Duke's pursuit of John Blackwell may have just gotten a lot more complicated

It's important to remember this time of year that the Transfer Portal is extremely fluid. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors, and even the top experts in the business don't get it right 100% of the time.

Case in point was the recruitment of Kansas State transfer guard PJ Haggerty, who seemed to be a near lock to join Will Wade at LSU before committing to Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M seemingly out of nowhere.

Another example may have been the premature list cutting of star Wisconsin transfer guard John Blackwell.

Multiple reports on Friday indicated that it was a two-horse race between Duke and Illinois for Blackwell. Things changed in the evening, however, and it appears Jon Scheyer may have more competition for the Badgers star.

According to Jonathan Givony, Blackwell's list contains six schools. Duke and Illinois are on it, but so are Alabama, Arizona, Louisville, and UCLA:

Duke may have a lot more competition for John Blackwell than originally thought

It shouldn't be a surprise that Blackwell would have a longer list of suitors. Everyone lined up the moment he entered the Transfer Portal in hopes of getting a swing at the plate.

Blackwell was an All-Big Ten honorable mention performer in 2025-26 when he averaged 19.1 points per game and connected on 38.9% of his three-point attempts.

With Isaiah Evans likely to enter the NBA Draft, adding a scoring punch in the Transfer Portal is vital for Scheyer. There aren't many better than Blackwell, who is the type of veteran guard Duke has missed in the last two years amid NCAA Tournament collapses.

As things stand, it would appear that Duke remains in pretty good shape. But Blackwell's recruitment seems as if it is going to go a good bit longer than anyone thought, and Scheyer has a few more programs standing in his way.