The Duke Blue Devils are coming off a phenomenal season, winning the ACC Tournament and appearing in the Final Four. However, with great seasons come a lot of departures, including star freshmen Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and more.
Recently, ESPN released its latest early Top 25 rankings, following a handful of players withdrawing from the 2025 NBA Draft to return to college for at least one more season. Shockingly, the Blue Devils are far from the top of the totem pole in the rankings.
In fact, ESPN decided to put Duke as the No. 12 team in the nation, six places lower than the previous way-too-early Top 25.
The reason? One transfer decided to stay in the Draft. Former Washington State star Cedric Coward, who committed to transfer to Duke while simultaneously entering the draft, decided to officially take his talents to the next level and opt out of the rest of his collegiate career.
Yes, losing Coward's talent and experience wasn't ideal for Duke, but head coach Jon Scheyer still brought in the No. 1 recruiting class of 2025 in the nation, including five-star European forward Dame Sarr and four-star Sebastian Wilkins, who reclassified from the class of 2026.
The thought that Duke could fall beyond the top 10 is an outrageous assumption to make with the amount of talent that Scheyer has been able to fill his roster with during the offseason.
Losing the previous ranking of No. 6 in the country just because the team lost one commitment is beyond unfair, especially with the commitments Scheyer has received since Coward decided to stay in the Draft. Not to mention, the team earned the top-six ranking when returning star Isaiah Evans opted out of the Draft to return to Durham once again.
With the Boozer brothers and the rest of the incoming class, Scheyer and the Blue Devils have the opportunity to prove that they are a talented program, no matter who decides to stay or move on to the next level.