Jeremy Roach confirms he is returning for the 2023-24 season

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Guess who's back
Back again
Jeremy's back
Tell a friend!

I am so excited. I have been desperate for veteran leadership and returning players and now we have a talented senior guard coming back for his fourth year in the program - that doesn't happen in this day and age! Plus three sophomores who started last year, and a grad student who also played quite a bit. Veteran leadership is obviously key in games, but it is also incredibly valuable for off-season workouts and practices.

[budwom]

plus one never knows what else may be in the works, does one?...

[scottdude8]

Wow! I had been furiously monitoring Twitter last week hoping for an announcement after he didn't make the G-League combine, so figures he'd announce this week when I decided not to look out for news

I know there are some contrarians on the board who will disagree with this just for the sake of disagreement, but in my mind I don't think we can undersell how big a boost this is. Without doing a rigorous analysis (which I'm sure Kedsy or CDu will take care of, haha), I think Jeremy will be our most accomplished returning senior since Grayson. We'll be returning a captain for the first time in a while as well, and definitely the first time in a while we're returning a guy who was both a captain and consistent starter. Combined with the return of a sixth-year Ryan Young, whose leadership and intangibles everyone raved about last year, and this team has some real experience and leadership.

With Jeremy's return, we can now write in pen 4 of the 5 starters next year: Jeremy, Tyrese, Mark, and Flip. That's a senior, established guard, plus three sophomores who could be first round picks in 2024 (and all have the potential to jump into the lottery). What a core.

I plan on writing something about this in long form soon, but it bears stating if it hasn't been said already in the transfer portal thread: Duke is the ONLY D1 school to not have a player enter the transfer portal. That is BONKERS, even more so now that we know Jeremy is returning (and one has to assume the team knew before we did, and likely before the portal deadline last week). The fact that Jon was able to keep his entire team together, especially guys like Jaylen and Jaden who everyone assumed might get pushed out by a Jeremy return, speaks tremendously to how he's connecting with his team and selling them on not only his short term, but long term vision. I'd argue that regardless of whether or not we get a 5 man from the portal, Jon should be considered one of the clear "winners" of the transfer season from that alone.

Now, to the elephant in the room: what about Caleb and Jared coming in? I'm sure that's where all our speculation is going to go next, but I think we have to remember that there is no publicly reported direct intelligence that either player would consider decommiting if Jeremy returned. It'd be pretty late in the game to do so now with summer enrollment coming up in about a month and most teams having a pretty good picture of their rosters now with a majority of major incoming/outgoing transfer decisions made. It's also worth noting that neither McCain nor Foster is seen as a surefire OAD guy based on any scouting/mocks I've seen, and our current recruiting focus in 2024 (which has been primarily wings/forwards rather than guards) is an indication that Jon's plan has always been for one or both of those guys to be in a Duke uniform in 2024. So while I'm sure we'll speculate a ton about this, I personally won't waste my time worrying about it until we have real reporting that it might be a possibility.

There's another reason I'm not to worried regardless: I think it's highly likely Duke starts a three-guard lineup this year, with either Foster or McCain as that third guard. Unless we get an instant-impact, starting caliber transfer 5 (which seems unlikely, as probably unnecessary, at this juncture), that's the way we'd get the most talent on the floor. I'm sure we'll see plenty of time with Flip at the 4 and Ryan Young at the 5, like we did last year, but I imagine that will be for 10-15 minutes a game as bench minutes rather than the go-to lineup. That means there's plenty of minutes for the group of McCain, Foster, Blakes, and Schutt to compete for.

All I'll say about the possibility of someone decommiting is this: if we have to "trade" Jeremy for either of our incoming freshmen, we'll undoubtedly come out on top in that exchange this season. We see every March how often age and experience beats skilled youth. While losing one of those guys might hurt in 2024, we have plenty of time in this recruiting cycle to refocus on someone to fill that void (perhaps Dylan Harper gets even more attention). Plus, don't we want guys who want to compete and earn their minutes anyways?

All of this is me trying to address every possible direction this thread might go in preemptively. The TL;DR is that there's no overstating in my mind how impactful Jeremy's return is, regardless of any speculative secondary effects. As Jon Rothstein noted, of the 20 starters in the 2022 Final Four, 17 were on their team's roster the previous year. I believe the stat was similar this season (but I can't find the Tweet at the moment). The 23-24 Blue Devils will have a roster continuity that teams would have killed for 10 years ago, let alone this year in the age of the portal. Over the course of the year, that should give us a major leg up over other uber-talented teams like Kansas or Kentucky who are either transfer or freshman dominated. This is exactly what a large portion of this board has been clamoring for throughout the OAD era, and we finally got it.

Now it's time to see whether Jon's magnificent roster management translates to in-game coaching to get us to the promised land.

[Edouble]

Fantastic news. And so many “insiders” knew he had no plans to return.

No kidding. This is why I don't pay any attention to that stuff.

[moonpie23]

this is great news....

[kidA]

plus one never knows what else may be in the works, does one?...

Awesome news!

Everybody talks about minutes and playtime and such, and certainly a lot of Portal guys think that way as well, but I’ve got a think there’s a big out there that just wants to win a Natty. Let’s go get him!

Go duke! 9F

[jipops]

I am truly amazed that we are actually returning 4 starters from last season. (You could even say we return 5 starters seeing as Ryan Young did start a number of games early in the season, but as far as the meat of last season we return 4). Scheyer is looking for continuity and I guess he got some right away.

I'm doing my best to resist any temptation of focus on potential roster fallout. I think it is safe to say next season's offense won't struggle like this past season's did.

[scottdude8]

Fantastic news. And so many “insiders” knew he had no plans to return.

With all due respect, those "insider" reports were more than likely accurate at the time. Reporting is a snapshot in time, after all, and people's minds change. It seems clear to me that Jeremy might not have planned to be back for his senior season, but his mind changed and now he is. I don't think that devalues the insider reporting at all... what it does devalue is "hot take" guys who "predict" or "guarantee" that something is going to happen. There's a big difference between reporting on one's state of mind or plans and saying something will for certain happen... and oftentimes the difference there is "real journalism" versus "twitter journalism", haha.

[elvis14]

We returned 5 of our top 7 players. Have a solid recruiting class. Didn't lose anyone to the portal. This is a very different offseason for the Blue Devils and I like it...a lot!

[budwom]

With all due respect, those "insider" reports were more than likely accurate at the time. Reporting is a snapshot in time, after all, and people's minds change. It seems clear to me that Jeremy might not have planned to be back for his senior season, but his mind changed and now he is. I don't think that devalues the insider reporting at all... what it does devalue is "hot take" guys who "predict" or "guarantee" that something is going to happen. There's a big difference between reporting on one's state of mind or plans and saying something will for certain happen... and oftentimes the difference there is "real journalism" versus "twitter journalism", haha.

Yes indeed. If one is careful on whom one considers to be a real insider (there are a lot of poseurs out there) the story has been logical and consistent. The very few people I consider to be "insiders" did good work.

[Dr. Maturin]

I am truly amazed that we are actually returning 4 starters from last season. (You could even say we return 5 starters seeing as Ryan Young did start a number of games early in the season, but as far as the meat of last season we return 4). Scheyer is looking for continuity and I guess he got some right away.

I'm doing my best to resist any temptation of focus on potential roster fallout. I think it is safe to say next season's offense won't struggle like this past season's did.

Since we're being technical, Jaylen Blakes started two ACC games as well. When is the last time Duke returned 6 players with starting experience?

[simplyluvin]

Really great news. Just need to solidify our team with:
1. No more decommits
2. A starting caliber rim protector.

[gumbomoop]

I really hope McCain and/or Foster don't decommit. They'll get spot minutes this year and will have the keys to the castle next season.

I’ll guess they’ll get more than spot minutes, solidly in the rotation, but of course not starter minutes.

If we go with a 3-guard lineup, then all 4 [Roach, Proctor, McCain, Foster] would get significant minutes.

I’m guessing we’ll see lots of 3-guard combos. Lots. Roach’s return makes me hope Scheyer does not add a portal 5, and splits Filipowski’s time (~ 30 mpg) equally between 4 and stretch 5.

Absent any transfers/decommits, Scheyer has a strong 12-man roster. Incredible flexibility, with 10 of the 12 able to play 2 of the traditionally designated positions. (Only Young and Reeves are position-bound 5s.] This team could play uptempo or experienced half-court, press at times. No need to play any of Roach, Proctor, Filipowski, or Mitchell regularly over 30 mpg.

[scottdude8]

I’ll guess they’ll get more than spot minutes, solidly in the rotation, but of course not starter minutes.



I’m guessing we’ll see lots of 3-guard combos. Lots. Roach’s return makes me hope Scheyer does not add a portal 5, and splits Filipowski’s time (~ 30 mpg) equally between 4 and stretch 5.

Absent any transfers/decommits, Scheyer has a strong 12-man roster. Incredible flexibility, with 10 of the 12 able to play 2 of the traditionally designated positions. (Only Young and Reeves are position-bound 5s.] This team could play uptempo or experienced half-court, press at times. No need to play any of Roach, Proctor, Filipowski, or Mitchell regularly over 30 mpg.

Well, unless there's a loophole we don't know about, there won't be any transfers because the portal is closed (and I don't think anyone could remotely be close to graduating). Which again, speaks to how incredible what Jon has done selling the program and his vision to these kids is.

[normk]

a transfer-5 and this might be the best “on paper” preseason team since 2011.

let’s goooooooo

[superdave]

I am thinking this news would make Duke preseason #1. They’ll have 4 returning starters and are the defending ACCT champs with a great recruiting class coming in. They sure look like they’ll stay in the top 5-10 nationally most of next season and top 3-4 in the ACC. It should be a fun season and I hope everyone stays healthy.

Let's hope this year's squad doesn't pull a Hubert Davis!

[Matches]

Wild to think he actually has two more years of eligibility.

[crdaul]

Let's go DUKE!!!!!

[UrinalCake]

Amazing news to return a senior point guard with a history of closing out games. We are absolutely loaded and experienced and I can't wait for the season to start. The fact that Blakes and Schutt are coming back even though they presumably knew Roach would return and they will have immense competition for playing time also speaks volumes to the culture that Jon is building. Getting a portal 5 feels like less of a need now as I expect us to play more three-guard lineups with Mitchell at the 4.

[Billy Dat]

What great news, hooray!!!!!

In this modern college bball age, between the recruiting signings and the "I'm coming back" announcements, we get more occasions to celebrate.

Jon and the staff have really changed the culture related to guys sticking around. Whether it's an anomaly or a harbinger, who knows, but it's great right now.

Welcome back, Captain. I am hoping you can have a full year of health to put all your hard earned skills and talents on display!!!!!!!