Duke heads into the new season with Kara Lawson in the wider basketball conversation and Jon Scheyer leading a group that looks built more on depth than star power as it chases a third straight ACC title. After winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title last season and reaching the NCAA Elite Eight before losing to UConn, Duke has earned the right to expect another serious run.
The challenge is obvious. Duke must replace major production after Cameron Boozer led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists last season, but it is not starting from scratch. It brings back a team that has been one of the most successful in the country over the last two seasons, with a 42-2 record in ACC regular-season and tournament play and only 22 points separating its last seven losses.
Why Duke's depth matters now
Scheyer enters his fifth season with a roster that has both experience and fresh talent. Patrick Ngongba II returns after averaging 10.1 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, while the frontcourt also includes Cameron Williams, a 7-2, 250-pound presence. Duke can also lean on Isaiah Evans, who averaged 10.2 points and shot 55.6% overall and 39.1% from three-point range, and Maliq Brown, whose presence gives the Blue Devils more options in rotation and matchup management.
Then there is the incoming class. Duke's No. 1-ranked class gives the program another layer of expectation, and that matters because the Blue Devils have not just been winning in the ACC, they have been controlling it. The structure of the roster suggests Scheyer does not need one player to carry everything every night. He needs a group that can keep the level high through a long season and a schedule that will test them early.
The early schedule will tell the story
Duke does not get a soft landing. It opens at home against Army on Nov. 2, then faces No. 6 Michigan State in Chicago on Nov. 10, hosts No. 3 Illinois on Nov. 17, meets No. 4 UConn again on Nov. 25, and travels to No. 1 Florida on Dec. 1. ACC play begins at home against California on Jan. 2 before another major nonconference test against No. 15 Gonzaga in Detroit on Feb. 20.
That is exactly the sort of stretch that will show whether Duke's depth can carry it through the season rather than just around individual games. The concern is not whether the Blue Devils have enough talent. It is whether they can replace enough of last season's production while staying as reliable as they have been across the last two years.
For now, the standard is clear. Duke is not just trying to contend in the ACC. It is trying to keep ownership of the league, extend its title run to a third straight year, and prove that the combination of depth and the No. 1-ranked incoming class can hold up under pressure.
