Duke Basketball Roundup

We’re back with Episode 826. As Jason is in the early days of his vacation, Donald is joined by Scott Rich to discuss a couple of new additions to the Duke Men’s Basketball program.

First, Duke has added KJ Conklin as a new assistant coach to replace Evan Bradds, who left this offseason to become the new head coach at his alma mater, Belmont. Conklin, like Bradds, has G League coaching experience and is one of the bright young basketball minds who continues Scheyer’s desire to remain ahead of the times. We discuss his addition to the coaching staff and what he brings to the table.

We then discuss the addition of Alexander Powell, who will occupy a newly created role: executive director of basketball. More importantly, Powell is a NBA guy who has excelled in salary cap management as well as analytics…for the first time, you’ll hear Donald say the word “quantitative” on a podcast! Powell is here in this new role to help Duke continue to navigate the NIL universe and remain current while also figuring out how to maintain the rising NIL numbers and keep rosters together while the program continues to push forward. Scott also gets to discuss his favorite starting 5 that Donald and Jason covered on the previous episode.

We close out the show with a tribute to Liddy Grantland, who graduated from her battle with cancer over the weekend. Her father, John Grantland, is a longtime emailer and supporter of the show and Donald, Scott, and Jason send our heartfelt condolences to John, his family, and everyone who knew Liddy well and supported her during her life and courageous fight. Liddy was very active with the Duke Chapel Board and the Duke Wesley Fellowship, and we encourage any donations in her memory to Duke Wesley at https://www.dukewesley.org/liddy.

Make sure you’re following us! Head to our Linktree to get all our available social media and links to follow and subscribe to the show. That includes our affiliate partnerships, from Fanatics and SLAM (use the code DBR15 to save 15%), Homefield Apparel (use the code DBRPODCAST to save 15% off your first order), to the NBA Store, NFL Shop, and even Fubo TV. Save some cash on the latest gear or follow the Blue Devils on the go by hitting those affiliate links and it helps support the show as well. We are now on YouTube and Instagram! Subscribe there, rate, and review our episodes on there and everywhere you get your podcasts. Also, follow us on Bluesky ⁠@DukeRoundup⁠!
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We are getting more little nuggets of news about the 2026-27 Duke Blue Devils. The team has released what numbers everyone will be wearing next season. And while numbers may seem less than exciting, the Duke Basketball Roundup crew is able to find something interesting to talk about in the digits each player chose. 

Plus, there is scheduling news to talk about. Duke has lined up another power conference opponent for a date in MSG. And the ACC has unveiled who we will be playing and where the games will be played during conference season. It is a challenging slate for a Duke club that has only lost one conference game in each of the past two seasons. Bring it on!! 
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Who are your favorite Duke players of all time? How hard would it be to pick a guy, just one guy, at each of the five positions on the floor? The latest edition of the Duke Basketball Roundup dives into the question -- pick your favorite Dukies (not best, favorite).

But, before Jason and Donald get to that little exercise, they spend a few moments on the arrival of players for K Academy; the ever-growing hype surrounding Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje; and the growing role of Jared McCain on the defending (and future?) NBA champs.

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We had a slew of news about Duke as the weekend started so the DBR Podcast crew had to hop on and talk about it.

There's John Blackwell making it official -- no to the NBA Draft, yes to the Blue Devils.

There's word of a really fun preseason exhibition against a blue blood program in a hallowed gymnasium.

And there's a lot of buzz about international players coming over to the States, including Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who is putting on a show in an elite youth tournament this weekend.
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Duke Men’s Basketball has set up another terrific home-and-home series, and the NBA Draft declarees hit up the Draft Combine. Donald and Jason go over it all on Episode 824!

Duke has a couple of games added to the schedule: a home-and-home with Illinois starting with a game in Cameron this fall along with Coastal Carolina on the first week of the season. We discuss those games and opine as to how the schedule might look as it starts to get filled out. We also discuss a potential exhibition game against Tennessee that would be a return game for the one that was played in Knoxville last year.

We then discuss the NBA Draft Combine and how Cam Boozer, Isaiah Evans, Maliq Brown and John Blackwell are doing. We don’t get into a full draft preview, but we discuss how Boozer, Slim, and Maliq are stacking up against the others and whether Blackwell has done enough to be this year’s Cedric Coward. We then end with some information about how Duke dominates all the ACC’s TV numbers.

Make sure you’re following us! Head to our Linktree to get all our available social media and links to follow and subscribe to the show. That includes our affiliate partnerships, from Fanatics and SLAM (use the code DBR15 to save 15%), Homefield Apparel (use the code DBRPODCAST to save 15% off your first order), to the NBA Store, NFL Shop, and even Fubo TV. Save some cash on the latest gear or follow the Blue Devils on the go by hitting those affiliate links and it helps support the show as well. We are now on YouTube and Instagram! Subscribe there, rate, and review our episodes on there and everywhere you get your podcasts. Also, follow us on Bluesky ⁠@DukeRoundup⁠!
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