The Duke basketball program is viewed by most networks as a top ten team heading into the 2025-26 campaign after Jon Scheyer brought back four of his top ten scorers from a team that went to the Final Four this past season and is bringing in the No. 1 ranked 2025 recruiting class.
However, one insider is lower on the Blue Devils than most, and has Duke outside of the top ten completely in his latest "Way-Too-Early" top 25 rankings.
ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Borzello has the Blue Devils at No. 12 in his latest rankings. Here's his top ten:
1. Purdue
2. Florida
3. Houston
4. UConn
5. St. John's
6. BYU
7. Louisville
8. Michigan
9. Kentucky
10. Texas Tech
Although most networks have the Blue Devils higher than Borzello does, it's a completely fair take to say that Duke isn't a top ten squad heading into next season. When making rankings this early on, it essentiallly boils down to who has the most talent, veterans, and returning key players. It's near impossible to know ahead of time what teams will gel together regardless of how good it might look on paper.
And for Duke, there are question marks everywhere around the 2025-26 Blue Devils. Although Scheyer is bringing back key rotation pieces from a season ago, such as Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans, the entire 2024-25 starting five is gone.
On top of that, next year's Duke team is built almost entirely on potential, not proven elite production for a championship-caliber team.
For example, Foster is expected to make a massive jump as a junior, but he was expected to do the same thing last season. He ended up being taken out of the starting lineup in favor of Sion James and fizzled out of the rotation almost entirely for a good chunk of the second half of the regular season.
Evans was one of the best shooters in college basketball a season ago, but he was strictly a 3-and-D guy. 81% of Evans' shot attempts as a rookie and 78% of his makes came from beyond the arc. Now, he'll be thrust into a much more elevated role as a sophomore. The expectation is that he will excel and be an elite shooter and defender for the Blue Devils with his extended minutes, but no one necessarily knows that will be the case since Evans hasn't done it before.
And no matter how talented a freshmen recruiting class is, it's impossible to say without question that these prospects will translate immediately. For some, such as Cameron Boozer, the expectation is that he will be in contention for the best rookie in college hoops next season. But again, it's all expectations.
The Blue Devils are an extremely intriguing squad to follow as the 2025-26 season comes closer, as fans and insiders will be heavily watching to see how quickly this team can perform at a high level. With a monster non-conference schedule on the horizon, the young Duke team of next season will be heavily tested.