Episode 377 - Backcourt Deep Dive

About this episode

The episode discusses Duke's backcourt depth and player dynamics following John Blackwell's decision to return to college basketball.

With the news that John Blackwell has pulled out of the NBA Draft and will be playing at Duke next season, Josh, Dustin, and Raul take a look at Duke's loaded backcourt. Topics include: How many point guards does Duke actually have? Will Blackwell be used more on or off the ball next year? How will this abundance of guards affect Duke's style of play? What does the minute distribution look like among the guards? Does Blackwell lead the team in scoring? How will Cayden Boozer's responsibilities shift now that he is finally not playing alongside his brother? How does the Cayden Boozer-Caleb Foster dynamic differ from last year? What is Derron Rippey's best path to earning playing time? Where does this backcourt rank in terms of depth for Duke historically? They then talk briefly about the rumored exhibition game Duke will play against Kansas in Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

People in this episode

Hosts: Josh, Dustin, Raul

Topics covered

• Duke basketball
• backcourt analysis
• player roles
• scoring dynamics
• minute distribution
• historical depth

Keywords

• Duke Blue Devils
• John Blackwell
• Cayden Boozer
• Caleb Foster
• Derron Rippey
• NBA Draft
• basketball strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Duke, Kansas

Places: Phog Allen Fieldhouse

More episodes of The Devil's Den: A Duke Athletics Podcast

• Episode 379 - Staff Hires and Wing Deep Dive · June 11, 2026 · 42 min
• Episode 378 - Brian Geisinger on John Blackwell and Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje · June 4, 2026 · 53 min
• Episode 376 - Schedule and Rankings Updates, Etc. · May 19, 2026 · 38 min
• Episode 375 - 2026 NBA Draft (with Ben Pfeifer) · May 11, 2026 · 37 min
• Episode 374 - Roster and Schedule Updates · May 2, 2026 · 32 min
• Episode 373 - More Roster News · April 24, 2026 · 56 min