Jon Scheyer significantly improved Duke's 2026-27 roster this week by landing Wisconsin transfer guard John Blackwell. With the retention of both Cayden Boozer and Caleb Foster, along with the addition of 5-star point guard Deron Rippey Jr. in the high school class, you might not find a better backcourt in college basketball than what's in Durham.
With four NBA Draft early entrant possibilities, Scheyer appears to be coming out in good shape. Isaiah Evans officially declared on Wednesday, and Cameron Boozer will follow suit with an announcement soon enough. Dame Sarr is widely expected to return for his sophomore season, which will give the Blue Devils a significant two-way boost for next season.
Scheyer promised to be more aggressive in the portal this offseason. Landing Blackwell proved that. But Duke wants one more piece.
That one more piece should be Santa Clara freshman forward Allen Graves, who is in the Transfer Portal while going through the NBA Draft process.
Jon Scheyer should be all-in on landing Santa Clara's Allen Graves
Graves will go through the draft process after a spectacular freshman season at Santa Clara. He's currently the No. 22 overall prospect on Tankathon's Big Board.
Graves' counting stats don't immediately jump out: he averaged 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on 51/41/75 shooting splits. But he's an advanced stats darling and one of the most coveted players in the portal.
Per Bart Torvik, Graves put up an absurd 12.7 BPM (box plus-minus) as a freshman for the Broncos. He was an unbelievably efficient, all-around offensive player and a strong defender. Throwing him into the starting four spot would instantly make Duke the favorites to win the National Championship next season.
With Graves, Duke could run out this starting group:
PG: Caleb Foster or Cayden Boozer
SG: John Blackwell
SF: Dame Sarr
PF: Allen Graves
C: Patrick Ngongba II
Duke would have more depth than they've had in a long while, too, with one of Foster/Boozer leading the second unit alongside a talented trio of freshmen in Rippey Jr., Cameron Williams, and Bryson Howard. That's not to mention redshirt freshman Sebastian Wilkins, or the Transfer Portal addition of Belmont's Drew Scharnowski.
To land Graves, Scheyer will have to fend off the NBA Draft and a major push from Will Wade and LSU. Graves is a Louisiana native and would likely have a high interest in returning home to play his sophomore season.
The potential for him to stick in the NBA Draft is probably why Scheyer won't put all of his eggs in that basket. He doesn't want to get burned for a second year in a row like he did with Cedric Coward.
There are other options out there who could raise Duke's ceiling, but perhaps none more so than Graves.
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