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After beginning the 2025-26 season with a neutral court win, the 6th-ranked Duke Blue Devils (1-0) play their home opener on Saturday afternoon against the Western Carolina Catamounts (0-1). The game tips off at 1:30pm ET in Cameron Indoor Stadium, and will air on The CW. (Sports events on The CW are live on broadcast only, with no streaming link. If it helps, use this channel finder.) For those of you who can neither attend nor watch the game, consider a pair of free alternatives: listening to the game on the Blue Devils Sports Network and following live stats from Sidearm or StatBroadcast.
If you so choose, you can make your own Saturday doubleheader by watching WCU-Duke men's hoops at 1:30pm ET on The CW, and then Duke-Connecticut football at 3:30pm ET on CBSSN. Based on what I've read in the Legitimate Viewing/Streaming Options thread, both channels are viewable to YouTube TV subscribers, who are slightly bothered right now by the ESPN dispute.
Tim Craft (bio) led Gardner-Webb for 11 years before moving from Boiling Springs to Cullowhee and becoming Western Carolina's head coach in 2024. His first season was an adjustment, as the Catamounts went 8-22 overall and 4-14 in the SoCon, 9th out of 10 teams. The Field of 68 spoke with Coach Craft last month about entering his second season on the job.
"Feeling a lot better -- everything from just knowing where things are, getting your family settled, to your roster, feeling like you got some experience and retention and continuity."
Speaking of retention and continuity, Sports Reference calculates that over 58 percent of the minutes played and over 55 percent of the points scored last year have carried over to this current squad. Based on their votes in the recent SoCon preseason poll, the conference's coaches expect some steady improvement from WCU, predicting a 7th place finish. They also named junior forward Marcus Kell to the 10-man preseason team.
The computer ratings can provide a ballpark opinion of where Western Carolina fits on a national scale, but here I see a difference of ballpark opinions: they rank 207th by KenPom, 234th by EvanMiya, 276th by Haslametrics, and 292nd by T-Rank. What's noteworthy is that each evaluator gave the team a significant jump from the end of last season to the beginning of this season. Bracket Busters observed that WCU might be Ken Pomeroy's most improved team:
Similarly, Evan Miyakawa moved them from #342 to #234, Erik Haslam hoisted them from #336 to #276, and Bart Torvik took them from #342 to #292. We're often warned by these guys that their own preseason ratings are inherently unreliable because so much of last season's results are baked in, but the Catamounts seem to be wildly bucking that trend.
Let's take a look at the team's roster. They have 7 returners and 2 redshirt freshmen already familiar with the program, plus 3 true freshmen and 4 incoming transfers.
Last year of eligibility
6-10 forward Vernon Collins #33 (18.0 mpg for WCU in 2024-25)
6-10 forward Chase McKey #1 (16.6 mpg)
6-4 guard Tidjiane Dioumassi #22 (26.5 mpg at Southern)
5-11 guard Julien Soumaoro #3 (16.6 mpg at East Carolina)
2 years of eligibility
6-8 forward Marcus Kell #23 (24.9 mpg)
6-4 guard Cord Stansberry #0 (29.8 mpg)
3 years of eligibility
6-4 guard Fischer Brown #20 (12.0 mpg)
6-1 guard CJ Hyland #2 (21.1 mpg)
6-3 guard Jamar Livingston #9 (14.3 mpg)
6-8 guard Justin Johnson #4 (5.8 mpg at Arkansas State)
7-0 center Abdulai Fanta Kabba #7 (17.2 mpg at Denver)
4 years of eligibility
6-9 forward Samuel Dada #12 (unranked; Nigeria/USA)
5-9 guard Titian DeRosa #5 (unranked; USA)
6-7 forward Tayeshaun Smith #21 (unranked; USA)
5-11 guard Drew Hollifield #11 (redshirt; unranked in 2024)
6-6 guard Max Williams #17 (redshirt; unranked in 2024)
Grad guard Julien Soumaoro began his career playing for Coach Craft at Gardner-Webb, and they came to Durham to face Duke in November 2021, losing 92-52. Soumaoro played 17 minutes in that game, hitting his lone 3-pointer and adding 4 assists.
Fast forward 4 years. Western Carolina opened the 2025-26 season on Monday with a game at Cincinnati, and the Bearcats won 94-63 (recap, box score, highlights). Kell, Soumaoro, and junior guard Cord Stansberry played 30 minutes each and combined for 48 of the team's 63 points. Stansberry went 9-19 from the field, with 4 made threes, to finish with 23 points. Soumaoro added 13 points and 5 rebounds, while Kell had 12 points and 9 boards.
Despite being an in-state scheduling possibility, Western Carolina has played Duke only 3 times before, according to GoDuke's opponent history. All of the games took place in Cameron during the mid-1990s, and the Catamounts went 0-3, with nice round losses by 20, 40, and 50 points.
Discuss their 4th meeting here.
If you so choose, you can make your own Saturday doubleheader by watching WCU-Duke men's hoops at 1:30pm ET on The CW, and then Duke-Connecticut football at 3:30pm ET on CBSSN. Based on what I've read in the Legitimate Viewing/Streaming Options thread, both channels are viewable to YouTube TV subscribers, who are slightly bothered right now by the ESPN dispute.
Tim Craft (bio) led Gardner-Webb for 11 years before moving from Boiling Springs to Cullowhee and becoming Western Carolina's head coach in 2024. His first season was an adjustment, as the Catamounts went 8-22 overall and 4-14 in the SoCon, 9th out of 10 teams. The Field of 68 spoke with Coach Craft last month about entering his second season on the job.
"Feeling a lot better -- everything from just knowing where things are, getting your family settled, to your roster, feeling like you got some experience and retention and continuity."
Speaking of retention and continuity, Sports Reference calculates that over 58 percent of the minutes played and over 55 percent of the points scored last year have carried over to this current squad. Based on their votes in the recent SoCon preseason poll, the conference's coaches expect some steady improvement from WCU, predicting a 7th place finish. They also named junior forward Marcus Kell to the 10-man preseason team.
The computer ratings can provide a ballpark opinion of where Western Carolina fits on a national scale, but here I see a difference of ballpark opinions: they rank 207th by KenPom, 234th by EvanMiya, 276th by Haslametrics, and 292nd by T-Rank. What's noteworthy is that each evaluator gave the team a significant jump from the end of last season to the beginning of this season. Bracket Busters observed that WCU might be Ken Pomeroy's most improved team:
Similarly, Evan Miyakawa moved them from #342 to #234, Erik Haslam hoisted them from #336 to #276, and Bart Torvik took them from #342 to #292. We're often warned by these guys that their own preseason ratings are inherently unreliable because so much of last season's results are baked in, but the Catamounts seem to be wildly bucking that trend.
Let's take a look at the team's roster. They have 7 returners and 2 redshirt freshmen already familiar with the program, plus 3 true freshmen and 4 incoming transfers.
Last year of eligibility
6-10 forward Vernon Collins #33 (18.0 mpg for WCU in 2024-25)
6-10 forward Chase McKey #1 (16.6 mpg)
6-4 guard Tidjiane Dioumassi #22 (26.5 mpg at Southern)
5-11 guard Julien Soumaoro #3 (16.6 mpg at East Carolina)
2 years of eligibility
6-8 forward Marcus Kell #23 (24.9 mpg)
6-4 guard Cord Stansberry #0 (29.8 mpg)
3 years of eligibility
6-4 guard Fischer Brown #20 (12.0 mpg)
6-1 guard CJ Hyland #2 (21.1 mpg)
6-3 guard Jamar Livingston #9 (14.3 mpg)
6-8 guard Justin Johnson #4 (5.8 mpg at Arkansas State)
7-0 center Abdulai Fanta Kabba #7 (17.2 mpg at Denver)
4 years of eligibility
6-9 forward Samuel Dada #12 (unranked; Nigeria/USA)
5-9 guard Titian DeRosa #5 (unranked; USA)
6-7 forward Tayeshaun Smith #21 (unranked; USA)
5-11 guard Drew Hollifield #11 (redshirt; unranked in 2024)
6-6 guard Max Williams #17 (redshirt; unranked in 2024)
Grad guard Julien Soumaoro began his career playing for Coach Craft at Gardner-Webb, and they came to Durham to face Duke in November 2021, losing 92-52. Soumaoro played 17 minutes in that game, hitting his lone 3-pointer and adding 4 assists.
Fast forward 4 years. Western Carolina opened the 2025-26 season on Monday with a game at Cincinnati, and the Bearcats won 94-63 (recap, box score, highlights). Kell, Soumaoro, and junior guard Cord Stansberry played 30 minutes each and combined for 48 of the team's 63 points. Stansberry went 9-19 from the field, with 4 made threes, to finish with 23 points. Soumaoro added 13 points and 5 rebounds, while Kell had 12 points and 9 boards.
Despite being an in-state scheduling possibility, Western Carolina has played Duke only 3 times before, according to GoDuke's opponent history. All of the games took place in Cameron during the mid-1990s, and the Catamounts went 0-3, with nice round losses by 20, 40, and 50 points.
Discuss their 4th meeting here.
