“It has been a pretty wild offseason for Jon Scheyer and Duke. Losing freshman guard Jared McCain and sophomore big man Kyle Filipowski to the NBA Draft was expected. And in today’s transfer portal-era, it was almost a given that they would lose some talented young players to the portal. However, nobody could have expected a mass exodus that saw seven players, including Jeremy Roach who started 108 games during his four seasons in Durham. This, however, is the new normal in basketball. Not even the Blue Bloods are impervious to the call of the portal.
On the bright side, Scheyer and the Blue Devils have already landed the top-ranked ranked high school recruiting class which includes the country’s No. 1 player Cooper Flagg, five-star big man Khaman Maluach and some real depth pieces for the wing and interior. They also did well to replace sophomore Mark Mitchell with Syracuse’s Maliq Brown and they got an experienced, tough, shooter in Purdue’s Mason Gillis.
However, the backcourt still looks pretty thin with only Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster returning as ball handlers. Finding another experienced guard who can play anywhere from 15 minutes to starters minutes a night is an absolute must for Duke. With three total scholarships available, another ball handler who could play spot minutes would be ideal, as well.
In a perfect world, they can find a guard who excels at creating off the dribble, getting into the paint and scoring off the dribble. Of course, shooting always carries too. Identifying exactly who they’ve got their eyes on to fill out their backcourt hasn’t been easy to do. But, it’s pretty clear that they need more depth and help.” — Eric Bossi, National Director of Basketball
