Welcome to Duke, Dame Sarr!!

tommy said:
Agree. I think bringing in Sarr constitutes Jon basically "taking a swing." It's a very uncertain proposition. Could hit big, or not.

The fact that we have as many unknowns with our roster as we do is why we are not generally viewed to be in the group of teams expected to be at the very top next year. That group includes Florida UConn, Purdue, St. John's, and Houston. Maybe another team or two. Those teams have uncertainties too, of course, but not as many as we do. It's why we're projected in the second group, not the first.
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I’d be pumping the brakes on Florida. I’m sure they’ll be good, but there’s no Walter Clayton Jr. walking through that door.
 
tommy said:
Agree. I think bringing in Sarr constitutes Jon basically "taking a swing." It's a very uncertain proposition. Could hit big, or not.

The fact that we have as many unknowns with our roster as we do is why we are not generally viewed to be in the group of teams expected to be at the very top next year. That group includes Florida UConn, Purdue, St. John's, and Houston. Maybe another team or two. Those teams have uncertainties too, of course, but not as many as we do. It's why we're projected in the second group, not the first.
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Where are you getting this list? Duke is currently the betting favorite on FanDuel to win the championship. When you have a sophomore Darren Harris slotted in as your 9th man, that's a sign of a very deep and talented team.

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There have been some interesting posts on how you pronounce his name. I'm going with Dildy's pronunciation in the interview unless somebody has better info.

Dah-may
 
SkyBrickey said:
There's also locker room fit. We don't talk about it much because we don't know these kids personalities, character, work ethic, ... But we know it's a huge deal for Jon in who he chooses to pursue.
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I heard on Field of 68 that Watkins will be 24 before the next CBB season. That's very old, almost Chad Baker-Mazara old. So he'd be an odd fit, and I don't know if he's ready for the Uncle role.
 
SkyBrickey said:
Where are you getting this list? Duke is currently the betting favorite on FanDuel to win the championship. When you have a sophomore Darren Harris slotted in as your 9th man, that's a sign of a very deep and talented team.

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Well, CBS Sports has us at #9.

Gary Parrish (@garyparrishcbs.bsky.social)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS: The 2025-26 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 has been updated to reflect recent developments. Version 13 1. Houston 2. St. John's 3. BYU 4. Purdue 5. UConn 6. Florida 7. Texas Tech 8. Michigan 9. Duke 10. UCLA...
bsky.app bsky.app
 
MChambers said:
Well, CBS Sports has us at #9.

Gary Parrish (@garyparrishcbs.bsky.social)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS: The 2025-26 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 has been updated to reflect recent developments. Version 13 1. Houston 2. St. John's 3. BYU 4. Purdue 5. UConn 6. Florida 7. Texas Tech 8. Michigan 9. Duke 10. UCLA...
bsky.app bsky.app
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Florida wasn't even in the top 20 last year. I think if the bets were on who would be #1 in the pre-season, Duke would have lousy odds, but it makes sense that they are in our favor the deeper the season goes.
 
MChambers said:
Well, CBS Sports has us at #9.

Gary Parrish (@garyparrishcbs.bsky.social)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS: The 2025-26 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 has been updated to reflect recent developments. Version 13 1. Houston 2. St. John's 3. BYU 4. Purdue 5. UConn 6. Florida 7. Texas Tech 8. Michigan 9. Duke 10. UCLA...
bsky.app bsky.app
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Fair enough. I checked and Gary Parrish also had us 9th this time last year (and UNC 4th). He said then that we lost too much to be ranked any higher.
 
There are two reasons why I'm maybe more bullish on this team's early season performance - and ranking - than last year's team.

We've got five returnees in the rotation who already understand all the finer points of playing Jon's offense and defense. Huge headstart. Jon can install more sets/actions in the early season.

And having a dominant frontcourt really raises the floor for a team. You're a little less likely to drop a game or two due to cold shooting from 3. I think with Cam and Pat, we should be very good out of the gate.

Does this team have the ceiling of last year's? Probably not but it may not need it to cut down the nets.
 
Lunardi is no better than Parrish. But he just posted his top four seeds as Duke, Houston, Purdue, UConn. His two seeds are Michigan, Arizona, St John's, Kentucky. Interesting to watch how this team is viewed. Jon definitely earned some cred last season.
 
Dukehk said:
Agree with this completely. Even if Sarr is as good (or better) than Coward offensively (thats a big IF), it would realistically take him time to adapt to the college game and all that comes with University life.

Coward was a surefire starter next year for us and most likely a leader and key defensive player.

Sarr has played too few minutes to determine whether he can/will perform at a high level on both ends of the ball. Hopefully he does crack into the starting lineup at some point, but I think Scheyer is likely going to start Evans, Foster & Cayden over Sarr.
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It doesn't matter comparing him to a player who is not coming to Duke.
 
SkyBrickey said:
Lunardi is no better than Parrish. But he just posted his top four seeds as Duke, Houston, Purdue, UConn. His two seeds are Michigan, Arizona, St John's, Kentucky. Interesting to watch how this team is viewed. Jon definitely earned some cred last season.
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ESPN has Duke 8th in their power rankings. I don't think "somewhere behind [the teams tommy listed]" is unreasonable. There is a lot of uncertainty.

There is also uncertainty with lots of teams. But I think it's reasonable to apply a "preseason penalty" for youth plus uncertainty.

The reality is this: Duke has finished 15th, 8th, and 2nd in Torvik's rating system in 3 years. This past year was a fantastic season, and it's possible that Scheyer has figured out the magic formula. But it's also quite possible that this past year was a fairly unique combination of three uniquely impactful freshmen PLUS a terrific, proven junior PLUS a perfect fit of a grad transfer. Next year's team may or may not have a similarly great formula, and will definitely be a lot younger and less experienced. Total minutes of experience coming into the season this year: starters = 5,939; 10-man rotation = 11,033. At the moment going into next season, assuming Foster/Evans/Ngongba all start, it'd be starters = 2,028; 10-man rotation = 4,099. There'd be some definite continuity in terms of guys with experience in the Duke program, but it'll be an extremely green team in terms of college game experience.

So I think somewhere in the ~6-8 ranking range makes sense. We could certainly be a top-3 team. But we could also very easily be a team outside the top-10. There is a lot of uncertainty due to the lack of experience.
 
MarkD83 said:
Is it considered gloating if I happened to be in Lawrence at Allen field house taking a picture of myself with the bronze statue of James Naismith at about the time of this announcement? I was wearing a Duke golf pullover and my car has Duke vanity plates.
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It might also be considered dangerous, especially if there are lots of KU people very nearby.
 
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