Let’s Look At Duke’s Current Roster - What Can We Expect?

Aside from fun that is.

Barring anything unforeseen, we have a pretty good idea of who will be back next season for Duke. And unlike last season, when virtually everyone left, with only Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor returning, five players return, and all of them have at least a year’s experience in Jon Scheyer’s system. So what are we looking at?

Well, this team has big guards again. Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster are 6-6 and 6-5 respectively. Freshman Cayden Boozer is also 6-5. Darren Harris is 6-6.

There are also some excellent shooters. Evans and Harris are both great three point shooters and we think Foster will improve there as well. Cameron Boozer can certainly hit shots from behind the line on in. We won’t know for sure about Nikolas Khamenia until we see him, but he seems solid as well.

Boozer will be the best talent in the frontcourt. He’s renowned for his savvy game, which is said to already be plug-and-play for the NBA. but Maliq Brown and Patrick Ngongba are both very savvy as well. Both are highly crafty with the ball or when they’re trying to get it.

Who will start?

Obviously Cameron Boozer. He’s too talented not to. Evans and Foster almost certainly. Our guess from this far out is that Ngongba will start too, which leaves one spot, and that could get interesting.

Keep in mind we don’t know who else will be on the team yet. Clearly Scheyer will need more than eight players.

We could make an argument for Harris, who may be as pure or better a shooter than Evans. Or we could see bringing him in in a role similar to what Evans had for most of this past season.

And we don’t fully know yet what to expect of Cayden Boozer or Khamenia. Cayden has a heads up on everyone else because no one will understand Cameron’s game like Cayden. How could they? These guys worked out their skills in the driveway together for years. That may give him the edge at point guard and we really like what we’ve seen of him so far. He’s an extremely smart point.

And Khamenia?

That guy works, which we’ll see when Duke gets him into the weight room. He’s also a bit like Cooper Flagg in that he can just flow into what the team needs. That may see him in the starting lineup. Every team can use a selfless workaholic.

All that said, eight players is not going to be enough, so Scheyer and company are presumably hitting video and talking to people. Some may be rotation players and some, like Cameron Sheffield, Henry Begovich and Kale Catchings, may be essentially practice players.

And some may be unexpected gems like Sion James.

• Isaiah Evans
• Caleb Foster
• Maliq Brown
• Patrick Ngongba
• Darren Harris
• Cameron Boozer
• Cayden Boozer
• Nikolas Khamenia