Jon Scheyer may need to test a new Transfer Portal approach to get Duke over the hump

While most of college basketball has shifted away from building rosters around one-and-done freshmen in the NIL and Transfer Portal era, instead opting for proven veteran talent willing to take a payday to stay in college rather than test the NBA waters, Duke has continued to dominate the high school recruiting space. 

Jon Scheyer isn’t alone in that philosophy, one he carried over from Mike Krzyzewski. John Calipari, in many ways the king of the one-and-done era, still builds his rosters that way, and in many ways, the 2025-26 season was the year of the freshman. 

Darryn Peterson at Kansas and AJ Dybantsa at BYU will likely join Cameron Boozer in the Top three of this summer’s NBA Draft, while Keaton Wagler led Illinois to the Final Four, and Brayden Burries and Koa Peat played huge roles in getting Arizona there as well. Braylon Mullins, another highly-touted freshman, hit the biggest shot of the tournament, ousting Duke with a 35-foot game-winner in the Elite Eight. 

Still, following back-to-back major March Madness collapses, it may be worth Scheyer considering a philosophical shift to his roster construction approach. And with the Transfer Portal not open until April 7, the day after the national championship game, he and his staff have some time to ponder it.

Can Duke keep relying on so many freshman in March? 

For the first time in program history, Duke submitted back-to-back 35-win seasons. They did it behind two freshmen, one who was named the Naismith Player of the Year, Cooper Flagg, and another who undoubtedly will be, Boozer. Yet, it wasn’t enough to win a national title, something the Blue Devils did last in 2015 behind three one-and-done freshmen, Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, and Tyus Jones. 

A year ago in the Final Four, Duke blew a 14-point lead, and a freshmen-laden roster led by Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach, and Isaiah Evans scored just one field goal over the last 10 minutes. This March, Duke led UConn by as much as 19 points in the first half and held a halftime lead before losing it on the ultimate ‘freshman moment,’ Cayden Boozer’s late turnover that set up the Mullins game-winner. 

Cameron Boozer carried the Blue Devils against St. John's in the Sweet 16, and as the lead slipped away in the Elite Eight, he, at times, was the only one holding the line. Would that have been different if junior point guard Caleb Foster and sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II were both 100 percent? Probably. 

Still, is the best way to win six games in the NCAA Tournament in an era when most teams are older than ever, to play four freshmen, the Boozer, Dame Sarr, and Nikolas Khamenia, 177 combined minutes in the biggest game of the year? Probably not. 

Jon Scheyer needs to be more active in the Transfer Portal this offseason

This isn’t to say Scheyer should suddenly shun freshman. He has three five-stars on their way in Deron Rippey Jr., Cameron Williams, and Bryson Howard. That’s talent most programs don’t have access, and not a pipeline Duke should shut off. It’s to say that Duke added one player through the Transfer Portal last offseason, Ifeanyi Ufochukwu from Rice, who spent most of the year injured but never figured to play a significant role. And that one veteran addition probably isn’t enough. 

Scheyer did work in the portal two offseasons ago, shipping out seven players and bringing in five, one of whom was a major contributor to this year’s roster in Maliq Brown. He may need to get back to that and be more consistently active in the portal to fill out the margins of his rotation with veterans, rather than trusting 18 and 19 year olds to make the right play in the biggest moments, especially against 23 year olds like Alex Karaban, who made the head’s up pass to Mullins as time was running out. 

Not all freshmen leave after one year. Cayden Boozer, Sarr, and Khamenia will all be sophomores next season, assuming they return. So some of that maturity comes naturally, but Scheyer also needs to be intentional about finding it when the portal opens on Tuesday. Especially because, while Rippey and Williams are good prospects, they don’t figure to be on Flagg or Boozer’s level.