Seventeen. In one game. He was fifteen years old.
Schutt was born on April 20, 2003, in Aurora, Illinois, and grew up in Yorkville, about fifty miles southwest of Chicago. His father Jeff raised him on tapes of JJ Redick's shooting form. Jaden would sit in the basement with his brothers and study the release, the footwork, the way Redick moved without the ball. Duke was the dream before he was old enough to understand what a dream cost.
At Yorkville Christian, Schutt was a four-year starter under coach Aaron Sovern. He averaged 26.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 steals as a junior. As a senior, he averaged 24.6 points and 6.3 rebounds, shooting 52 percent from the field, and led Yorkville Christian to the Class 1A state championship. He finished his career with over 1,400 points and 217 three-pointers in three full seasons. He was named the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year. On the AAU circuit with the Illinois Wolves, he led the team to the Under Armour Association 17U championship in the summer of 2021, and his national ranking began to catch up with what Illinois coaches already knew.
The Duke connection was personal. Jon Scheyer, assembling his first recruiting class as head coach, had been the last great Illinois high school basketball star to play at Duke — a McDonald's All-American from Glenbrook North who led the Blue Devils to a national championship in 2010. Now here was another Illinois kid, another shooter, another kid who had grown up watching Duke and dreaming about Cameron Indoor. "He said that Jaden reminded him a lot of himself," Jeff Schutt told the Chicago Sun-Times, "and that he could help Jaden avoid a lot of the pitfalls."
Schutt committed on September 2, 2021, choosing Duke over Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, and Florida. He was the third member of Scheyer's first class, joining Kyle Filipowski and Dariq Whitehead. "It's an honor to be a part of this class; the belief he has in me is real," Schutt said. "They've had some great shooters and know how to utilize those shooters. They have had a lot of players like me that have gone through Duke that have had a lot of success, both in college and the NBA."
On signing day, surrounded by family and teammates, Schutt said what Scheyer had said sixteen years earlier: "It's always been a dream of mine to play at Duke."