With Duke’s 2026-27 roster packed with talent, it would be easy to assume the Blue Devils might need time to sort out roles and egos. Instead, the early read from inside the program is the opposite: this group sounds loose, connected, and fully bought in as it gets set for a loaded preseason stretch.
That picture came through clearly on the latest episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, where three sophomore Blue Devils - projected starting wing Dame Sarr, guard Cayden Boozer and forward Sebastian Wilkins - talked about the tone around the team with No. 2 Duke preparing to host No.
8 Tennessee in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday on ACC Network.
“A lot of joy, man,” Sarr said when asked what fans should expect from the group. “A lot of just happiness playing basketball. And I feel like we're going to enjoy on the court, and they're going to enjoy from the stands, for sure...
“I just love the joy that we play with. I feel like that's the biggest thing. You know, just being happy for each other's success, that's going to take us a long way, for sure.”
Boozer, who is in the mix for a starting job after posting 7.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists as a freshman on a Duke team that went 35-3, said the competitive edge in practice is paired with a shared commitment to keeping the locker room tight. Under fifth-year head coach Jon Scheyer, he said, that combination is part of what makes this team different.
“I think [fans] are just going to see a really competitive team,” Boozer said to Sarr and Wilkins. “When you have a team that's so competitive, we're gonna figure out how to win games, whether we're down 10 at some point or it's a close game in the ACC.
“We're just gonna figure out how to win just because we're competitive and we're also connected too. It's not a team that has bad blood for each other.”
Wilkins, who redshirted last season but has been one of Duke’s most steady performers during preseason play, described the daily competition in practice as intense without spilling over into anything personal.
“Every day in practice, you can see the joy and the competitiveness,” Wilkins explained. “Like, each team wants to win, no matter who your teammate is.
But after we compete, we're all best friends outside the court. We hang out all the time.”
Duke’s exhibition calendar continues after Tennessee with a trip to Lawrence, Kan., for a meeting with preseason No. 17 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse at 1 p.m.
ET Sunday on ESPN. That will be the Blue Devils’ final preseason test before they open the regular season at home against Army on Monday, Nov. 2, at 6:30 p.m.
ET on ESPNU.
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Among the names worth watching are Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Deron Rippey Jr. and Wilkins, who are all expected to have notable roles in the game and beyond. Tennessee brings the kind of top-10 challenge that can expose inexperience fast, so this meeting should tell Duke plenty about how ready those younger pieces are to handle a higher level of pressure before the schedule turns real. [Read more 🡒]