Duke wrapped up its three-game preseason schedule on Sunday by going on the road and knocking off Kansas, 90-84. It was exactly the type of fight that Jon Scheyer hoped for his team to get, particularly after consecutive blowouts over Belmont and Tennessee leading into it.
While you have to be careful not to overreact to what you see during exhibition games, there were some illuminating takeaways that give us a better idea of what to expect heading into the regular season.
With the Blue Devils less than a week away from the regular season opener against Army at Cameron Indoor, let's examine the biggest winners and losers from the preseason:
Winners:
Patrick Ngongba
The biggest development of the preseason is how healthy Patrick Ngongba looks. He has no limitations, and it looks like he spent the summer in the gym developing his game even further.
He looked good in limited minutes in the blowouts of Belmont and Tennessee, but he was a superstar in the road win over Kansas. He showed he could handle a major workload by logging 32 minutes, and he stuffed the stat sheet with a monster double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds, while dishing out 4 assists and blocking 2 shots.
Ngongba has shown an improved outside shot, too, knocking down 4-of-5 attempts from distance. His ability to step outside the paint and be a legitimate threat from the outside will open the lane up for Duke's guards and wings to drive to the hoop.
Dame Sarr:
Anybody trying to box Dame Sarr into being a three-and-D wing only should rethink it. Sarr is maybe the best perimeter defender in the country, but his offensive game has grown beyond standing in the corner and knocking down shots. He'll have opportunities to do that, but Sarr has put a lot of work in to grow his game off the dribble.
The sophomore was aggressive in attacking the rim in the preseason. Sarr averaged over 15 points per game across the three games and will be a major part of the Duke offensive attack in 2026-27.
Sebastian Wilkins
Coming into the preseason, Sebastian Wilkins faced an uncertain role with the influx of talent that Jon Scheyer added over the offseason. But it has been obvious in the preseason that Wilkins is going to play a significant role for Duke off the bench.
His length and defensive versatility will serve him well, and he displayed his basketball IQ with smart cuts to the rim to get easy baskets off passes from his teammates.
Wilkins was one of the first players off the bench in every preseason game and averaged 21 minutes per game across the three contests.
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje
Sunday against Kansas showed how far 17-year-old freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje has to go, but he showed his insanely high ceiling this preseason, too. He looks like the starting four for Duke this year, though Drew Scharnowski's return will give Scheyer another option if he doesn't feel like JBB is quite ready for that kind of role.
He scored 19 points with 7 rebounds against Belmont, and then followed that up with 11 points in 20 minutes against Tennessee. He struggled with the physicality of Kansas, finishing just 2-of-10 from the floor, but still managed to make an impact with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Losers:
Cameron Williams
Many figured that Cameron Williams would compete with Boumtje Boumtje to start at the four this year, but it's clear that he's further behind than many expected. Part of that was an illness that cost him some practice time and saw him drop a significant amount of weight. Part of it is just that he's still pretty raw.
He got a decent run of minutes against Belmont and Tennessee in blowouts, but his current place in the rotation was obvious against Kansas when he logged just two minutes in the only competitive game of the exhibition slate.
Williams will keep getting better in the background, and his athleticism and ability to run the court are things that could help spark Duke off the bench at some point this season. Just don't expect him to play a big role right away.
Caleb Foster
After missing the first two preseason games, Sunday's win over Kansas was a struggle for the senior guard as he went just 1-of-6 from the field for 2 points across 16 minutes. That wasn't much of a concern, however, as he was clearly knocking off some rust.
What puts Foster in this position is the play of Duke's other guards. We know John Blackwell is a star, but both Cayden Boozer and sensational freshman Deron Rippey Jr. impressed enough in the preseason to carve out pretty significant roles.
Boozer and Foster were competing for the starting PG role, and it looks like Boozer has the edge right now. He's the better facilitator and defender, and this team should have plenty of scoring, so they won't need much ouf it out of the point guard spot.
Foster is going to play, probably a lot. But at this point, I would expect him to come off the bench, a role he would undoubtedly embrace.
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