In an appearance on the Pat McAfee show on Friday, legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski may have given away Caleb Foster's status ahead of the Blue Devils' Sweet 16 showdown against St. John's.
While Duke fans waited with bated breath to find out if Foster would truly be able to play less than three full weeks since fracturing his foot during the regular-season finale against North Carolina, Coach K tipped them off:
"I'm pretty sure that Caleb Foster will get minutes tonight and that will be good," Coach K told McAfee.
And if there was any doubt about Coach K having the inside scoop, shortly after he said that on ESPN, reports started to break indicating that Foster would indeed play against St. John's tonight:
As long as #duke PG Caleb Foster didn’t have any setback overnight, the expectation is he will play tonight against @StJohnsBBall . Crazy- less than 3 weeks from surgery! I wouldn’t expect a lot of minutes but having his experience and leadership out there is huge.
— Tracy Wolfson (@tracywolfson) March 27, 2026
Duke G Caleb Foster will play tonight vs. St. John’s, per source.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 27, 2026
Foster last played March 7 vs. UNC and has been out with a fractured right foot
Jon Scheyer said yesterday Foster was a gametime decision pic.twitter.com/ifl8knxyLu
Caleb Foster is expected to play for Duke in the Sweet 16 vs. St. John's
What a miraculous recovery by Foster, and a true credit to his hard work and the work of the Duke training staff.
We went from the fear that Foster's injury was season-ending to hoping he might be back for the Final Four at best, to an "outside chance" of playing in the Sweet 16, to being listed as "questionable" on Duke's official availability report on Thursday night, to now reports coming out that he's going to go.
Frankly, after Scheyer's comments yesterday and what he revealed Foster told him shortly after the injury, this doesn't come as a real surprise. Foster was always going to do whatever it took to get back on the court as soon as possible, but his return has exceeded any and all reasonable - and unreasonable - expectations.
How much Foster plays is still not clear. He's likely to come off the bench with Duke continuing to start freshman Cayden Boozer, but any amount of minutes Foster can give the Blue Devils will be a lift against a pesky defensive team like St. John's.
Foster's veteran leadership - and emotional lift - will be obvious the moment he takes the court tonight.