One of the interesting and defining differences between Jon Scheyer’s Duke teams and those of his GOAT predecessor, Mike Krzyzewski is that Coach K tended to focus on athleticism over size. For his part, Scheyer has a clear preference for taller players. Still athletic, but taller.
From what we’ve seen, Scheyer’s defense is more conservative. Coach K wanted a pit bull mentality for his defenders, especially on the perimeter and in the passing lanes.
Scheyer prefers to control the interior, where the higher-percentage shots are. And arguably, he’s a better defensive coach than Krzyzewski, although in fairness, Coach K’s earlier system used more experienced players. Once he embraced the one-and-done era, he didn’t have the luxury of having a guy, say Sean Dockery, who spent four years mastering the craft.
So what will Duke’s defense look like next year? In a word: it’s going to be tough.
Duke is losing a lot with the graduation of Maliq Brown. He was one of the greatest defenders in Duke history, and that’s saying a lot.
But Dame Sarr is back, and he put pressure on ball handlers this past season like we’ve never seen. The Blue Devils can put an enormous amount of pressure on the ball in 2026-27.
We’re pretty sure that Bryson Howard is going to be a ferocious defender, and that’s how you get playing time under Scheyer.
But it doesn’t stop there. Ngongba has proven to be an excellent interior defender, and while Duke will miss Brown, Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski is going to surprise a lot of people.
First, he’s a willing defender, and second, he’s more athletic than most people realize. He fits the Scheyer mold too, in that he’s a 6-9 guy who can guard multiple positions.
Then there’s Caleb Foster. The rare senior who spent all four years at Duke, Foster is also an outstanding defender. There’s also Cayden Boozer, who became a solid defender, and John Blackwell, who cited defensive improvement as a reason for his transfer to Duke.
We left most of the freshmen for near the end, because we haven’t seen them defend much (the YouTube clips are always offensively oriented).
However, we could see Cameron Williams, Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, or Deron Rippey becoming tremendous defenders.
Rippey, for one, is hugely athletic. He’s uncharacteristically small for a Scheyer team – just 6-1 or 6-2, depending on the source – but it would be a shame if a player with that level of talent only played half the court.
Finally, we didn’t mention Sebastian Wilkins or Maxime Meyer. Wilkins redshirted his freshman season, so we haven’t really seen him. However, if he used the time well, he’s learned everything he needs to know to be a powerful defender.
As for Maxime, we read that Scheyer compared him to Dereck Lively. If that’s his level, then he may force his way into the conversation sooner than people expect.
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