CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish are both bullish on Duke heading into the upcoming season, and they’re making the same core point: Jon Scheyer’s team has the pieces to contend for a national title again.
The big difference, though, is impossible to miss. For the past two seasons, Duke could lean on a true headliner in Cooper Flagg and then Cameron Boozer. This group doesn’t have that same kind of can’t-miss, transcendent star.
"The difference here versus the past two years is that we knew Cooper Flagg was going to be awesome, and we knew Cameron Boozer was going to be awesome," Norlander said. "We think this Duke team is going to be very, very, very good, but there is not a player on this team who is going to be transcendent across the college basketball landscape for the 2026-27 season."
That doesn’t mean the Blue Devils are short on talent. In fact, the expectation is that depth and balance will carry the load for Scheyer, who is entering his fifth year as Duke’s coach and still chasing his first national championship as the head coach and the program’s sixth overall. Duke has fallen short in recent seasons, including a Final Four loss in 2025, but the roster construction this time looks different.
The team will depend on returners Caleb Foster, Cayden Boozer, Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba, while also getting help from transfers John Blackwell from Wisconsin and Drew Scharnowski from Belmont. Add in the top signing class featuring Cam Williams and Deron Rippey Jr., and the Blue Devils have the kind of collection of talent that can overwhelm opponents in a lot of different ways.
Parrish sees that clearly.
"There is no Cooper Flagg or Cameron Boozer on this team," Parrish said. "But if it's Valentine's Day, Duke is ranked No. 1 in the country and Blackwell is averaging 17 a game, he's going to have to be a part of that conversation.
I assume he would be their leading scorer and best player. But they are loaded from a talent perspective, depth perspective-every perspective."
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