2026 Men's Basketball Recruiting

Kedsy said:
He’s listed at 6’6 or 6’7. Barring injury, how much would a post guy at that height play on this year’s Duke team?
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Insurance policy for injuries or foul trouble. That he has D1 experience isn't the worst thing..
 
wilko said:
Insurance policy for injuries or foul trouble. That he has D1 experience isn't the worst thing..
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We have this discussion a lot in the recruiting season, but we're talking about his last college season and I assume some high major will agree to start him or at least put him in the rotation. Why would a guy who started 89 games at Princeton be interested in being a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency 10th man at Duke?
 
Kedsy said:
We have this discussion a lot in the recruiting season, but we're talking about his last college season and I assume some high major will agree to start him or at least put him in the rotation. Why would a guy who started 89 games at Princeton be interested in being a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency 10th man at Duke?
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So he can say he played basketball for Duke for the rest of his life?

It’s not nothing.
 
A few comments about Caden Pierce.

1) He was the Ivy player of the year two years ago. He can be a significant rotation player at any school in the land. Duke, UConn, and Purdue (supposedly his three finalists) are recruiting him to be much more than an end of the rotation guy.

2) He is finishing up his Princeton degree this semester and wants to transfer in January so he can practice with his new team and get to know the program and his future teammates. He would not play this year.

3) He is a very strong guy with a superior basketball IQ. He may only be 6-7 but his physicality and bulk allow him to play much bigger than that. He's a really great rebounder.

4) He is good friends with Jack Scott, who is finishing up his eligibility but is expected to be back at Duke next season as a grad assistant.

5) He has two older brothers who also play sports. Justin Pierce played hoops at UNC in 2019-20 and was a decent rotation piece for them (5ppg in 18 mpg) after being a 14+ppg starter for William and Mary for a couple season). Alec Pierce plays in the NFL as a WR for the Colts. He has caught 29 passes for 600+ yards this year from Daniel Jones.

Caden would be an interesting fit at Duke next year. I think most of us assume Cameron Williams will be the starting PF with Sebastian Wilkins as the primary backup. Caden would throw a wrinkle into that. Maybe Wilkins can move to more of a wing role though the wing could be super crowded with at least Nik and Darren expected to return and Bryce Howard also on the way (I'm gonna assume Isaiah and Dame are both gone). Duke is also still after Jordan Smith, who would factor into the wing rotation in a pretty big way.

I'll let Jon figure it all out but Caden Pierce would be an interesting addition and a guy with nice college hoops experience.
 
JasonEvans said:
A few comments about Caden Pierce.

1) He was the Ivy player of the year two years ago. He can be a significant rotation player at any school in the land. Duke, UConn, and Purdue (supposedly his three finalists) are recruiting him to be much more than an end of the rotation guy.

2) He is finishing up his Princeton degree this semester and wants to transfer in January so he can practice with his new team and get to know the program and his future teammates. He would not play this year.

3) He is a very strong guy with a superior basketball IQ. He may only be 6-7 but his physicality and bulk allow him to play much bigger than that. He's a really great rebounder.

4) He is good friends with Jack Scott, who is finishing up his eligibility but is expected to be back at Duke next season as a grad assistant.

5) He has two older brothers who also play sports. Justin Pierce played hoops at UNC in 2019-20 and was a decent rotation piece for them (5ppg in 18 mpg) after being a 14+ppg starter for William and Mary for a couple season). Alec Pierce plays in the NFL as a WR for the Colts. He has caught 29 passes for 600+ yards this year from Daniel Jones.

Caden would be an interesting fit at Duke next year. I think most of us assume Cameron Williams will be the starting PF with Sebastian Wilkins as the primary backup. Caden would throw a wrinkle into that. Maybe Wilkins can move to more of a wing role though the wing could be super crowded with at least Nik and Darren expected to return and Bryce Howard also on the way (I'm gonna assume Isaiah and Dame are both gone). Duke is also still after Jordan Smith, who would factor into the wing rotation in a pretty big way.

I'll let Jon figure it all out but Caden Pierce would be an interesting addition and a guy with nice college hoops experience.
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I would be really surprised to see Pierce start over Khamenia (who would be the ideal option to start next year at PF) if he comes. Feels more like a lesser version of Ryan Young (not in terms of skill set but in terms of impact) than a starter for a top-10 team.

I would be somewhat less surprised if he played over Wilkins, but I would be pretty surprised if either was a starter at Duke next year. After a productive sophomore season (7.7 BPM, albeit against watered down comp), he put up a BPM of 0.6 last year.

I think his brother Justin is probably a good reference point for impact. Justin was a bad player on a bad UNC team after a nice career at W&M. Different positions and playing style, but I would guess a similar level of impact.
 
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Cayden/Caleb
Jordan Smith/Darren
Nik/Bryson Howard
Cam Williams/Sebastian
Pat/?/Maxime Meyer

My only early concerns about next year's team are at the 5. A hole becomes a huge hole if Pat leaves for the NBA.

But it's far too early to be worrying...
 
Kedsy said:
We have this discussion a lot in the recruiting season, but we're talking about his last college season and I assume some high major will agree to start him or at least put him in the rotation. Why would a guy who started 89 games at Princeton be interested in being a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency 10th man at Duke?
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Perhaps to have a chance to compete for a title?

Isn’t that part of the pitch to the 5stars? A Player is a player and I’d think they all want to be part of a winning team.

I don’t want a player that isn’t playing win.
 
SkyBrickey said:
Cayden/Caleb
Jordan Smith/Darren
Nik/Bryson Howard
Cam Williams/Sebastian
Pat/?/Maxime Meyer

My only early concerns about next year's team are at the 5. A hole becomes a huge hole if Pat leaves for the NBA.

But it's far too early to be worrying...
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This might not age well but I think Khamenia's best position is the 4 and I think Cameron Williams comes off the bench. He's 200 lbs right now. He's a top 5 prospect but he isn't in the same tier as Paolo, Bagley or Boozer. It may take time with him. I do agree about the 5 spot. Pat coming back would be awesome.
 
JasonEvans said:
A few comments about Caden Pierce.

1) He was the Ivy player of the year two years ago. He can be a significant rotation player at any school in the land. Duke, UConn, and Purdue (supposedly his three finalists) are recruiting him to be much more than an end of the rotation guy.

2) He is finishing up his Princeton degree this semester and wants to transfer in January so he can practice with his new team and get to know the program and his future teammates. He would not play this year.

3) He is a very strong guy with a superior basketball IQ. He may only be 6-7 but his physicality and bulk allow him to play much bigger than that. He's a really great rebounder.

4) He is good friends with Jack Scott, who is finishing up his eligibility but is expected to be back at Duke next season as a grad assistant.

5) He has two older brothers who also play sports. Justin Pierce played hoops at UNC in 2019-20 and was a decent rotation piece for them (5ppg in 18 mpg) after being a 14+ppg starter for William and Mary for a couple season). Alec Pierce plays in the NFL as a WR for the Colts. He has caught 29 passes for 600+ yards this year from Daniel Jones.

Caden would be an interesting fit at Duke next year. I think most of us assume Cameron Williams will be the starting PF with Sebastian Wilkins as the primary backup. Caden would throw a wrinkle into that. Maybe Wilkins can move to more of a wing role though the wing could be super crowded with at least Nik and Darren expected to return and Bryce Howard also on the way (I'm gonna assume Isaiah and Dame are both gone). Duke is also still after Jordan Smith, who would factor into the wing rotation in a pretty big way.

I'll let Jon figure it all out but Caden Pierce would be an interesting addition and a guy with nice college hoops experience.
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The connectivity to Duke / sports family does improve my view of why we'd have interest here, but only marginally.

I've never seen the guy play, so I'm not going to bang the drum too hard. Just saying the blind fact pattern and statistical numbers here don't give me a ton of confidence in anything more than a backup PF. And maybe that's fine. I'll let Jon do his job, as he often does quite well.

- Chillin
 
ChillinDuke said:
The connectivity to Duke / sports family does improve my view of why we'd have interest here, but only marginally.

I've never seen the guy play, so I'm not going to bang the drum too hard. Just saying the blind fact pattern and statistical numbers here don't give me a ton of confidence in anything more than a backup PF. And maybe that's fine. I'll let Jon do his job, as he often does quite well.

- Chillin
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In the spirit of the day...I am thankful for lots of things but as a Duke basketball fan I fully support the bolded statement.
 
DBKilby said:
This might not age well but I think Khamenia's best position is the 4 and I think Cameron Williams comes off the bench. He's 200 lbs right now. He's a top 5 prospect but he isn't in the same tier as Paolo, Bagley or Boozer. It may take time with him. I do agree about the 5 spot. Pat coming back would be awesome.
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There are 11 Months for Cameron to add weight and strength. Duke will work wi=th him to see that happen.
 
JasonEvans said:
A few comments about Caden Pierce.

1) He was the Ivy player of the year two years ago. He can be a significant rotation player at any school in the land. Duke, UConn, and Purdue (supposedly his three finalists) are recruiting him to be much more than an end of the rotation guy.

2) He is finishing up his Princeton degree this semester and wants to transfer in January so he can practice with his new team and get to know the program and his future teammates. He would not play this year.

3) He is a very strong guy with a superior basketball IQ. He may only be 6-7 but his physicality and bulk allow him to play much bigger than that. He's a really great rebounder.

4) He is good friends with Jack Scott, who is finishing up his eligibility but is expected to be back at Duke next season as a grad assistant.

5) He has two older brothers who also play sports. Justin Pierce played hoops at UNC in 2019-20 and was a decent rotation piece for them (5ppg in 18 mpg) after being a 14+ppg starter for William and Mary for a couple season). Alec Pierce plays in the NFL as a WR for the Colts. He has caught 29 passes for 600+ yards this year from Daniel Jones.

Caden would be an interesting fit at Duke next year. I think most of us assume Cameron Williams will be the starting PF with Sebastian Wilkins as the primary backup. Caden would throw a wrinkle into that. Maybe Wilkins can move to more of a wing role though the wing could be super crowded with at least Nik and Darren expected to return and Bryce Howard also on the way (I'm gonna assume Isaiah and Dame are both gone). Duke is also still after Jordan Smith, who would factor into the wing rotation in a pretty big way.

I'll let Jon figure it all out but Caden Pierce would be an interesting addition and a guy with nice college hoops experience.
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Those are some good bloodlines
 
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