Duke Basketball: 3 potential takeaways if Blue Devils get Jacob Grandison

Duke’s potential next season

Last season, Duke made their first Final Four since winning the national championship back in 2015. Obviously, things will be very different in Durham this season, with much of the roster reworked; names like Banchero and Griffin replaced with Lively and Whitehead. The very fact that Coach K is no longer roaming the sidelines is a big transition as well. However, things could look pretty good in Scheyer’s first season if they can land Grandison.

As we learn every year, anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament; just ask Kentucky what happens when you face a 15-seed. There’s no guarantee of anything in the postseason, but this Duke team with Grandison would be a deep, talented roster with the potential to cause major damage next March. By the time the NCAA Tournament comes around, this young roster will have been playing with each other for several months and will likely be in position to make another deep run.

The big question mark on the Blue Devils is how Scheyer transitions to the head coaching job, but giving him a shooter like Grandison certainly takes off some of the pressure. As associate head coach these last few years, Scheyer already stood out as a master recruiter, and bringing aboard Grandison would be the latest in a line of brilliant moves to bolster this roster. He only just recently hired Rachel Baker as the general manager of the program and certainly is making moves to better this program.

If everything comes together, this Duke team has the talent to not only get back to the NCAA Tournament but to potentially win a title. It may seem like a tall task for a rookie head coach, but North Carolina almost accomplished this feat last season with a rookie coach; if the Tar Heels can get this far, certainly their bitter rivals can as well. However, there are unknowns, especially with how all of these new faces will mesh together. We trust these recruit rankings and we’ve seen these freshmen star at the high school level, but the college game is just different.

Winning the ACC seems to be the first viable goal for the Blue Devils, who will face a challenge from the Tar Heels, who might just be the co-favorites if Grandison lands at Duke. Beyond that, this Duke team could go all the way with the right sharpshooter solidifying the depth on that team. Just look at what Brady Manek meant to North Carolina and imagine Grandison fulfilling that role and cutting down the nets for the Blue Devils next April.