Wisconsin Badgers transfer guard John Blackwell made the major decision to transfer to the Duke Blue Devils this week, immediately putting them in contender status for the 2026-27 season.
After choosing to enter the transfer portal earlier this month, Blackwell immediately became one of the best players available, and some of the top schools in the nation started calling. The guard initially expected to make his announcement in May, but shut things down after a visit to Duke and committed to the Blue
Devils this week.
Following the announcement, he sat down with The Field Of 68’s Jeff Goodman and broke down why he chose the Blue Devils.
“First of all, I just want to thank Wisconsin, the whole fan base of Wisconsin, the coaching staff, and just everybody who was involved in my time at Wisconsin,” Blackwell said. “But why I chose Duke, it just felt right. It felt right for me from the jump when I talked to Coach [Jon] Scheyer and Coach [Emmanuel] Dildy hit me up, and we chatted and, you know, it just felt like the right situation for me. And then when I got on campus, it just confirmed everything that I was looking for.”
What was the overall process like for Blackwell, who had a ton of suitors to narrow down from?
“For me, my agents Todd [Ramasar] and Alexis [Liatsos] did a great job of narrowing the process down, narrowing my schools of who I was interested in,” Blackwell said. “And then we went about it the right way. We talked to schools, we set up meetings with schools. They came out here to LA to watch me work out and had lunch and dinner and those things.
“And once we felt it was the best situations, we took the visits to the best situations. But it wasn’t too much. It was way quicker than a high school recruitment. It was just bam, bam, bam. You got to find a school to go to. But it’s just a blessing. Honestly, it’s a blessing for me to be in this position to be able to just pick the school that I want to go to and not feel rushed. And then obviously go to a prestigious school like Duke.”
For Blackwell, on-ball opportunities were his biggest goal from his next school, and he didn’t feel that was there as much at Wisconsin. At Duke, though, with the departures of Isaiah Evans (likely) and Cam Boozer, that was there to be had in the back court.
“Obviously, what they showed me was my role, how I would fit in the NBA,” Blackwell said of Duke. “For me, I wanted to be more on the ball. I’m 6’4″, so I’m naturally a point guard. And that’s just things I didn’t do at Wisconsin. There’s no knock to them. It’s just I want to elevate my game to go to the next level.
“So I think that’s what sold me on them. And then just the guys around me, and [they] competed for a national championship with those guys. And, I’m surrounded by pros throughout practice. And we got so many good guys coming in and so many good guys returning. Yeah, like I said, it just felt like the best spot for me.”
As a senior, Blackwell wants to be more of a playmaker, while also improving defensively. That opportunity presented itself best at Duke.
“Yeah, obviously just showing my playmaking skills, be able to make the right reads through pick and rolls, through different actions, NBA pro actions. That’s one area I want to show,” Blackwell said when referencing his NBA aspirations.
“And then the next area was just my defensive ability. For me, that’s the biggest jump for me that I need to take. Just being a pest on defense. I’ve talked about it for 3 years, but obviously, this senior year has to be my best defensive year. I know Coach Scheyer is going to push me to do that.”
Blackwell’s role was different this season than as a sophomore. In 2024-25, without a true point guard on the team, Blackwell ascended to that role alongside Max Klesmit, and had a ton of on-ball opportunities. But the shooting efficiency, specifically off the dribble, wasn’t as high. Blackwell shot 45.1 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from deep that year, while averaging 15.8 points behind John Tonje.
This past season, Blackwell shared the backcourt with Nick Boyd, who had the ball in his hands quite often as the lead guard. So there weren’t as many on-ball opportunities for the Badgers star.
Now at Duke, Blackwell has the chance to be the lead player on one of the best teams in the country. While Duke does have Cayden Boozer and Caleb Foster returning, Blackwell should find the ball in his hands quite often and will now be the No. 1 player on his team for the first time.
