Duke's potential replacement for Patrick Ngongba is headed to the Transfer Portal

The Transfer Portal doesn't open for another week, but decisions are already being made and announced.

Duke will be at least semi-active in the Transfer Portal, but the extent to which Jon Scheyer fills out his roster that way is contingent on what happens in the next couple of weeks with NBA Draft decisions.

Cameron Boozer is as good as gone. It seems likely that Isaiah Evans will also enter the draft, but he's got more of a decision to make. That's true, too, of sophomore center Patrick Ngongba, who will leave a massive hole in the Duke frontcourt if he ultimately decides to declare.

Tankathon has Ngongba as the No. 22 overall prospect in the class, and projects him at No. 17 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their latest mock draft. If that's an accurate reflection of his draft stock, particularly with his injury history, it stands to reason that he'll probably enter the draft and not take the risk of another season of college basketball.

If that happens, Scheyer will have to be aggressive in finding someone to man the middle in the Duke starting lineup, most likely next to 5-star PF Cameron Williams. That player could be Georgia's Somto Cyril, who reportedly plans to enter the Transfer Portal:

Jon Scheyer should aggressively pursue Georgia's Somto Cyril to replace Patrick Ngongba

Cyril was the SEC's leader in blocked shots this past season at 2.2 per game in just 21 minutes a night. He would be able to anchor the Duke defense in the middle just like Ngongba, with his athleticism and above-the-rim capacity being a perfect fit on the offensive end, too.

Cyril is likely to have a significant number of suitors, however. He's a one-time Kentucky commitment when John Calipari was the coach there, so you can expect that Arkansas will be aggressive in its pursuit of the Nigerian big man.

Duke finished in the Top 5 in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency metric, and if Scheyer wants to keep the Blue Devils near the top of the sport, landing Cyril to replace Ngongba, assuming he enters the draft, would allow for that.