Duke news roundup: Jared McCain turning heads, Duke shoots up recruiting rankings, football looks for first FSU win

Former Duke guard Jared McCain has been reportedly turning a lot of heads during the preseason and in training camp. McCain was drafted in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft, sixteenth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. It was unknown whether the athletic sharpshooter would have a big role in his rookie season with the 76ers win-now mode the team is in, but throughout the preseason it's looking more and more like McCain will be a major contributor in Philly. The Athletic's Tony Jones said that McCain has been the "talk of training camp," saying "Multiple team sources indicate McCain has played extremely well in camp, especially on offense. He's played without fear, but most importantly, with patience and aplomb." Jones quoted 76ers head coach Nick Nurse commenting on McCain's shooting capabilities: "Yeah, he can get them up. He comes off screens hard. He's a guy that can find himself space to get open, got a pretty decent drive game on top of it," Nurse said. McCain led Philadelphia in scoring in the team's preseason loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday with twenty points and three steals, going 9-for-21 from the field despite just a 1-for-8 performance from three-point range. McCain has shown his defensive prowess while looking for ways to score outside of catch-and-shoot threes. It's looking like McCain is making a name for himself through Sixers camp.

Duke recently shot up to #5 in the 247sports.com team basketball recruiting rankings for the class of 2025 behind Notre Dame, Iowa State, Butler, and Marquette. The Blue Devils recently landed commitments from twin sons of former Duke basketball national champion Carlos Boozer, Cameron Boozer (#2 overall recruit) and Cayden Boozer (#21 overall recruit). These twins are the first commits for Duke in the 2025 class with more decisions to come on the way. Duke was in the running for four-star Dwayne Aristode, but he committed to Arizona earlier today. The main prospects on Duke's radar at this stage are Shelton Henderson, Acaden Lewis, Koa Peat, and Nikolas Khamenia. Many insiders believe Duke will seal a commitment from Henderson, but the rest of the recruits seem to be in a toss-up where they will end up playing college basketball.

Duke football is coming off of its bye week this week as the Blue Devils will host the Florida State Seminoles (1-5) next Friday night at 7pm. You can watch the game live on ESPN2. Duke has opened up as 1.5-point favorites in the contest despite the Seminoles disastrous season. This is a huge matchup for the Blue Devils after suffering its first loss of the season at Georgia Tech last week, 24-14. The 5-1 Blue Devils are in a must-win situation against Florida State to prove it can still handle inferior competition and prove it is one of the threats to win the ACC. This next three-game stretch is the biggest of the Blue Devils season, as it will follow up its home date with the Seminoles with two matchups against ranked teams right after, at home against #21 SMU and at #6 Miami. Duke has never beaten the all-time powerhouse Seminoles before, being 0-22 all-time. This is probably the best chance Duke has ever had and it comes in a huge moment with the potential for this game to be a big turning point, either positively or negatively, for Duke's season.