Perhaps we've been focusing too much on potential replacements for Patrick Ngongba for no reason.
It felt obvious as the season came to an end that the Duke sophomore big man would enter the NBA Draft as a projected first-round pick, especially with foot injuries that plagued him in high school and again down the stretch of this season.
But it no longer appears to be a slam dunk that Ngongba declares.
According to the Field of 68's Jeff Goodman, it sounds like Ngongba could in fact be back for his junior season:
"Big Pat, as we mentioned earlier, looks like he's gonna come back next year," Goodman said.
Jeff Goodman states that Patrick Ngongba "looks like" he's going to return to Duke
Duke fans have been impatiently waiting for Jon Scheyer to make a splash in the Transfer Portal, but sometimes the biggest moves you can make are retaining the best players on your own roster. It's impossible to overstate how massive retaining Ngongba for another season would be for the Blue Devils.
After swinging and missing on Flory Bidunga, there's simply not a better fit for Duke's system than Ngongba at this point, and if he makes a similar leap into his junior season that he did between his freshman and sophomore years, he's going to be one of the best big men in the country.
Ngongba put up a 9.4 BPM (box plus-minus) for Duke this year, per Bart Torvik. He was impactful on both ends of the floor. His length made him a menace in anchoring Duke's elite defense, and he was an excellent lob threat and offensive rebounder on the other end.
Goodman mentions that Duke will still be in the market for another big man if Ngongba comes back, specifically mentioning Alabama transfer Aiden Sherrell, but it's tough to imagine, unless Duke plans on starting both bigs and bringing 5-star freshman Cameron Williams off the bench, that Scheyer would be able to land someone of Sherrell's caliber with Ngongba returning.
Duke may have to take a flier on a more unheralded player to back up the four and five spots.
Goodman also mentioned in the video that Duke remains in pursuit of Wisconsin guard John Blackwell, and that finding an impactful scorer to replace Isaiah Evans, assuming he declares for the draft, is the top priority for Duke.
But finding a scoring guard/wing is a lot easier than finding a center who is as impactful as Ngongba. He would be a massive retention win for Scheyer.
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