Duke Basketball Report

We’re honored to have Brenden Marks of The Athletic back to continue our conversation on Episode 632! On Part 1, we focused on Duke’s rebuilt roster, and on Part 2 of our interview, we expand our scope to the other 17 teams in the ACC. Marks discusses how some of the teams did in the transfer portal, with some of the teams that got much better and some of the teams that he felt missed an opportunity to improve. We discuss some of UNC’s issues with recruiting a big man and how the changing landscape of NIL has affected how teams recruit new players. We finally end with some of the players coming back that could help their teams and which teams to watch as they try to rise to the top half of the conference standings next season. After we say goodbye to Brendan Marks, Jason and Donald go into further discussion on several points that arose during the interview. Needless to say, we could have stayed on for a couple more hours with Brendan and not fully discussed every facet of roster construction, but we’re grate

There were tears of joy on the floor of the TD Garden last night as Jayson Tatum reached the pinnacle of basketball greatness, leading his Boston Celtics to a world championship. The Duke Basketball Roundup has all the stats and info about Tatum's remarkable performance and what it means for his place among the Duke greats to have played in the NBA. And, of course, the guys also have comments about all the other Dukies connected to the NBA finals including Kyrie, Lively, Amile, and even Steve Pagliuca. After the break, the DBR Podcast takes a moment to celebrate some of the greatest Duke athletes of all time, the newest inductees to the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame. Included among them are a fencer, a diver, a 3-time national champion in golf, a couple football players, a father-son lacrosse duo, and two of the best men's and women's basketball players to ever wear a Duke blue uniform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Duke Blue Devils 2024-25 roster is rebuilt, and now they’re in the lab to gel into a team this summer. As they do so, we look back at how Duke did in the transfer portal and what we can expect from the team next season. On Episode 631, we welcome back Brendan Marks of The Athletic for an incredible interview that is broken down into two parts. This episode focuses on Part 1 of our interview, in which Marks helps us understand more about how this roster was constructed. We start with the transfer portal and how Duke did in relation to the rest of the conference at filling the holes that the roster had. This is a pivotal year for Duke, and Marks believes that the portal additions will help Duke in so many ways. We then focus on some of the freshmen coming in as well as where the main returnees - Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster - fit into the mix. This team will be built around Cooper Flagg, but you won’t want to miss what Brendan thinks of the potential starting 5 - competition may drive who gets some of th

Few people have touched the hearts of Duke fans the way Bob Harris has. For 41 years he was the voice of the Blue Devils, calling thousands of football and basketball games, using his voice to paint the pictures we could not see. So, it is with so much sadness that Duke nation today mourns Bob's passing after a battle with Alzheimer's. This episode of the Duke Basketball Roundup includes a couple of Bob's legendary calls and moments of remembrance from Jason and Donald. Before we get to the sad news, the episode starts with word that the ACC-SEC Challenge matchups are set. Duke will be playing a very impressive Auburn club and the game will happen in Cameron. The DBR podcast breaks down some of what to expect from the Challenge and from the latest in a long line of difficult non-conference opponents Duke will be playing next season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a listener participation episode of the Duke Basketball Roundup. In honor of Duke bringing in a super impressive-looking defensive roster for the 2024-25 campaign, Jason and Donald conduct a Duke Defense draft. They each pick 5 starters and 1 sixth man to form the best defensive team they can. You are going to hear legendary names like Shane Battier, Billy King, Shelden Williams, and Tommy Amaker. The DBR Podcast needs all of you to listen to the back half of the episode and then send us an email at DBRPodcast at gmail dot com to resolve which team is the better set of defenders! But, this latest episode begins with the breaking news that Dan Hurley is saying no to the Lakers are staying in college basketball. Jason and Donald spend a little time discussing what it says about the college game to have the hottest coach in the land pulling a Coach K and turning down a lucrative NBA offer. The guys also dive in the transfer portal to talk about the rash of high-profile ACC players who have decided the gr

The DBR guys start this episode by breaking down the fabulous conversation between Jay Bilas and Jon Scheyer on the latest episode of The Brotherhood Podcast. Scheyer may talk in coach speak, but if you read between the lines you can really hear some interesting insight into the team he is forming this coming season and what he hopes for Duke basketball going forward. Plus, the hints, nudges, and secrets just keep on coming out of Durham following the K Academy games. The Duke Basketball Roundup gang spoke to someone with intimate knowledge of how the 2024-25 Blue Devils are shaping up and got some very interesting nuggets. And, before all is said and done, Jason and Donald have a hat tip to the the men's basketball team (and a bunch of other Duke athletes) for some impressive results off the court and in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The K Academy is in full effect, and the 2024-25 roster has started doing pickup games with some of the alumni back in town. We discuss what we’ve heard from the first sessions on DBR Bites Episode 50. Before we get to the intel, Jason and Donald discuss an article from the Raleigh News & Observer on how Jon Scheyer rebuilt this roster for next season. There are some very direct remarks from Scheyer on what he was looking for in constructing this roster and it discusses some of the frank conversations that were had on expectations and competition. We give our thoughts on some of the information from the article that we did not know as well as reiterate some of the stuff we have already discussed on the pod. We then get into the intel. Jason has heard some things about how the players have done with some of the first pickup games of the summer, and we go through the players one by one to discuss how they did. More importantly, Jason and Donald are always jealous of the people who get to go to K Academy every y

Get ready for a potpourri of topics as the DBR Podcast crew dive into a bunch stuff happening lately. They begin with the just announced game against Kansas in Las Vegas this season, but what has the crew really excited is the very real prospect of games in future years in Cameron and Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Up next, there will be some unusual numbers on the floor for the Blue Devils this coming season, and the podcast dives into what may have been behind some of the unusual selections. After that, Donald leads the conversation about the phenomenal showing by the Blue Devil softball and baseball crews as they are each advancing to new territory in the College World Series. You know the guys cannot avoid talking about the fabulous showing by Dukies in the NBA playoffs. And then they wrap it all up with a tribute to Bill Walton, one of the greats on the court and with the mic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 629 of the Duke Basketball Roundup continues our deep dive on the predicted roles for the team, and we welcome back Scott Rich to the show to help us once again! On this episode, we focus on the bigs, and with four main bigs vying to be a part of the Duke rotation - Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach, Maliq Brown, and Patrick Ngongba - we discuss what their roles will be. The one we spend a ton of time on is Cooper Flagg because it’s very clear by the moves made that this generational talent will be the focal point of the offense, but who will play alongside him in the frontcourt...and will Cooper play more of the 3 or 4? We discuss all of that in the first (long) segment. After the break, we discuss the walk-ons who will return to Duke for another season: Stanley Borden, Neal Begovich, and Spencer Hubbard. Will their roles change on the team and who might you see on the floor a bit more? We then move onto the major news in the world of NIL and what a potential court settlement could mean for the future of

We got another one! We thought the Duke Blue Devils were done in the transfer portal, but Jon Scheyer’s always closing. Cameron Sheffield will be headed to Durham as a transfer from Rice, and we react to what he brings to the table on DBR Bites Episode 48. Sheffield will head to Durham and is not a guy that’s expected to contend for any significant minutes next season among the guards. But, at 6’6” and with 3 years of D-1 experience under his belt, he still has 2 years of eligibility remaining and can be a guy that can really help the team prepare for games. He can rebound, he’s a consistently decent 3 point shooter, and he will be a guy that can help the team in practice get better. And, there’s more experience added to the roster. Jason and Donald discuss everything and what this means for Duke in 2024-25. After the break, Jason is in New Orleans and got a chance to sit down with Sion James at Tulane for some coffee tea as a way to get to meet him and for Sion to get to know some of the Duke community. Jaso

The portal is closed (as far as Duke is concerned)! According to everything the Duke Basketball Roundup has heard, the Duke roster for 2024-25 is pretty much set. There may be a practice player brought it but in terms of meaningful rotation guys, these are the 11 guys. So, the next natural question is -- who plays what role on next year's team? The DBR Podcast crew -- Jason Evans, Donald Wine, and frequent guest-host Scott Rich -- sit down for a deep dive into that question... and they all have different answers. In part 1 of this exercise, they look only at the perimeter players -- from the 5th year transfers to Duke two returnees to a trio of intriguing freshmen. If you want to know which guys start, which one factor in the rotation, and which ones may struggle for minutes, this is the episode you need to listen to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sound the sirens! Sion James is headed to Duke, and we discuss it on Episode 627. The 6’6” graduate transfer arrives in Durham after 4 years at Tulane, and Donald and Jason are excited about having him onboard. Besides him being built like a machine, he brings a lot of qualities to the table that will really help the Blue Devils next season, from strong play at the rim to sportsmanship. When it comes to transfer players, it’s about fit...and Sion James is a great fit for the Blue Devils. After the break, Christian Reeves is headed to Clemson. We discuss his departure briefly and that leads into a continuation of our conversation on Duke players entering the portal. Donald focuses on some of the talk over Jeremy Roach leaving and he’s here to tell you that it’s not an indictment on the program that he has decided to graduate and leave his home for a new opportunity. Make sure you’re following us! Head to our Linktree to get all our available social media and links to follow and subscribe to the show. That incl

We have all heard the rumors, guard Sion James from Tulane is thiiiis close to picking Duke as his next destination. On the latest episode of the Duke Basketball Roundup Jason and Donald do a deep dive on what the transfer portal has brought and what it has taken away. You will hear intel about how Jon Scheyer is building this roster and what it will take to complete it. The guys also talk about where some of our beloved former Dukies are headed and what their prospects are in those locations. Oh, and there is scheduling news that shows how excited Jon Scheyer is about the 2024-25 Blue Devils as Duke prepares to take on one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the land. And, after the break, we have something really unusual. The DBR Podcast peels back the curtain on the decision players made to leave Duke. Jason got a chance to have a brutally honest conversation with a parent of one of the players who entered the portal and Jason tells you exactly what that player heard from the program that led him t

We have a fun episode for you! On Episode 625, we discuss the history of the Duke Blue Devil mascot as we interview Bryan Reklis and welcome back Sam Klein! Details of the Devil: The History of Duke’s Mascot is a documentary that covers the 102-year history of our beloved mascot and some of the moments that have made the Blue Devil so special to all of us. Sam Klein returns to help us discuss this topic as we welcome Bryan Reklis, Sr. Video Producer of Duke University’s office of Communications & Marketing to the show to discuss the documentary! Bryan helped write, direct, and edit this documentary, which is available on YouTube to watch. With Bryan, we go through some of the parts of the film that were important in chronicling the history of the Blue Devil and we get into some stories that were not in the film. Sam Klein, who was the mascot while he attended Duke, also provides us with some info that did not make the film as we discuss why the Blue Devil is so lovable and some of the things that the mascots

The latest episode of the Duke Basketball Roundup features a few minutes of several different topics. Jason and Donald begin by looking at Duke's recent activity in the transfer portal. While we don't know the name of the next player Jon Scheyer expects to sign, we are getting some interesting hints about what type of player it will be. After that, the guys spend a few moments getting giddy over what they have seen in recent weeks from incoming freshman big man Khaman Maluach as he has faced off against the grown men of the Basketball Africa League. Whew, it has really been impressive. The guys take a break and then get into a quick conversation about the fancy new scoreboard coming to Cameron. And then they wrap it all up by talking about a major lawsuit that the NCAA wants to settle which could effectively end the private NIL era by making all teams actually pay the players a fair wage. (Audio warning -- Jason had some technical difficulties in this episode and his audio is lower than we would like. the DBR

This episode of the Duke Basketball Roundup is all about the future of the program... both in terms of the transfer portal and incoming freshmen. First up, Jason and Donald welcome former Purdue wing Mason Gillis to Durham as the newest addition to the team. Gillis is a "dawg" who will not be out-toughed on the floor and will provide excellent defense to go with experienced leadership. He's also a dynamite outside shooter. If you had a machine to design the perfect fit for next year's Duke team, it would probably spit out Mason Gillis. And the DBR Podcast also welcomes a special guest to this episode. Jeff Fedotin is a sportswriter for Forbes.com who attended this weekend's Jordan Brand Classic, featuring 5 of the 6 members of the incoming freshman class. You already knew Cooper Flagg was a star but wait until you hear Jeff talk about some of the other guys... especially Kon Knueppel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another one! The Blue Devils have landed maybe their best player of the transfer portal era with the addition of Maliq Brown. Brown is a 6-8, long-armed elite defender in the post and the Duke Basketball Roundup gang are thrilled to be adding a guy who was voted to the All-ACC Defensive team. Jason and Donald spend some time breaking down Maliq's game and, more importantly, how his skill set will fit alongside the rest of the Duke roster. But, the portal giveth and the portal taketh away. It is with a very heavy heart that Duke fans bid goodbye to Sean Stewart. More than anyone else to enter the portal, this one stung because we all saw glimpses of a truly elite athlete who has a path to be one of the most exciting players in all of college basketball. Sadly, that path has led him away from Duke. Listen in as Jason and Donald give their perspectives on Sean's decision and what lies ahead for Duke as the roster is still very much in flux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are back with a full episode where we discuss the Duke Blue Devils in the transfer portal era on Episode 623. TJ Power announced yesterday that he has entered the transfer portal, so we begin with that discussion (note: this show was recorded a couple hours before Sean Stewart announced he is also entering the portal, so that discussion will come on a later episode). Power’s departure leads to a grander discussion that Donald and Jason have: why is Duke losing so many players to the portal this season? It’s a new world we live in, where guys can transfer every single year if they want to in pursuit of their playing time goals, so we have a lengthy chat about what it means for Duke and what Duke fans should understand when thinking about how the transfer portal affects college basketball. After the break, there are reports that Duke is trying to add Maine and Kansas to the non-conference schedule for next season, and we’re pretty excited about some of the other potential matchups that we could see early in

We’ve reached the emotional portion of the season where we bid farewell to a couple more players, Jeremy Roach and Jaden Schutt. Donald and Jason react to their departures on DBR Bites 45. Jeremy Roach, our two-time captain and soon-to-be Duke graduate, will test the NBA Draft waters and will also enter the transfer portal. We’ve followed Roach’s career since he was in high school, so it’s bittersweet to watch him leave Duke. But, we beam with pride when recalling his career and get into some of the thought process behind him deciding to enter the portal. After the break, Jaden Schutt has also decided to enter the transfer portal, and we discuss his time at Duke and how it didn’t work out quite the way everyone expected. Jason recalls some of the flashes of brilliance we saw from Schutt and how a fresh start may be exactly what he needs to continue his career. We’re certainly wishing him well. We end with a member of The Brotherhood making the USA Basketball roster for this summer’s Olympics. Make sure you’re

Caleb Foster is back! The Duke Blue Devils guard discussed teaming up next season with Tyrese Proctor on the latest episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, and we react to it on DBR Bites Episode 44! We hinted that it was coming due to the show notes in The Brotherhood Podcast’s preview on YouTube referencing it, but Caleb Foster will return for his sophomore season to pair up with Proctor in the backcourt. Jason and Donald discuss what a boost it will be to the lineup next season. The team’s going to be tall and have lots of length on defense! After the break, we discuss the performances of Cooper Flagg, Isaiah Evans, and Khaman Maluach at the Nike Hoops Summit (Patrick Ngongba was also present, but did not play). While we are very much in the camp of not wanting people to gather too much from an all star game, it’s hard not to be excited at Cooper Flagg’s performance. We close by celebrating Paolo Banchero making history and Grayson Allen making bank! Make sure you’re following us! Head to our Linktree to get a