ACC Preview #18: Duke, Part IV: The Defense

#1 – UNC || #2 – NC State || #3 – Wake Forest || #4 – Virginia || #5 – #Clemson||#6 – Miami || #7 – Louisville || #8 – Pitt || #9 – Georgia Tech || #10 – Syracuse || #11 – Boston College || #12 – Virginia Tech || #13 – Florida State || #14 – Notre Dame || #15 – SMU || #16 – Cal || #17 – Stanford || #18 – Duke Part I || Duke Part II || Duke Part III

During Mike Krzyzewski’s time at Duke, he often said that he thought an eight-man rotation was his ideal, and he often didn’t carry more than 11-12 players on the roster.

Advertisement

Will Jon Scheyer challenge that template this season? Maybe. Maybe not.

Last season, Scheyer more or less followed Coach K’s tendency, playing eight guys double-digit minutes, while Darren Harris was just under that level. But at the end of the season, two starters (Caleb Foster and Pat Ngongba) were on scooters, and Duke’s depth was a real concern.

That won’t be an issue this year, as the Blue Devils are ridiculously deep.

Foster and Ngongba are back, as are Dame Sarr, Cayden Boozer, and Sebastian Wilkins, who redshirted.

He picked up John Blackwell (Wisconsin), Drew Scharnowski (Belmont) and Jacob Theodosiou (Loyola Maryland) in the portal.

Advertisement

He also added a talented freshman class with 7-2 Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, 7-1 Maxime Meyer, 7-0 Cameron Williams, 6-4 Bryson Howard, 6-3 Deron Rippey, and 5-11 preferred walk-on Nick Arnold.

Theodosiou and Arnold are the only ones who are unlikely to crack the rotation, and we don’t know where Wilkins is yet.

However you slice it, there are 10-12 guys who could get serious minutes.

Of the returnees, Ngongba was tremendous at times last year, Foster emerged as a true leader, Sarr showed immense defensive ability, and Boozer showed he could definitely play at this level.

Blackwell showed at Wisconsin that he’s a tremendous player, and a guy who knows what to do in the clutch. Scharnowski is capable of bully ball, plus he’s a rugged defender and can pass. And of the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/acc-preview-18-duke-part-143000244.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-22 14:30:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.