Duke’s defense is already drawing serious attention before the season even gets rolling, and one national analyst thinks the Blue Devils could end up with the best unit in college basketball.
That kind of buzz makes sense after what Duke showed last season. The Blue Devils won 30 regular-season games, lost only twice in the regular season, and rolled to both an Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and a tournament title. They backed that run with strong play on both ends of the floor, then earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling to UConn in disappointing fashion.
Now the focus shifts to the Jon Scheyer era and whether Duke can take the next step. The expectation is that defense will be a major reason why.
CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter laid out his 101 thoughts for the upcoming season with fewer than 100 days left before tipoff, and Duke landed among the teams he believes can field the best defense in the sport.
Here’s how Trotter sized up the Blue Devils:
Scheyer has a ton of competitive guys who really care about getting stops. Boozer and Foster are both reliable lead guard stoppers.
Dame Sarr is one of the best wing defenders in the country. Big man Patrick Ngongba has high feel on the defensive end of the floor and can sniff out actions before they happen.
Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski will help out on that end with his physicality, rebounding and athleticism. That core is more than enough to build a solid foundation.
It's going to be hard to generate easy shots against Duke's size and length, especially when Sarr, Foster, Boozer and Ngongba are on the floor together.
Duke does have some defensive turnover, with Cameron Boozer and Maliq Brown among the key pieces it lost on that end. But the Blue Devils still bring back Patrick Ngongba, Caleb Foster and Dame Sarr, and they added Drew Scharnowski and John Blackwell through the transfer portal.
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