As we look at Duke’s roster entering next season, there’s a lot to like on both sides of the basketball.
This is a Duke team with a real opportunity to be the best team in America, or so many are saying. I’d still like to believe that until Florida shows it isn’t the best team in the country, we should believe that it is, but nonetheless, there’s a lot to like about Duke as the second-best team in college basketball.
Advertisement
As for what next year will look like, there are some differences compared to prior years.
Before the transfer portal became such a big factor, Duke typically had one of the youngest teams in the country, with star players who were freshmen, and that was somewhat the case last year.
Duke leaned on Cameron Boozer a ton last year, hoping he could take over games and do what everybody knew he could. He did that, but Duke still fell short.
Heading into this year, Duke will be a veteran-led team, which I actually like.
I’m curious to see how that works out, but the Blue Devils have a lot of players who can play on any given night, and head coach Jon Scheyer spoke about that. He understands that finding minutes for everyone could be a problem, but he views the team’s depth as a strength.
Advertisement
“Well, it’s not going to be 12. That’s just what it is. You can’t play 12,” Scheyer said, per 247. “I think beginning of the year, we’ll try to play 10 guys potentially. But I’m not going to put that number set in stone because, what if there is separation with the top eight? We’ll end up going with the top eight.
“But no question, early in the season, we’re going to try to extend the depth as much as we can because I do believe we have really good players eight, nine, 10, 11, however that shakes out.”
Duke will be able to see how much depth it really has throughout the first few games of the season.
However, unlike some other teams around the country, Duke is playing one of the toughest schedules in college basketball. Because of that, its depth is going to be tested.
Advertisement
Still, with Army, Coastal Carolina, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in three of its first four games, those should be good opportunities to find some depth. Outside of that, however, Scheyer and the Blue Devils will have to rely on their stars to win games.
