The NCAA’s new age-based eligibility model could change the way college basketball rosters are built, and Duke may feel the ripple effect as much as anyone.
Approved by the Division I Cabinet last week after being introduced in April, the “5-for-5” rule gives Division I athletes five years to complete five seasons of eligibility. In practice, that means the redshirt is mostly gone.
Exceptions remain for special circumstances like religious mission, maternity leave, and military service. The clock starts either when an athlete enrolls in college or turns 19, whichever comes first, and there is no longer a games-played threshold that allows a player to keep a season in his pocket.
For coaches, that should make roster management a lot simpler. The NIL era has made offseason planning a headache, and the source of that stress is one reason Dusty May left Michigan for the NBA. This new setup takes a lot of the guesswork out of building a roster.
At Duke, the biggest impact may come in the backcourt.
The Blue Devils are set to enter the 2026-27 season with what could be the deepest guard group in the country, led by Caleb Foster, John Blackwell, Cayden Boozer and incoming five-star freshman Deron Rippey Jr.
Foster and Blackwell are both rising seniors and neither redshirted. The projection is that they’ll open next season as Duke’s starting backcourt, and each has now picked up another year of eligibility if they choose to use it. Under the old setup, both would have been out of college eligibility after the 2026-27 campaign.
That matters because Boozer and Rippey could also be gone after that season. Without the new rule, Duke might have been staring at the possibility of losing its entire backcourt.
Now, the Blue Devils have a path to keeping two veteran guards who should matter immediately in 2026-27 and beyond. Foster and Blackwell could end up forming one of the most productive guard pairings in the country for two straight seasons.
Blackwell, a 6-foot-4 guard, is coming off a junior year at Wisconsin in which he averaged more than 19 points per game, shot 43.0% from the field and hit 38.9% of his threes on 7.3 attempts. There’s a real chance he could lead the nation in scoring next season.
Foster brings a different kind of value. He won’t usually stuff the stat sheet, but he fits the profile of the steady, mistake-free floor general championship teams love. He defends the perimeter at an elite level and affects winning in just about every way.
Blackwell has a legitimate chance to become an NBA prospect after the 2026-27 season. Foster, meanwhile, has rarely shown up on draft boards during his college career. Under this new eligibility model, Duke could have both players in the backcourt for two seasons, and that’s a major development for the program.
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