The Duke basketball program will have an extremely young roster heading into the 2025-26 season, as Caleb Foster and Maliq Brown will be the only upperclassmen returners for the Blue Devils who played significant minutes a season ago.
This means that a lot of the offensive load will fall onto the freshmen and sophomores. What leaves the Blue Devils littered with question marks heading into next season is the lack of proven production from much of the roster. Most of the key rotation guys have the potential to be great players, but haven't exactly shown an ability to be key pieces on a championship-caliber team.
So, for the Blue Devils to make it back to the Final Four, a lot of the pressure surrounds the young guys and the expectation that significant jumps will be made.
And there's one rising sophomore for Duke that hardly saw the floor as a rookie, but could be in line for a breakout second season: Darren Harris.
With Jon Scheyer bringing in the No. 1-ranked 2024 recruiting class, Harris was left behind and saw hardly any playing time as a freshman. However, the sharpshooter will likely be a heavy contributor off the bench next season, and the Blue Devils will need Harris to put his shooting prowess on display.
The 6'6 wing was the No. 40 overall prospect in the class of 2024 per 247Sports, labeled as one of the best outside shooters in his class. He was named the 2023-24 Gatorade Virginia Boys Player of the Year after averaging 17.2 points, 3.1 assists, and 1.9 steals a night for Paul VI Catholic (VA), the same high school that current Blue Devil Patrick Ngongba II and former Blue Devils Jeremy Roach and Trevor Keels attended.
Outside of being an elite shooter, Harris also displayed great passing talent and an ability to defend multiple positions in high school. At 6'6 and over 200 pounds, Harris fits the mold of a Scheyer-type wing on the defensive side of the ball.
As a freshman, Harris appeared in 21 games, averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds. Although he only hit five of his 22 three-point attempts as a rookie, the shooting potential is there.
Harris can play an almost identical role that Isaiah Evans played as a freshman, strictly a 3-and-D guy. 81% of Evans' shot attempts and 78% of his makes as a rookie were from beyond the perimeter, but he hit them at a 41.6% clip. With Evans now thrust into a starting role, Harris can take over and provide that same scoring boost and defensive energy off the bench.
The Blue Devils have a chance to be one of the best outside shooting squads in college basketball next season, and Harris could be a guy who bursts onto the scene.