#1 – UNC || #2 – NC State || #3 – Wake Forest || #4 – Virginia|| #5 – #Clemson||#6 – Miami || #7 – Louisville
|| #8 – Pitt|| #9 – Georgia Tech || #10 – Syracuse || #11 – Boston College|| #12 – Virginia Tech || #13 – Florida State || #14 – Notre Dame|| #15 – SMU ||#16 – Cal || #17 – Stanford || #18 – Duke Part I || Duke Part IIThe first thing that distinguished Jon Scheyer as a rising star was his ability to recruit brilliant talent to Duke. In the era of NIL and the House settlement, big schools
have an easier time recruiting than they once did, and Duke has advantages that some programs do not. Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, and Michigan have most of those advantages too. Other than Michigan under Dusty May, those traditional powerhouses have not recruited nearly as well as Duke has under Scheyer. Nor have they competed as well.
In just four seasons, Scheyer has established himself not just as a rising star, but as one of the best coaches and basketball minds in the game today. Over the last two years, he built teams around the rare talents of Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer. There are no freshmen quite like that on this roster. There are, however, five outstanding first-year players: Deron Rippey Jr., Bryson Howard, Cameron Williams, Maxime Meyer, and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje.
Nick Arnold, a preferred walk-on, is the sixth freshman. He is not in the same class as the others, but he is a tough-minded point guard who will begin his career as a practice player. The analogous name here is Duke great Steve Wojciechowski, who overcame limited athleticism with hard work and passion. Arnold is not on Wojo’s level, but he could develop into a useful player. Given how hard he reportedly works, he is likely to be a fan favorite from day one.
As for the scholarship freshmen, they are all very promising.
Rippey is 6-2 and a spectacular athlete. He has a 40-inch vertical leap, which is a gift from God, but other parts of his game come from hard work and grit. He applies himself on defense, and not every great talent is willing to play both ends, especially at his age. Duke will use his speed, aggression, and ability to get out in transition to put immense pressure on opposing teams.
Remember the pressure Dame Sarr put on ball handlers last season? Now imagine it with Rippey alongside him. They will not play together all the time, but when Scheyer needs to crank up the defense, those two will be a big part of it.
As talented as he is, Rippey still has work to do. His outside shot needs refinement, and he will not overwhelm college players the way he could in high school. He has to be careful with turnovers and with when he drives into the teeth of a defense. In the ACC and beyond, he will see large, powerful defenders who may not appreciate him in the lane. He will need to pick his spots. Talent-wise, though, he is starting on third base. His potential is enormous.
Howard is also a defensive dog. At 6-4, reportedly with a 6-11 wingspan, he is a bit bigger than Rippey and should help Duke turn the pressure way up. Consider this: someone throws the ball into you, you turn around, and Sarr is in your face. Rippey is close by, and Howard and Caleb Foster are hounding your teammates. It is not going to be easy.
Like Rippey, Howard is a real two-way player. He is one of the best shooters in his class, with excellent mechanics and a high release. He can get after it in transition, too. Duke fans are used to players whose fathers were highly successful athletes. In Howard’s case, that is former Wake Forest great Josh Howard. You can reasonably expect the younger Howard to arrive with an advanced knowledge of the game.
At 7-0 and 215 pounds, Williams is still quite lean, but he will muscle up over time. His high school coach has compared his game to Kevin Durant’s. There is no guarantee he will be that good, obviously, but you can see why the comparison gets made. Williams is fluid, and like former Blue Devil Khaman Maluach, he looks as if he will be able to rotate effectively onto smaller players. He is tall enough to compete inside, but when you are 7-0 and can guard the perimeter, you are bad news for opponents. Inside or out, he is a shot-blocking threat.
He is a respectable but not yet great three-point shooter, and his shot is said to be smooth. He may or may not become a stretch four, but that is coming. Like every young player, he needs refinement. He has to get stronger, improve his lateral quickness, and work on his ballhandling. Those skills will come. For now, like his classmates, he is immensely promising.
At 7-1, Canadian Maxime Meyer is one of the tallest players on an already tall team. His wingspan is 7-3, and his standing reach is an impressive 9-5. He is very fluid for such a towering guy and runs well. Like a lot of Scheyer’s big-man targets, he also passes very well.
His biggest issues right now are weight and strength, but time and the weight room should fix that. He also needs to work on his shot. Meyer is fine around the lane, but he is not very comfortable shooting away from the basket. Those are minor quibbles. He has real potential, and playing against Duke’s other bigs should accelerate his development.
One of the players who will help sharpen that game is Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje. He was a late recruit, choosing Duke on the last day of April 2026. Because the Florida native began playing for FC Barcelona in 2023, he stayed under the radar even for many people who follow recruiting closely.
He is not under the radar anymore. Many consider him the likely first pick in the 2028 NBA Draft. The reason is simple: he is a potentially great stretch four, or a hybrid stretch four/five. Boumtje Boumtje, or JoJo, as he likes to be called, is a sweet-shooting lefty with outstanding passing skills and a high basketball IQ. He moves unusually well for a player his size — Duke lists him at 7-2 and 250 pounds — and has excellent lateral quickness. He is probably not going to be the shot blocker that Williams or Meyer might become, but his skills are legit.
Like Howard, his father played in the NBA, although injuries limited Ruben Boumtje Boumtje to just 44 games. He knows the game, and Joaquim has benefited from that.
This class does not have a Flagg or a Boozer, but it offers a broader pool of talent. Duke is going to have a deep rotation, with 12 quality players, any of whom might start.
During his short time as head coach, Scheyer has already seen serious injuries to Dariq Whitehead, Dereck Lively, Caleb Foster, and Patrick Ngongba, along with lesser but still important injuries to Flagg and Sarr. It would not surprise anyone if he decided he needed more depth. Remember, Duke entered postseason play with Foster and Ngongba both on scooters.
Whatever his reasoning, Scheyer arguably has enough talent to field two Top 25 teams. What will he do with it?
We’ll look at that in Part IV of our Duke preview.
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