The ACC race may still be months from being played out, but the early read from the Field of 68 crew is the same one Duke fans keep hearing: the Blue Devils are still the team everyone else has to chase.
Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman broke down the league this week with Terrence Oglesby and Randolph Childress, and the conversation kept circling back to Duke as the standard in the conference. Dauster kicked things off by describing Duke as “arguably the best team in college basketball” over the last two seasons and “probably the best program over the course of those two years,” even without a national title to show for it.
Oglesby didn’t hesitate when the question came up about whether Duke has enough to stay in that elite tier. “I think so,” he said, and he pointed to the late addition of Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje as the move that pushed the Blue Devils back into the highest level.
“Before that, there was a lot of talent. It looked like a second weekend team. Now that he's in the picture … I think that puts them back in that conversation.”
He also rattled off a long list of names that make the roster so interesting: John Blackwell, Drew Scharnowski, Cameron Williams, Deron Rippey Jr., Patrick Ngongba II, and Caleb Foster.
Blackwell, the Wisconsin transfer, drew especially strong praise. Oglesby called him “huge” and said the guard, who averaged 19 points a game, should be “in the mix to be an all-ACC first-teamer.”
Scharnowski earned a blunt evaluation too: “That's a tough son of a gun right there,” Oglesby said, while stressing how important veteran frontcourt help is for Duke. He was just as high on the young talent, saying, “I think Cam Williams is an NBA player for sure,” and comparing Rippey’s athleticism to ESPN and former Duke All American Jay Williams, even joking that Rippey might be “probably more athletic.”
Goodman was a little more restrained, but his verdict on Duke never really wavered. “They're in the mix,” he said.
“Every year they're in the mix.” He called Boumtje-Boumtje an “X factor” and zeroed in on the point guard situation, saying he’d rather see Cayden Boozer and Rippey handling the ball “come February” while letting Foster “do what he does best” as a scorer off the ball...and off the bench.
Childress echoed the same general theme. “I think without question they're in the mix,” he said, adding that the way last season ended should leave this group “hungry as ever.”
He pointed to guard play as the team’s strength and labeled Blackwell a “proven scorer.” He kept coming back to the same trio of traits: depth, length and defense.
“They have length, they have size, they're going to have playmaking ability, and they're going to be one of the best defensive teams,” he said.
The biggest questions, in Childress’s view, are whether Duke gets enough out of its frontcourt and who becomes the late-game closer. Even so, his bottom line stayed firmly positive: “I like the Duke team. I think they'll be there when it's all said and done.”
Oglesby returned to Duke’s physical makeup, calling the group “huge” and laying out how the lineup could shift depending on the look Duke wants. He said Cayden Boozer could run the point if the Blue Devils want to “get huge and physical,” or Rippey could be used if they want to “get after somebody and get up the lines.” He also highlighted Dame Sarr and Bryson Howard, calling Howard “tough” and saying “he plays with an edge.”
Childress also offered a light aside about another former Demon Deacon great’s son choosing Duke, presumably to come off the bench in his first season instead of taking on a bigger role at Josh Howard’s alma mater. His larger point, though, was simple: “It's a tough bunch now.”
The panel’s bigger conclusion went beyond raw talent. In an era shaped by NIL and the transfer portal, Duke’s edge may be that it brings back real continuity. Dauster noted that the Blue Devils have “four or five guys that lived through that with Jon and with that team last season,” and Childress said that should keep Duke from being “totally relying upon freshmen” the way it was at key moments last March.
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