Another championship-caliber roster for Duke basketball. Is this the one that can win it all?
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Duke basketball.
Duke basketball has not skipped a beat since Scheyer took over for the legendary Coach K. In four seasons, they’ve won 124 games and made at least the Elite 8 in three straight years. Last year, it looked like they might get championship number one after earning the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and holding a huge lead over UConn in the Elite 8 game. Unfortunately, they blew the lead, which led to the infamous Braylon Mullins shot for UConn.
Obviously, they lose national player of the year Cam Boozer, who went top 3 in the NBA draft. They also lose second-leading scorer Isaiah Evans. But, as Duke does, they reloaded and are ready to compete for a National Championship. Let’s start with the returners. Patrick Ngongba is back and ready to hold down the center spot. His stats might not pop, but his value on the floor does, and he’s one of the best big men in the ACC.
They also return Dame Sarr, an elite defensive wing, and two guards in Caleb Foster and Cayden Boozer. Both are selfless guards who understand that their main role is finding the elite scorers on the team and playing solid on-ball defense. Speaking of finding elite scorers, they add one from Wisconsin in John Blackwell. Blackwell averaged 19 points a game and should be the focal point of the offense.
If I stopped the article there, you can argue that team in itself is a top 10 roster in college basketball. They aren’t even close to done, though, bringing in the #1 freshman class in all of college basketball. The name to know is Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who at just 17 already looks ready to make the NBA. He could be the Cooper Flagg/Cam Boozer level player that has elevated those Duke teams the past two years.
Outside of him, they also have Cameron Williams, a top 5 recruit, and two 25 guard recruits in Deron Rippey Jr. and Bryson Howard. It’ll be interesting to see the lineups Duke goes with this year and the minute allocations, just because they have so much talent at each position. They’ll be a top 5 team offensively and defensively. We’ve seen this the last two years, though, and that’s ended in two seasons without a championship. Is this the year they get over the hurdle? It’s been over a decade since Duke last cut down the nets, and this could be the team that does so.
Head coach: Jon Scheyer (5th season overall, all at Duke)
2025-26 record: 35-3 (17-1)
2026 postseason finish: Lost in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament
Notable departures:
- Cameron Boozer (22.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 4.1 APG)
- Isaiah Evans (15.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.3 APG)
Notable non-conference games:
- vs. Michigan State (Nov 10 – Champions Classic)
- vs. Illinois (Nov 17)
- vs. UConn (Nov 25)
- at Florida (Dec 1)
- vs. Georgia (Dec 8)
- vs. Texas Tech (Dec 21)
Projected Rotation
PG: Caleb Foster (6-5, 200, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 8.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, 44.7 FG%, 39.8 3P%
SG: John Blackwell (6-5, 205, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 19.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 43.0 FG%, 38.9 3P%, 85.9 FT% (Wisconsin)
SF: Dame Sarr (6-8, 200, So.)
2025-2026 stats: 6.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 40.4 FG%
PF: Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje (7-2, 250, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 29 ranked recruit
C: Patrick Ngongba II (6-11, 250, Jr.)
2025-2026 stats: 10.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.1 BPG, 60.6 FG%, 66.4 FT%
6: Cayden Boozer (6-4, 195, So.)
2025-2026 stats: 7.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.8 SPG, 50.0 FG%, 81.3 FT%
7: Cameron Williams (7-0, 215, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 4 ranked recruit
8: Deron Rippey Jr. (6-3, 185, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 13 ranked recruit
9: Bryson Howard (6-4, 190, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 23 ranked recruit
10: Sebastian Wilkins (6-8, 220, So.)
247Sports Composite No. 35 ranked recruit (2025)
11: Drew Scharnowski (6-10, 240, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 10.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG, 68.1 FG% (Belmont)
Duke basketball team MVP: John Blackwell
When you look for a guy who just gets better and better every year, Blackwell fits that category. We’ve seen his scoring improve each year, and his defense as well. What really makes Blackwell great, though, is his ability to shine in big games. In the first two games of the Big Ten tournament, he averaged 32.5 PPG. 32.5 PPG! Then, in the round of 64, he went for 22 and 10 rebounds. He’s able to stay on the floor, and with 34+ starts in back-to-back years, he has that experience that is crucial on this young Duke basketball team.
Duke has a lot of talent, but they don’t have an obvious first-option freshman as they did with Flagg and Boozer. Now, with Blackwell, they have that, and he’ll thrive in this offense with so many pieces around him to fulfill their roles so he can fulfill his. There’s a chance this team has too many cooks in the kitchen and no one wins ACC player of the year because no one stands out, but if they do, then it’s Blackwell.
Duke basketball make-or-break player: Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje
Want to feel old? Boumtje Boumtje was born in 2009 and is playing college basketball. At 17 years old, he has to play at least two years, but he certainly looks like someone ready to compete with the best in the sport at this age. In his first career college basketball game, an exhibition game against Belmont, he scored 19 points in just 22 minutes, shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 2-for-5 from deep. This was in addition to 7 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. At 7’2, he’s a problem on both ends, and the fact that he can stretch the floor as well makes him one of the most dangerous players in college basketball.
He doesn’t need to be player of the year good like Flagg or Boozer, but if he can be a top 5 player in the sport, which he’s shown he can be, then this Duke team could be unbeatable. He showed signs of being a 17-year-old against Kansas, though, shooting 2-for-10 from the field, and if he has one of those games against a team that matters, that could lead to another ringless season for the Blue Devils.
Key statistic: Average Scoring Margin
Teams didn’t have much of a chance when they played the Blue Devils last year, losing by an average of 18 points per game, second in the country to just Gonzaga. The year before, they led the country by a margin of over 20 points. Only four games in the regular season were decided by single digits: their two losses, a one-point win against Florida, and a surprise one-point win against Florida State. Every other game was won by multiple scores, including a 26-point win against Virginia, a 31-point win against Louisville, and a 12-point win against Kansas.
Duke loaded up the non-conference schedule again, playing two of the final four teams from last year, the preseason #1, and another preseason top-10 team. Plus, the ACC looks improved from last year. Don’t expect Scheyer and this Duke basketball team to get cute, though; they’re going to put their foot on the gas and not let up until the final whistle blows.
Duke basketball 2026-27 projections
Projected conference finish: 1st in the ACC Conference
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Champions